Release Digest: GNU, April 9, 2003

coreutils-5.0

This is the first major release of the GNU Coreutils package.
The Coreutils package is the combination of and replacement for the
fileutils, sh-utils, and textutils packages.  It began as the union
of these revisions: fileutils-4.1.11, textutils-2.1, sh-utils-2.0.15.
Since then, there have been many improvements and bug fixes.

Below I've listed the new programs and most of the new options and
features.  For a more complete list of the changes, see the NEWS file.
For all of the details, including attributions, see the various
ChangeLog files in the distribution.

Thanks to:
  * Paul Eggert for all of his fine contributions and advice,
  * Bob Proulx for all of his work on the FAQ,
      http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/faq/coreutils-faq.html
    and for his unflagging help fielding questions on the mailing lists,
  * Michael Stone for getting the coreutils into Debian's unstable
    distribution and for keeping up with the pace of test releases,
  * Nelson Beebe for giving test releases a workout in each of about
    40 different build environments,
  * and of course to everyone who has sent in problem/success reports
    and/or patches.

Jim Meyering
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D

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  ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/coreutils/coreutils-5.0.tar.bz2  (3.8MB)

Here are GPG detached signatures:
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New programs:
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
  kill
  link
  readlink
  stat
  unlink


New options and features:
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
* cp has a new option: --copy-contents.
* cp's -P option now means the same as --no-dereference, per POSIX.
    Use --parents to get the old meaning.
* cp accepts new options:
    --preserve[=3D{mode,ownership,timestamps,links,all}]
    --no-preserve=3D{mode,ownership,timestamps,links,all}
* df and du have a new short option -B that is short for --block-size.
* du has a new option: --apparent-size
* mv and cp accept a new option: --reply=3D{yes,no,query};  provides a cons=
istent
    mechanism to control whether one is prompted about certain existing
    destination files.  Note that cp's and mv's -f options don't have the
    same meaning: cp's -f option no longer merely turns off `-i'.
* ls has a new option: --dereference-command-line-symlink-to-dir, which
  corresponds to the new default behavior when none of -d, -l -F, -H, -L
  has been specified.
* ls has a new option: --author (for the Hurd).
* ls now accepts --time-style=3D+FORMAT, where +FORMAT works like date's fo=
rmat
* ls's new --dereference-command-line option causes it to dereference
  symbolic links on the command-line only.  It is the default unless
  one of the -d, -F, or -l options are given.
* stat accepts a new file format, %B, for the size of each block reported b=
y %b
* cut: new feature: when used to select ranges of byte offsets (as opposed
  to ranges of fields) and when --output-delimiter=3DSTRING is specified,
  output STRING between ranges of selected bytes.
* who accepts new options: --all (-a), --boot (-b), --dead (-d), --login,
   --process (-p), --runlevel (-r), --short (-s), --time (-t), --users (-u).
   The -u option now produces POSIX-specified results and is the same as
   the long option `--users'.  --idle is no longer the same as -u.
* The following features have been added to the --block-size option
  and similar environment variables of df, du, and ls.
  - A leading "'" generates numbers with thousands separators.
    For example:
      $ ls -l --block-size=3D"'1" file
      -rw-rw-r--    1 eggert   src      47,483,707 Sep 24 23:40 file
  - A size suffix without a leading integer generates a suffix in the outpu=
t.
    For example:
      $ ls -l --block-size=3D"K"
      -rw-rw-r--    1 eggert   src          46371K Sep 24 23:40 file
* ls's --block-size option now affects file sizes in all cases, not
  just for --block-size=3Dhuman-readable and --block-size=3Dsi.  Fractional
  sizes are now always rounded up, for consistency with df and du.
* df now displays the block size using powers of 1000 if the requested
  block size seems to be a multiple of a power of 1000.
* tail now accepts fractional seconds for its --sleep-interval=3DS (-s) opt=
ion
* `mkdir -p' can now create very deep (e.g. 40,000-component) directories
* uniq now obeys the LC_COLLATE locale, as per POSIX 1003.1-2001 TC1.
* New ls time style: long-iso, which generates YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM.
* Any time style can be preceded by "posix-"; this causes "ls" to
  use traditional timestamp format when in the POSIX locale.
* The default time style is now posix-long-iso instead of posix-iso.
  Set TIME_STYLE=3D"posix-iso" to revert to the behavior of 4.1.1 thru 4.1.=
9.
* rm can now remove very deep hierarchies, in spite of any limit on stack s=
ize
* cp -r is now equivalent to cp -R.  Use cp -R -L --copy-contents to get the
  traditional (and rarely desirable) cp -r behavior.
* The obsolete usage `touch [-acm] MMDDhhmm[YY] FILE...' is no longer
  supported on systems conforming to POSIX 1003.1-2001.  Use touch -t inste=
ad.
* The block size notation is now compatible with SI and with IEC 60027-2.
  For example, --block-size=3D1MB now means --block-size=3D1000000,
  whereas --block-size=3D1MiB now means --block-size=3D1048576.
  A missing `B' (e.g. `1M') has the same meaning as before.
  A trailing `B' now means decimal, not binary; this is a silent change.
  The nonstandard `D' suffix (e.g. `1MD') is now obsolescent.
* -H or --si now outputs the trailing 'B', for consistency with the above.
* Programs now output trailing 'K' (not 'k') to mean 1024, as per IEC 60027=
-2.
* The following options are now obsolescent, as their names are
  incompatible with IEC 60027-2:
   df, du: -m or --megabytes (use -BM or --block-size=3D1M)
   df, du, ls: --kilobytes (use --block-size=3D1K)
* When copying with the -H and -L options, cp can preserve logical
    links between source files with --preserve=3Dlinks
* ls no longer truncates user names or group names that are longer
    than 8 characters.
* ls -H now means the same as ls --dereference-command-line, as per POSIX.
* ls -g now acts like ls -l, except it does not display owner, as per POSIX.
* ls -n now implies -l, as per POSIX.
* The following changes apply on systems conforming to POSIX 1003.1-2001,
  and are required by the new POSIX standard:
   - `date -I' is no longer supported.  Instead, use `date --iso-8601'.
   - `nice -NUM' is no longer supported.  Instead, use `nice -n NUM'.
* New 'uname' options -i or --hardware-platform, and -o or --operating-syst=
em.
   'uname -a' now outputs -i and -o information at the end.
   New uname option --kernel-version is an alias for -v.
   Uname option --release has been renamed to --kernel-release,
   and --sysname has been renamed to --kernel-name;
   the old options will work for a while, but are no longer documented.
* printf interprets unicode, uNNNN UNNNNNNNN, on systems with the
  required support
* sleep accepts floating point arguments on command line
* sleep's clock continues counting down when sleep is suspended
* all programs now fail (as they should) when printing --help or --version
  output to a full device