bug#24958: Please make "omitting directory" message clearer

[Reuti]

Am 17.11.2016 um 02:34 schrieb Paul Vint:

> I have had people I am teaching say the same thing, "Yeah, I know it's a
> directory!"
> 
> +1 on the AIX style of message. It is clear, offers a (likely correct)
> suggestion, and is brief.

+1 This exactly the style what I judge as a good error message:

"I can't do A because of B, but you can try C to get it working anyway"

 and I go for printing it in all my own scripts and applications.

-- Reuti


> Paul
> 
> On Wed, Nov 16, 2016 at 8:29 PM, Samuel Thibault <address@hidden>
> wrote:
> 
>> Paul Eggert, on Wed 16 Nov 2016 17:25:18 -0800, wrote:
>>> On 11/16/2016 05:07 PM, Pádraig Brady wrote:
>>>> we copy the directory but not the contents.
>>>> I'll adjust to:
>>>> 
>>>>  "not recursing; omitting directory '/foo/bar'"
>>>> 
>>> How about using the traditional wording, e.g., Solaris?
>>> 
>>> $ cp /etc /tmp
>>> cp: /etc: is a directory
>>> 
>>> That's pretty clear.
>> 
>> That'd still make my students speechless: "yes, it's a directory, so
>> what?!"
>> 
>>> AIX is more verbose and is even clearer:
>>> 
>>> $ cp /etc /tmp
>>> cp: 0653-436  /etc is a directory.
>>>        Specify -r or -R to copy.
>> 
>> That looks more along what I suggested in my latest previous mail :)
>> 
>> Samuel
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>