Bug 215366

Summary:	/usr/bin/tail +nn doesn't work as it used to
Product:	[Fedora] Fedora	Reporter:	Alan Crosswell <alan>
Component:	coreutils	Assignee:	Tim Waugh <twaugh>
Status:	CLOSED DUPLICATE	QA Contact:
Severity:	medium	Docs Contact:
Priority:	medium
Version:	6	CC:	meyering
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Hardware:	All
OS:	Linux
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Fixed In Version:		Doc Type:	Bug Fix
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Last Closed:	2006-11-14 10:34:55 UTC	Type:	---
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oVirt Team:	---	RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
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Description Alan Crosswell 2006-11-13 17:54:41 UTC

Description of problem:

"/usr/bin/tail +<lines>" no longer works.  One must use "tail -n +<lines>".
 
Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):

coreutils-5.97-11

How reproducible:

Run the tail command with +<lines>

Steps to Reproduce:
1. /usr/bin/tail +3 /etc/motd and see it tries to open "+3" as a file:

 
Actual results:

# /usr/bin/tail +3 /etc/motd
/usr/bin/tail: cannot open `+3' for reading: No such file or directory
==> /etc/motd <==

Expected results:

(as seen on FC 4)

$ /usr/bin/tail -n +3 /etc/motd
$ rpm -qf  /usr/bin/tail
coreutils-5.2.1-48.1


Additional info:

This specifcally breaks the Real Networks Producer 11 installation script.

The +<lines> syntax for tail has been there forever.

Comment 1 Tim Waugh 2006-11-14 10:34:55 UTC

Please read the info page about Standards Conformance:

  info coreutils 'Standards Conformance'

In particular, you can re-enable this '+2' behaviour by setting an environment
variable:

  For example, if you have a newer system but are running
  software that assumes an older version of POSIX and uses `sort +1' or
  `tail +10', you can work around any compatibility problems by setting
  `_POSIX2_VERSION=199209' in your environment.

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 187479 ***