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Bug #827

(GNU) df gives multiline output even when piped

Added by Jim Klimov over 8 years ago. Updated about 8 years ago.

Status:
Resolved
Priority:
Normal
Assignee:
OI Userland
Category:
OI-Userland
Target version:
oi_151_stable
Start date:
2011-03-17
Due date:
2011-09-14
% Done:

0%

Estimated time:
8.00 h
Difficulty:
Medium
Tags:
needs-triage

Description

When 'df' program encounters "long" device or mountpoint names, it makes the terminal output prettier by splitting such lines into two and space-padding the output.

However, and many scripts historically depended on it, 'df' produces a single line per filesystem when piped (to grep, awk or whatever). This works with both Solaris and Linux (GNU?) df variants.

However, the /usr/gnu/bin/df in OI_148a LiveUSB lacks this feature:

root@openindiana:~# df -k /a
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
rpool/ROOT/openindiana
16717979 2968243 13749736 18% /a

root@openindiana:~# df -k | grep openindiana
rpool/ROOT/openindiana

This is a bug and should be fixed - it can break an indeterminate number of scripts and programs which rely on parsing the 'df' output.

//Jim Klimov

History

#1

Updated by Jim Klimov over 8 years ago

Tested after completed installation: the same (buggy) GNU df variant is installed on hard disk from oi_148a LiveUSB.

#2

Updated by Julian Wiesener over 8 years ago

  • Category set to 10
  • Assignee set to OI SFW

Workarround: Do not use GNU df for your shell scripts

root@laphroaig:~# /usr/gnu/bin/df -k | grep -i long_long
rpool/filesystem_with_long_long_long_long_long_long_long_long_name
root@laphroaig:~# /usr/bin/df -k | grep -i long_long
rpool/filesystem_with_long_long_long_long_long_long_long_long_name 76382208 21 24797798 1% /mnt

#3

Updated by Jim Klimov over 8 years ago

Workaround is relatively suitable, except:
1) Many (legacy/packaged) scripts I've encountered and written rely on system PATH.
If OI sets by default that GNU/bin would be before system /usr/bin, and those utilities don't work properly, it is an issue. Changing all these scripts on each installation (or changing the /etc/profile and wherever else the GNU path is prepended) is not practical.
2) In this particular case, the scripts that broke for me are portable between RHEL and (Open)Solaris, and in both platforms the default "df" worked properly. I'm pretty sure that Linux "df" is a GNU "df", so I view that change in behavior as a regression/incompatibility/whatever.
//Jim

#4

Updated by Ken Mays about 8 years ago

  • Due date set to 2011-09-14
  • Assignee changed from OI SFW to OI Userland
  • Target version set to oi_151_stable
  • Estimated time set to 8.00 h
  • Difficulty set to Medium
  • Tags set to needs-triage
#5

Updated by Ken Mays about 8 years ago

  • Status changed from New to Resolved

,5.11-0.151.1:20110910T035245Z

kmays ~ (spiritworld): df --version
df (GNU coreutils) 8.5
...

kmays ~ (spiritworld): df -k |grep spirit
data/zones/spirited/ROOT/zbe-1
data/zones/spirited/ROOT/dc
data/zones/spirited/ROOT/projects
data/zones/spirited/ROOT/projects/build_trees
data/zones/spirited/ROOT/projects/build_trees/oi-oi_151a
data/zones/spirited/ROOT/projects/sustaining
data/zones/spirited/ROOT/projects/sustaining/oi_151a
data/zones/spirited/ROOT/repos
data/zones/spirited/ROOT/rpool
data/share/us/spiritworld/ga/homes

GNU df is within specs. Possibly, upgrade later.

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