Re: standards/18257: POSIX.2-1992: ps(1)'s TIME column has the wrong format

[Alan Barrett <apb%cequrux.com@localhost>]

The following reply was made to PR standards/18257; it has been noted by GNATS.

From: Alan Barrett <apb%cequrux.com@localhost>
To: gnats-bugs%NetBSD.org@localhost
Cc: 
Subject: Re: standards/18257: POSIX.2-1992: ps(1)'s TIME column has the wrong
 format
Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2012 07:28:43 +0200

 On Wed, 15 Feb 2012, Julian Fagir wrote:
 >  .It Ar time
 >  accumulated CPU time, user + system (alias
 >  .Ar cputime )
 > +in the format
 > +.Li [dd-]hh:mm:ss
 > +if you use POSIX-style options or
 > +.Li [hh:]mm:ss.pp
 > +if you use BSD-style options
 
 Where are POSIX-style options and BSD-style options defined?
 
 I don't mind adding days, like "[ddd-]HH:MM:SS.ss", maybe even 
 breaking compatibility for scripts that parse the output from ps, 
 but why do we have to be compatible with a stupid POSIX rule about 
 "no fractional seconds"?
 
 Looking at the implemetation, it appears that the output from "ps 
 ax" and "ps -ax" will be different.  I really dislike this.  If we 
 do any sort of magic format switching, then I'd like a better way, 
 and whatever we do the man page should contain a discussion of the 
 tradeoffs.
 
 --apb (Alan Barrett)