Simon Burge <simonb@wasabisystems.com> writes:
>> Is there is reason we maintain this behaviour? I don't immediately
>> see any good reason for it, and it makes us annoyingly incompatible.
>
> OpenBSD made copying the default in August 1996 and FreeBSD in May 2001.
> Traditionally, the BSD install(1) needed -c to copy the file and the
> SysV install just copied always.  I suspect GNU install follows the SysV
> behaviour.  There is no SUSv3 standard for install either.
>
> I guess "annoyingly incompatible" could have been applied to OpenBSD in
> '96 but yes we are now the odd ones out when it comes to this behaviour.
> I can't think of any situation where the default behaviour of removing
> the file is actually useful and wouldn't mind if we made copying the
> file instead of removing it the default.

If we are to make such a change, we should endeavor to be as
compatible as possible in our options and behavior with the new
"standard" way of doing things.

-- 
Perry E. Metzger		perry@piermont.com