On Mon, 7 Jan 2008, Dana Runge wrote:
I noticed that the --reply option is being deprecated in mv.
Perhaps I am overlooking something, but it appears as if key
functionality is being removed from the command.
I regularly write scripts with --reply=no with the intent that if the
target file exists, the mv command fails. Neither of the recommended
replacements, -i, nor -f offer this functionality. Because these
scripts may be run from a cron job, I don't want to ask for user
input.
The only option left, if --reply=no is removed, is to use
mv -i x y /dev/null 2 /dev/null
You tell me, is this clearer than
mv --reply=no x y
I don't think so.
I think the problem was that mv would prompt in other circumstances than
the example above, and that the option was being misunderstood. This
thread has the discussion:
http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-coreutils/2005-06/msg00160.html
If you insist on removing my beloved --reply=no, please replace it
with a new option that provides the same functionality, and please
provide several years, 3-4 at least, to allow the new command to
propagate through all the various Linux distributions that are out
there.
Will your cron-driven script have a terminal on stdin? The help text for
--reply used to say at one point:
--reply={yes,no,query} specify how to handle the prompt about an
existing destination file. Note that
--reply=no has an effect only when mv
would prompt without -i or equivalent, i.e.,
when a destination file exists and is not
writable, standard input is a terminal, and
no -f (or equivalent) option is specified
Other alternatives and examples are given in the abovementioned thread.
Cheers,
Phil
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