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Re: Proposal: Add option to add dates to write(1)



Hi,

> >I'm using write(1) on machines where people are logged in for days, weeks,
> >months, running a tmux, as well as their write-sessions.
> >It's annoying to not know the date when somebody talked to you.
> >
> >What do you think about the attached patch (write.1 modification would
> >follow)? It just adds a flag '-t', which prepends the messages being sent
> >with a date (i.e., you and your communication partner have to agree on
> >using that flag to have it useful to yourself).
> 
> When you propose a change to the way something works, it's 
> important to get agreement about the usefulness of the change 
> before (or at the same time as) you ask people to review the 
> actual code.  At this stage of the process, man page changes, and 
> examples of output before and after the proposed change, would be 
> more useful then code diffs.
> 
> In other words, a better question than "what do you think about 
> this patch to the code" would be "what do you think about this 
> description of the changed behaviour".  Review of the actual code 
> is also useful, and that can happen at the same time, or later.
ok, a manpage diff is attached. The communication then looks like:
On pts/1:
  # tty
  /dev/pts/1
  # ./write -t root pts/0
  this is a message with a date prepended.
  another message

On pts/0:
  Message from root@ on pts/1 at 17:05 ...
  May 18 17:05:26: this is a message with a date prepended.
  May 18 17:05:30: another message


Without -t:
On pts/1:
  # ./write root pts/0
  this message doesn't have a date
  you don't know whether it has been sent three weeks or three mintes ago

On pts/0:
  Message from root@ on pts/1 at 17:07 ...
  this message doesn't have a date
  you don't know whether it has been sent three weeks or three mintes ago


Regards, Julian
Index: usr.bin/write/write.1
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvsroot/src/usr.bin/write/write.1,v
retrieving revision 1.6
diff -u -r1.6 write.1
--- usr.bin/write/write.1       7 Aug 2003 11:17:48 -0000       1.6
+++ usr.bin/write/write.1       18 May 2012 13:04:04 -0000
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@
 .Nd send a message to another user
 .Sh SYNOPSIS
 .Nm
+.Op Fl t
 .Ar user
 .Op Ar ttyname
 .Sh DESCRIPTION
@@ -65,6 +66,12 @@
 indicating that the
 conversation is over.
 .Pp
+The
+.Fl t
+flag makes your write session prepend every message you send with the current 
+date and time, such that your communication partner knows the time when you 
sent 
+the message.
+.Pp
 You can prevent people (other than the super-user) from writing to you
 with the
 .Xr mesg 1

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