Stepan Kasal <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > So if the fact that the file is a directory was the reason why the OS > refused to read it, that fact is not reported.
> So now I understand that the current behaviour is good. No, it's not good, because the behavior doesn't conform to POSIX. POSIX requires a diagnostic, and requires that the exit status must be greater than 1. Here's why: http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/007904975/utilities/xcu_chap01.html#tag_01_07_01_07 says that grep must get the contents of the file by the equivalent of open () followed by successive read () calls. http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/007904975/utilities/xcu_chap01.html#tag_01_11 (under CONSEQUENCES OF ERRORS) says that if the requested operation (in this case a "read") can't be done, the utility shall issue a diagnostic and exit with error status. So I would change the text to this: [...] `read', which means that `grep' attempts to read the directory just as if it was an ordinary file. Many operating systems and filesystems disallow this, which causes `grep' to report an error and go on to the next input file. _______________________________________________ Help-hurd mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/help-hurd
