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UNIX-, BSD-, GNU-options in Linux's ps command. Where are they from?
2019 Community Moderator ElectionCommand options with hyphen or notWhich to choose - BSD or Unix-style commands where available?Who are these BSD Unix contributors?What is the difference between Unix, Linux, BSD and GNU?When and how was the double-dash (--) introduced as an end of options delimiter in Unix/Linux?Using options of different kinds in ps commandsLinux Vs UNIX - kernel - How to understand the difference?Using sed command arguments to be compatible with both GNU & BSD Unix (in-place editing)Reliably determine free memoryWhich flags of the “ps” command are for the Unix flags format and which flags are for the BSD flags format?Is general (POSIX) shell language allowed in /etc/sysconfig/* scripts? Or are there restrictions?
In the manual for the ps command on Ubuntu there is this text:
This version of ps accepts several kinds of options:
1 UNIX options, which may be grouped and must be preceded by a
dash.
2 BSD options, which may be grouped and must not be used with
a dash.
3 GNU long options, which are preceded by two dashes.
Why is it possible that a command built in Ubuntu uses options from different operating systems? I know that the origin of Linux, UNIX and BSD are the same but they are different branches.
linux ps bsd arguments
edited Jun 14 '13 at 23:04
Gilles
544k12811011619
asked Jun 8 '13 at 10:37
YarLinuxYarLinux
4951410
add a comment |
In the manual for the ps command on Ubuntu there is this text:
This version of ps accepts several kinds of options:
1 UNIX options, which may be grouped and must be preceded by a
dash.
2 BSD options, which may be grouped and must not be used with
a dash.
3 GNU long options, which are preceded by two dashes.
Why is it possible that a command built in Ubuntu uses options from different operating systems? I know that the origin of Linux, UNIX and BSD are the same but they are different branches.
linux ps bsd arguments
edited Jun 14 '13 at 23:04
Gilles
544k12811011619
asked Jun 8 '13 at 10:37
YarLinuxYarLinux
4951410
4
I don't understand what you're asking, really. It's just different argument "styles". There's nothing "interesting" happening here except for the impressively huge set of possible arguments that ps takes.
– Mat
Jun 8 '13 at 11:09
I have nominated this for reopening because the closure reason is false. Speaking as someone who has done the research: It is possible to answer this with facts. The current answer is guesswork, is wrong guesswork; yet a correct answer cannot be added.
– JdeBP
yesterday
add a comment |
In the manual for the ps command on Ubuntu there is this text:
This version of ps accepts several kinds of options:
1 UNIX options, which may be grouped and must be preceded by a
dash.
2 BSD options, which may be grouped and must not be used with
a dash.
3 GNU long options, which are preceded by two dashes.
Why is it possible that a command built in Ubuntu uses options from different operating systems? I know that the origin of Linux, UNIX and BSD are the same but they are different branches.
linux ps bsd arguments
edited Jun 14 '13 at 23:04
Gilles
544k12811011619
asked Jun 8 '13 at 10:37
YarLinuxYarLinux
4951410
In the manual for the ps command on Ubuntu there is this text:
This version of ps accepts several kinds of options:
1 UNIX options, which may be grouped and must be preceded by a
dash.
2 BSD options, which may be grouped and must not be used with
a dash.
3 GNU long options, which are preceded by two dashes.
Why is it possible that a command built in Ubuntu uses options from different operating systems? I know that the origin of Linux, UNIX and BSD are the same but they are different branches.
linux ps bsd arguments
linux ps bsd arguments
edited Jun 14 '13 at 23:04
Gilles
544k12811011619
asked Jun 8 '13 at 10:37
YarLinuxYarLinux
4951410
edited Jun 14 '13 at 23:04
Gilles
544k12811011619
asked Jun 8 '13 at 10:37
YarLinuxYarLinux
4951410
edited Jun 14 '13 at 23:04
Gilles
544k12811011619
edited Jun 14 '13 at 23:04
Gilles
544k12811011619
edited Jun 14 '13 at 23:04
Gilles
544k12811011619
544k12811011619
asked Jun 8 '13 at 10:37
YarLinuxYarLinux
4951410
asked Jun 8 '13 at 10:37
YarLinuxYarLinux
4951410
asked Jun 8 '13 at 10:37
YarLinuxYarLinux
4951410
4951410
4
I don't understand what you're asking, really. It's just different argument "styles". There's nothing "interesting" happening here except for the impressively huge set of possible arguments that ps takes.
– Mat
Jun 8 '13 at 11:09
I have nominated this for reopening because the closure reason is false. Speaking as someone who has done the research: It is possible to answer this with facts. The current answer is guesswork, is wrong guesswork; yet a correct answer cannot be added.
– JdeBP
yesterday
add a comment |
4
I don't understand what you're asking, really. It's just different argument "styles". There's nothing "interesting" happening here except for the impressively huge set of possible arguments that ps takes.
– Mat
Jun 8 '13 at 11:09
I have nominated this for reopening because the closure reason is false. Speaking as someone who has done the research: It is possible to answer this with facts. The current answer is guesswork, is wrong guesswork; yet a correct answer cannot be added.
– JdeBP
yesterday
4
4
I don't understand what you're asking, really. It's just different argument "styles". There's nothing "interesting" happening here except for the impressively huge set of possible arguments that ps takes.
– Mat
Jun 8 '13 at 11:09
I don't understand what you're asking, really. It's just different argument "styles". There's nothing "interesting" happening here except for the impressively huge set of possible arguments that ps takes.
– Mat
Jun 8 '13 at 11:09
I have nominated this for reopening because the closure reason is false. Speaking as someone who has done the research: It is possible to answer this with facts. The current answer is guesswork, is wrong guesswork; yet a correct answer cannot be added.
– JdeBP
yesterday
I have nominated this for reopening because the closure reason is false. Speaking as someone who has done the research: It is possible to answer this with facts. The current answer is guesswork, is wrong guesswork; yet a correct answer cannot be added.
– JdeBP
yesterday
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
I just can give you an overall answer:
Command line options are often parsed using the library function getopt. Originally it only accepted arguments consisting of a - followed by a symbol. This effectively limits the amount of options you have, more or less -A to -Z, -a to -z and -0 to -9. You can imagine that you will not use an option without at least a hint to the real use, like -h for help or -v for version information or verbose output.
In Linux, and the often associated standard C library glibc, there is the extension to getopt to also handle -- - like options. Coming with this is that many commands developed under GNU (like glibc) used this extension. Now for many commands you also have the GNU-like style option. -v and --verbose, -h and --help and so on. I guess the same happened in BSD (though I am no BSD guy, please correct me).
Your ps command comes from a software collection called procps and I guess that they want to mimic the option style specific for a certain platform. So for the UNIX guys it has - options. For BSD it also accepts something like ps aux and so on.
ps is not the only program behaving like this. Many of the standard programs understand the "old" UNIX style (POSIX) and some modern extensions.
edited Feb 18 '18 at 0:37
Jeff Schaller
43.8k1161141
answered Jun 8 '13 at 11:34
AlphaOneAlphaOne
1113
1
Welcome to the Unix & Linux stackexchange! You're off to an excellent start.
– user26112
Jun 8 '13 at 11:51
add a comment |
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I just can give you an overall answer:
Command line options are often parsed using the library function getopt. Originally it only accepted arguments consisting of a - followed by a symbol. This effectively limits the amount of options you have, more or less -A to -Z, -a to -z and -0 to -9. You can imagine that you will not use an option without at least a hint to the real use, like -h for help or -v for version information or verbose output.
In Linux, and the often associated standard C library glibc, there is the extension to getopt to also handle -- - like options. Coming with this is that many commands developed under GNU (like glibc) used this extension. Now for many commands you also have the GNU-like style option. -v and --verbose, -h and --help and so on. I guess the same happened in BSD (though I am no BSD guy, please correct me).
Your ps command comes from a software collection called procps and I guess that they want to mimic the option style specific for a certain platform. So for the UNIX guys it has - options. For BSD it also accepts something like ps aux and so on.
ps is not the only program behaving like this. Many of the standard programs understand the "old" UNIX style (POSIX) and some modern extensions.
edited Feb 18 '18 at 0:37
Jeff Schaller
43.8k1161141
answered Jun 8 '13 at 11:34
AlphaOneAlphaOne
1113
1
Welcome to the Unix & Linux stackexchange! You're off to an excellent start.
– user26112
Jun 8 '13 at 11:51
add a comment |
I just can give you an overall answer:
Command line options are often parsed using the library function getopt. Originally it only accepted arguments consisting of a - followed by a symbol. This effectively limits the amount of options you have, more or less -A to -Z, -a to -z and -0 to -9. You can imagine that you will not use an option without at least a hint to the real use, like -h for help or -v for version information or verbose output.
In Linux, and the often associated standard C library glibc, there is the extension to getopt to also handle -- - like options. Coming with this is that many commands developed under GNU (like glibc) used this extension. Now for many commands you also have the GNU-like style option. -v and --verbose, -h and --help and so on. I guess the same happened in BSD (though I am no BSD guy, please correct me).
Your ps command comes from a software collection called procps and I guess that they want to mimic the option style specific for a certain platform. So for the UNIX guys it has - options. For BSD it also accepts something like ps aux and so on.
ps is not the only program behaving like this. Many of the standard programs understand the "old" UNIX style (POSIX) and some modern extensions.
edited Feb 18 '18 at 0:37
Jeff Schaller
43.8k1161141
answered Jun 8 '13 at 11:34
AlphaOneAlphaOne
1113
1
Welcome to the Unix & Linux stackexchange! You're off to an excellent start.
– user26112
Jun 8 '13 at 11:51
add a comment |
I just can give you an overall answer:
Command line options are often parsed using the library function getopt. Originally it only accepted arguments consisting of a - followed by a symbol. This effectively limits the amount of options you have, more or less -A to -Z, -a to -z and -0 to -9. You can imagine that you will not use an option without at least a hint to the real use, like -h for help or -v for version information or verbose output.
In Linux, and the often associated standard C library glibc, there is the extension to getopt to also handle -- - like options. Coming with this is that many commands developed under GNU (like glibc) used this extension. Now for many commands you also have the GNU-like style option. -v and --verbose, -h and --help and so on. I guess the same happened in BSD (though I am no BSD guy, please correct me).
Your ps command comes from a software collection called procps and I guess that they want to mimic the option style specific for a certain platform. So for the UNIX guys it has - options. For BSD it also accepts something like ps aux and so on.
ps is not the only program behaving like this. Many of the standard programs understand the "old" UNIX style (POSIX) and some modern extensions.
edited Feb 18 '18 at 0:37
Jeff Schaller
43.8k1161141
answered Jun 8 '13 at 11:34
AlphaOneAlphaOne
1113
I just can give you an overall answer:
Command line options are often parsed using the library function getopt. Originally it only accepted arguments consisting of a - followed by a symbol. This effectively limits the amount of options you have, more or less -A to -Z, -a to -z and -0 to -9. You can imagine that you will not use an option without at least a hint to the real use, like -h for help or -v for version information or verbose output.
In Linux, and the often associated standard C library glibc, there is the extension to getopt to also handle -- - like options. Coming with this is that many commands developed under GNU (like glibc) used this extension. Now for many commands you also have the GNU-like style option. -v and --verbose, -h and --help and so on. I guess the same happened in BSD (though I am no BSD guy, please correct me).
Your ps command comes from a software collection called procps and I guess that they want to mimic the option style specific for a certain platform. So for the UNIX guys it has - options. For BSD it also accepts something like ps aux and so on.
ps is not the only program behaving like this. Many of the standard programs understand the "old" UNIX style (POSIX) and some modern extensions.
edited Feb 18 '18 at 0:37
Jeff Schaller
43.8k1161141
answered Jun 8 '13 at 11:34
AlphaOneAlphaOne
1113
edited Feb 18 '18 at 0:37
Jeff Schaller
43.8k1161141
edited Feb 18 '18 at 0:37
Jeff Schaller
43.8k1161141
edited Feb 18 '18 at 0:37
Jeff Schaller
43.8k1161141
43.8k1161141
answered Jun 8 '13 at 11:34
AlphaOneAlphaOne
1113
answered Jun 8 '13 at 11:34
AlphaOneAlphaOne
1113
answered Jun 8 '13 at 11:34
AlphaOneAlphaOne
1113
1113
1
Welcome to the Unix & Linux stackexchange! You're off to an excellent start.
– user26112
Jun 8 '13 at 11:51
add a comment |
1
Welcome to the Unix & Linux stackexchange! You're off to an excellent start.
– user26112
Jun 8 '13 at 11:51
1
1
Welcome to the Unix & Linux stackexchange! You're off to an excellent start.
– user26112
Jun 8 '13 at 11:51
Welcome to the Unix & Linux stackexchange! You're off to an excellent start.
– user26112
Jun 8 '13 at 11:51
add a comment |
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I don't understand what you're asking, really. It's just different argument "styles". There's nothing "interesting" happening here except for the impressively huge set of possible arguments that ps takes.
– Mat
Jun 8 '13 at 11:09
I have nominated this for reopening because the closure reason is false. Speaking as someone who has done the research: It is possible to answer this with facts. The current answer is guesswork, is wrong guesswork; yet a correct answer cannot be added.
– JdeBP
yesterday