Subject: [PATCH] strings: Correct output to be decimal per the help, instead of octal

[Chris Renshaw]

From: busybox <busybox-bounces at busybox.net> on behalf of Tito <farmatito at tiscali.it>

Sent: October 13, 2016 3:01 AM
To: busybox at busybox.net
Subject: Re: Subject: [PATCH] strings: Correct output to be decimal per the help, instead of octal

On 10/12/2016 08:58 PM, Chris Renshaw wrote:
> Hello!
>
>
> They chose octal because they have -t (--radix) so other outputs may be
> chosen as needed. The usual default for implementations that do not have
> -t is decimal, reflected in busybox having this in the help for strings.
> If someone could write full -t support that would of course be ideal,
> but until then, decimal is the more common (and more useful) output.
>
>
> Cheers,
>
> Chris
>

Hi,
can you list some of this implementations that have this
"usual default"?

Ciao,
Tito

PS.: please don't top post.

>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* busybox <busybox-bounces at busybox.net> on behalf of Tito
> <farmatito at tiscali.it>
> *Sent:* October 11, 2016 3:38 PM
> *To:* busybox at busybox.net
> *Subject:* Re: Subject: [PATCH] strings: Correct output to be decimal
> per the help, instead of octal
>
> On 10/11/2016 04:00 PM, Chris Renshaw wrote:
>>>From fe9333ce1d69e292e14144a61ff88a23ffed0053 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
>> From: Chris Renshaw <osm0sis at outlook.com>
>> Date: Thu, 22 Sep 2016 16:17:05 -0300
>> Subject: [PATCH] strings: Correct output to be decimal per the help, instead of octal
>>  Most smaller/incomplete implementations of strings output decimal by default,
>>  so best to correct that behavior rather than just change the help to say octal
>>  (it would be great to get full POSIX --radix at some point, to give the
>>  output in any desired format, but this will do for now)
>>
>> ---
>>  miscutils/strings.c | 2 +-
>>  1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)
>>
>> diff --git a/miscutils/strings.c b/miscutils/strings.c
>> index 9f50182..cc4ad9a 100644
>> --- a/miscutils/strings.c
>> +++ b/miscutils/strings.c
>> @@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ int strings_main(int argc UNUSED_PARAM, char **argv)
>>                                                        printf(fmt, *argv);
>>                                                }
>>                                                if (option_mask32 & PRINT_OFFSET) {
>> -                                                     printf("%7"OFF_FMT"o ", offset - n);
>> +                                                     printf("%7"OFF_FMT"d ", offset - n);
>>                                                }
>>                                                fputs(string, stdout);
>>                                        }
>>
>
>
> Hi,
> man STRINGS(1) GNU Development Tools binutils-2.25 says:
>
> "-o  Like -t o.  Some other versions of strings have -o act like -t d
> instead.
> Since we can not be compatible with both ways, we simply chose one."
>
> As we mimick GNU strings for linux maybe correcting the help would be
> the better
> option.
>
> Ciao,
> Tito
>
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Ah, sorry about the "top posting", it's the default in my mail client. :)

Most prominently "toybox" also has a similarly limited strings implementation and has decimal as the only offset output, also, on Android several OEMs have previously implemented strings as part of the old "toolbox" multi-call binary and, in my understanding of these, they also output decimal. So I do believe there's precedence for approving my patch to change the single character to have the output match the busybox help's advertised "decimal" (and it's been advertised as that for many years).

Further, I'd just like to reiterate that if it was an arbitrary by GNU to choose octal, maybe busybox could make a more informed decision; dd and a number of other important utilities use decimal only and it can be difficult to convert octal to decimal in a lot of shells, so decimal would be best for interoperability and usefulness.

Once again, proper -t support would of course be ideal so we could have our GNU cake and eat it too, but would need a hand more familiar than mine with the source. Perhaps you could help, Tito?

Thanks for your time and consideration everyone!
Chris
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