Re: mv missing destination operand message

[Jim Meyering]

Eric Blake <address@hidden> wrote:
> According to Jim Meyering on 9/25/2008 1:24 AM:
>>> mv: missing destination file operand after `/u/karl/tmp/paper.ltx'
>>>
>> However, "file" is often used not to distinguish between symlink,
>> directory, fifo, block device, etc, but rather to denote a generic file
>> system "object", and that's the intent here.  That same diagnostic is
>> also used in cp, ln, and install, so I'd like to keep it as is.
>
> On the other hand, is there any reason why 'ln path/to/file' creates
> './file', while 'mv path/to/file' and 'cp path/to/file' complain?  For all
> three apps, POSIX does not specify the one-argument case, so we are free
> to choose the behavior that makes the most sense.  I'm wondering if adding
> some consistency here would help matters (either make ln reject the
> one-argument case, or make cp and mv treat the one-argument case as an
> implicit '-t .').

Removing the one-arg feature of ln is not an option, as I'm sure you
know.  GNU ln has been that way for a very long time -- probably since
the beginning.

I'm not too enthusiastic about making cp and mv consistent on that front,
but if some other implementation does that, or if enough people think
it'd be a worthwhile feature addition (not just for consistency), I'd
consider it.