Re: iflag/oflag for dd(1)

["James K. Lowden" <jklowden%schemamania.org@localhost>]

On Mon, 16 Mar 2015 05:08:38 +0100
manu%netbsd.org@localhost (Emmanuel Dreyfus) wrote:

> Anyone against adding the feature? I can craft a patch if it is
> desirable.

I want to put up my hand and say I don't see the point in treating dd
differently from other utilities.  I can't think of another one that
takes file-open flags, and I can think of many that open files (not
least, /bin/sh) that don't.  

All the intended uses afaict could be accomplished by calling stat or
test first.  If you're tempted to say "race condition" I refer you to
my prior observation: "foo <a >>b" accomplishes much the same thing more
simply.  

If compatibility must be achieved, I would let our dd accept the flags
and ignore them.  I'd add a note to the manual saying they're ignored
as a convenience to the user because they were pointless to start
with.  

--jkl