Re: Adding a '-D date' option to `cat'

Doug Barton wrote:

>Sam Leffler wrote:
>
>  
>
>>I have ignored all the subsequent postings about modifying date to add
>>completely new functionality that is utterly unrelated to it's purpose
>>in life.  From the looks of this posting it appears you've chosen cat as
>>the new victim for this functionality.  This again is wrong; cat is a
>>filter that concatenates streams of data and does not modify their contents.
>>
>>I think committing any changes of the sort are wrong-headed and totally
>>contrary to the way UNIX was designed.  If you want a program that acts
>>as a filter and adds a timestamp to each line of input it receives
>>create a new one.  I even have a name for this program: stamp.
>>    
>>
>
>I agree with Sam on all points here. Please stop trying to bastardize well
>known tools with well known feature sets. If you want something new and
>unique, make it really new, and unique.
>  
>


then there will be a bikeshed about adding a new tool because
"I have not needed this myself until now"

Date could have had this feature added in 20 lines of C.
you'd rather create a whole new beaurocracy.

>Doug
>
>  
>