netdev - Re: [PATCH iproute2 v2] ip: drop 2-char command assumption

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Date:   Tue, 20 Apr 2021 08:16:08 -0700
From:   Stephen Hemminger <stephen@...workplumber.org>
To:     Tony Ambardar <tony.ambardar@...il.com>
Cc:     David Ahern <dsahern@...il.com>, netdev@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH iproute2 v2] ip: drop 2-char command assumption

On Tue, 20 Apr 2021 01:26:36 -0700
Tony Ambardar <tony.ambardar@...il.com> wrote:

> The 'ip' utility hardcodes the assumption of being a 2-char command, where
> any follow-on characters are passed as an argument:
> 
>   $ ./ip-full help
>   Object "-full" is unknown, try "ip help".
> 
> This confusing behaviour isn't seen with 'tc' for example, and was added in
> a 2005 commit without documentation. It was noticed during testing of 'ip'
> variants built/packaged with different feature sets (e.g. w/o BPF support).
> 
> Mitigate the problem by redoing the command without the 2-char assumption
> if the follow-on characters fail to parse as a valid command.
> 
> Fixes: 351efcde4e62 ("Update header files to 2.6.14")
> Signed-off-by: Tony Ambardar <Tony.Ambardar@...il.com>
> ---
> v2: (feedback from David Ahern)
>   * work around problem but remain compatible with 2-char assumption

I am ok with this, but if you change the name of command, you can expect some
friction (and non support).

The original commit was inherited from the original integration of tarball's
into BitKeeper. This "feature" was put in by Alexey Kuznetsov back in orignal 2.4
time frame.