Date: Sat, 09 Jun 2001 17:00:12 +0300
From: "Eli Zaretskii" <eliz AT is DOT elta DOT co DOT il>
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To: Richard Dawe <rich AT phekda DOT freeserve DOT co DOT uk>
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In-reply-to: <3B2207A2.AC9FB825@phekda.freeserve.co.uk> (message from Richard
	Dawe on Sat, 09 Jun 2001 12:25:22 +0100)
Subject: Re: .files on servers are perceived as readonly
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> Date: Sat, 09 Jun 2001 12:25:22 +0100
> From: Richard Dawe <rich AT phekda DOT freeserve DOT co DOT uk>
> 
> > Plus a bug in the docs. They say "The '-g' option is accepted but
> > ignored, for compatiblity with Unix." in the ls node.
> 
> I couldn't find '-g' in the Fileutils docs, but Unix98 says this:
> 
>     "-g The same as -l, except that the owner is not written."
> 
> Presumably the bug is that it does take noticed of '-g'. If so, I will
> submit a patch to Jim Meyering.

No, Martin meant the DJGPP-specific effect of `-g', which is my
invention (try "ls -lg" and you will see what I mean).

When I ported Fileutils, I decided I couldn't in good faith release an
`ls' that was incapable of showing the DOS attribute bits.  I could
grind my teeth if hidden/system attributes were unavailable, but the
archive (a.k.a. modified) bit was the last straw: it is too important
to let it go.

But, since `ls' already uses almost all the letters in the alphabet
for its options, I needed a letter that (1) was unused and (2) had
high probability to stay unused in the future.  `-g' was perfect: it's
a compatibility option (so will not be changed) and it does nothing in
the Unix version.  The rest, as they say, is history.

The port of v3.16 described this switch in the DJGPP-specific README
file.