Thread

cp: -r or -R?

126 points · 110 comments · zdw

spijdar · 1791030759 · focus · HN ↗
> nobody™ still runs coreutils from 24 years ago.
```
  Sprite 2.077 pc386
  
          Welcome to Sprite
  
  root@cherimoya [1] # cp --version
  GNU fileutils 3.9
  root@cherimoya [2] # cp --help | grep recurs
    -r                           copy recursively, non-directories as files
    -R, --recursive              copy directories recursively
  root@cherimoya [3] #
```
I'll take the honorary title of nobody ;-)
1. kijin · 1791031215 · focus · HN ↗
  You should have run that command as the `nobody` user.
  1. tosti · 1791063091 · focus · HN ↗
    But nobody doesn't have a valid shell.
    kijin · 1791082841 · focus · HN ↗
    Nothing you can't fix if you have root. :)
    laxd · 1791144351 · focus · HN ↗
    Use toor for good measure.
2. collinfunk · 1791085713 · focus · HN ↗
  Hey, I perfectly understand if not. But do you have the sources that were used to build those binaries?
  The oldest version on the GNU ftp server is fileutils-3.13 [1]. I vaguely remember having some links to older versions, probably somewhere in my archived mail. But I don't remember if it was fileutils-3.9 or earlier.
  I co-maintain GNU coreutils, so I am interested in reading them. If you have them, you can email me privately or on the public mailing list. Both are listed on the homepage [2].
  [1] <a href="https://ftp.gnu.org/old-gnu/fileutils/" rel="nofollow">https://ftp.gnu.org/old-gnu/fileutils/ [2] <a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/" rel="nofollow">https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/
  1. tosti · 1791128650 · focus · HN ↗
    You can find ancient distros on archive.org and some of those have src.rpm's Slackware also had a source dvd with iirc regular tarballs.
    collinfunk · 1791136552 · focus · HN ↗
    Interesting, thanks for the pointers!
    tosti · 1791147750 · focus · HN ↗
    Also, Debian has archives of old releases. You might want to try your luck there.
    eichin · 1791157513 · focus · HN ↗
    A quick look found <a href="https://archive.debian.org/debian/dists/Debian-0.93R6/source/base/fileutils-3.12-2.tar.gz" rel="nofollow">https://archive.debian.org/debian/dists/Debian-0.93R6/source... and <a href="https://archive.debian.org/debian/dists/buzz/main/source/base/fileutils-3.12-4.tar.gz" rel="nofollow">https://archive.debian.org/debian/dists/buzz/main/source/bas... but nothing earlier. (Amusingly the nearby diff says the sources came from "prep.ai.mit.edu:/pub/gnu/fileutils-3.12.tar.gz" in the "haven't heard that name in a long time" vein...)
  2. Sophira · 1791166902 · focus · HN ↗
    When you get to packages that are old enough, DiscMaster[0] is helpful for this since these packages were often on magazine cover CD-ROMs! There are several files matching "fileutils-3.9.tar.gz"[1]; the two variants seem to be the original GNU release (182.9KiB, the one you're looking for), and what looks like the result of a "make install" (57.4KiB).
    The original GNU release of fileutils-3.6 is there too (but be careful; one of the two files appears to include Makefiles from a ./configure run, while the other doesn't), though 3.7 and 3.8 don't appear to be. You'll need to sift through to find what you need in some cases, but it's an incredibly valuable research tool.
    Note: To download a file, you'll need to click on the filename, and then click the small arrow at the top that looks like a red arrow pointing down to a white box with red/green lights. (Which I assume is their representation of a desktop computer.)
    [0] <a href="https://discmaster.textfiles.com/" rel="nofollow">https://discmaster.textfiles.com/
    [1] <a href="https://discmaster.textfiles.com/search?q=fileutils-3.9.tar.gz" rel="nofollow">https://discmaster.textfiles.com/search?q=fileutils-3.9.tar....

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