Although I like the idea of exposing file swaps to the user, the first
cut of 'mv -x' has significant problems.
I expect 'mv -x A B' to act like 'mv A B' except the destination must
exist and is renamed back to A. However, this is not true for 'mv -x A
B' when B is a directory; it renames B to A rather than renaming B/A to
A as I expect. That is, 'mv -x' acts as if -T (--no-target-directory) is
also specified. There is no way to get mv's traditional behavior, or to
get mv -t behavior.
To fix this, 'mv -x' should respect the usual mv behavior with respect
to directories. For example, when D is a directory 'mv -x A B C D'
should act like 'mv A B C D' except that D's old entries should be
renamed back to A B and C. And the -t and -T options should work with -x
the same way they work when -x is not specified.
This needs to happen before the next coreutils release, to avoid
confusion about 'mv -x'.
- bug#69532: mv's new -x option should be made orthogonal... Paul Eggert
-
