> Date: Sat, 28 Apr 2007 23:39:55 -0600 > From: Eric Blake <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > CC: Karl Berry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, [EMAIL PROTECTED], > [EMAIL PROTECTED], bug-gzip@gnu.org > > $ gunzip --help |head -n2 > Usage: gzip [OPTION]... [FILE]... > Compress or uncompress FILEs (by default, compress FILES in-place). > > It is still possible to make a wrapper script give intelligent help > (witness coreutils' groups, wrapping id), but it involves a lot more than > a simple two-liner. At which point, a simple #define difference in > default options between two similar executables seems more maintainable. > > Another benefit of making gunzip a full-blown executable rather than a > shell wrapper is that the startup time is faster (and on cygwin and mingw, > the extra process and time of a shell script wrapper is noticeable). > Uncompressing is a common task, and should not be artificially slowed down > because a shell script is in the mix when a binary could do the job.
Yes, these disadvantages are exactly those that make me wonder why we are gradually replacing programs by shell scripts.
