tags 511456 - moreinfo
retitle 511456 time: documentation of -p is unclear
severity 511456 minor
tags 511456 + upstream
quit
Bart Massey wrote:
> Sorry, I hadn' t realized the POSIX standard was so broken that it
> required a flag to get a guarantee of predictable formatting. I guess
> under those circumstances I'll just have to get used to writing "time
> -p" and hoping that everyone's "time" implementation is
> POSIX-compliant.
Ok, cc-ing the bug log. Now that I check the manpage and info
documentation, I can agree that it is downright misleading:
-p, --portability
Use the following format string, for conformance with
POSIX standard 1003.2:
real %e
user %U
sys %S
It would be better to say:
-p, --portability
Use the following format string:
real %e
user %U
sys %S
The default output format of time differs widely
between implementations. This option (in its
short form -p) is supported by all POSIX-compliant
'time' implementations to retrieve basic
information in the described format.
Roughly like this, maybe.
---
diff --git a/time.texi b/time.texi
index c725f8a..8da3727 100644
--- a/time.texi
+++ b/time.texi
@@ -182,8 +182,7 @@ Use @var{format} as the format string.
@item -p
@itemx --portability
-Use the following format string, for conformance with POSIX standard
-1003.2:
+Use the following format string:
@example
real %e
@@ -191,6 +190,11 @@ user %U
sys %S
@end example
+The default output format of time differs widely between
+implementations. This option (in its short form -p) is supported by all
+POSIX-compliant 'time' implementations to retrieve basic information in
+the described format.
+
@item -q
@itemx --quiet
Suppress non-zero error code from the executed program.
--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-bugs-dist-requ...@lists.debian.org
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
