[TUHS] Of flags and keyletters

[Aaron]

Unix has long benefited from the notion that everything can be improved!

Sent from my iPhone

> On Mar 3, 2024, at 12:53 PM, Larry McVoy <lm at mcvoy.com> wrote:
> 
> I rewrote getopt() for BitKeeper because I wanted long options and
> wanted to allow optional args but also have required args.
> 
>> On Sun, Mar 03, 2024 at 12:38:20PM -0500, Aaron wrote:
>> Having written the first versions of getopt(3), getopt(1), and associated man pages around 1979, I do not recall any real orthodoxy in the use of ???options??? vs ???flags.??? In general, ???flags??? seemed to be reserved for single arguments in the form of ???-x???
>> 
>> I wrote getopt, and rewrote many commands to use it because I got annoyed at trying to remember which commands required ???-x -y -z??? vs ???-xyz???, and which flags required or allowed optional  arguments.
>> 
>> Aaron
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>>> On Mar 2, 2024, at 5:22???PM, jnc at mercury.lcs.mit.edu wrote:
>>> 
>>> ???
>>>> 
>>>> From: Bakul Shah
>>> 
>>>> Use of "flag" for this purpose seems strange. "option" makes more sense.
>>> 
>>> People on this list seem to forget that there were computers before UNIX.
>>> 
>>> The _syntax_ of "-f" probably predates any UNIX; Multics used it extensively.
>>> See the "Introduction to Multics", MAC-TR-123, January 1974 (a little after
>>> UNIX V1, but I expect I could probably track it back further in time, if I
>>> cared to put in the effort); pg. 3-24.
>>> 
>>> Interestingly, I looked though the CTSS manual, and CTSS did not seem to use
>>> this syntax for flag arguments: see, e.g., the SAVE command (section AH.3.03).
>>> 
>>> 
>>> The _name_ "flag" came in early on UNIX. (Multics called them "arguments";
>>> see above, pg. 3-27, top line.) We can see this happen - see:
>>> 
>>> http://squoze.net/UNIX/v1man/man1/du
>>> 
>>> which calls the "-a" and "-s" "arguments"; but in:
>>> 
>>> http://squoze.net/UNIX/v1man/man1/ld
>>> 
>>> "-s", "-u", etc are called "flag arguments".
>>> 
>>> Long enough ago that certainty about the etymology/rationale is probably now
>>> lost.
>>> 
>>>   Noel
> 
> --
> ---
> Larry McVoy           Retired to fishing          http://www.mcvoy.com/lm/boat