From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.2 (2018-09-13) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.0 required=5.0 tests=HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS, MAILING_LIST_MULTI,RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.2 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (minnie.tuhs.org [45.79.103.53]) by inbox.vuxu.org (OpenSMTPD) with ESMTP id 54295668 for ; Sat, 27 Apr 2019 14:25:55 +0000 (UTC) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 2B43D93D36; Sun, 28 Apr 2019 00:25:54 +1000 (AEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1A01493D27; Sun, 28 Apr 2019 00:25:18 +1000 (AEST) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 13D4893D2F; Sun, 28 Apr 2019 00:25:16 +1000 (AEST) X-Greylist: delayed 476 seconds by postgrey-1.36 at minnie.tuhs.org; Sun, 28 Apr 2019 00:25:15 AEST Received: from h2.fbrelay.privateemail.com (h2.fbrelay.privateemail.com [131.153.2.43]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id A05C293D2A for ; Sun, 28 Apr 2019 00:25:15 +1000 (AEST) Received: from MTA-09-4.privateemail.com (mta-09.privateemail.com [198.54.127.58]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by h1.fbrelay.privateemail.com (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 03EC8803FD for ; Sat, 27 Apr 2019 10:17:19 -0400 (EDT) Received: from MTA-09.privateemail.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by MTA-09.privateemail.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 48BD96004F for ; Sat, 27 Apr 2019 10:17:17 -0400 (EDT) Received: from localhost (unknown [10.20.151.238]) by MTA-09.privateemail.com (Postfix) with ESMTPA id AA7966004C for ; Sat, 27 Apr 2019 14:17:16 +0000 (UTC) Date: Sat, 27 Apr 2019 07:16:55 -0700 From: Anthony Martin To: tuhs@tuhs.org Message-ID: <20190427141655.GA8310@alice> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline X-Virus-Scanned: ClamAV using ClamSMTP Subject: [TUHS] A question about ls(1) X-BeenThere: tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.26 Precedence: list List-Id: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: tuhs-bounces@minnie.tuhs.org Sender: "TUHS" >From at least V2 to V6, the ls(1) command would not show directory entries whose names began with a '.' unless the -a flag was supplied. This was changed in V7: only the directory entries for "." and ".." would be skipped by default. All further versions of Research Unix retain the convention of V7 and Plan 9 ultimately made it unnecessary. However, BSD and its descendants did not follow suit. Instead, they continued behaving like V6 with an additional -A flag to emulate V7. Was the initial behavior intentional or just a matter of expediency? Who made the change and what was their motivation? Was it a reaction to the intentional hiding of what came to be known as "dot files"? Thanks, Anthony