bug#8231: Bug in the linux command: tail

[Alan Curry]

Eric Blake writes:
> 
> Besides, we already have the convention that long options that require
> an argument mean that the associated short option also requires an
> option.  That is, we are already consistent in writing
> 
> -n, --lines=K
> 
> as shorthand for:
> 
> -n K OR --lines=K
>

And a stupid convention it is. An equals sign that's distributive over a
comma! Anywhere else, the comma is a very-low-precedence operator.

The fact that the comma has whitespace on one side, while the equals sign has
no adjacent whitespace, provides reinforcing evidence that the equals sign
should bind tighter. But it doesn't.

The reader's only hope is to infer this GNU anti-readability convention by
reading the man page for a command they already know how to use, and then
apply that convention when reading about other commands.

The Linux man-pages project should take on section 1.

-- 
Alan Curry