rsync - Nov 2016 - [Bug 12440] New: make "rsync -N" == "rsync --numeric-ids" ?

https://bugzilla.samba.org/show_bug.cgi?id=12440

            Bug ID: 12440
           Summary: make "rsync -N" == "rsync --numeric-ids"
?
           Product: rsync
           Version: 3.1.2
          Hardware: All
                OS: All
            Status: NEW
          Severity: enhancement
          Priority: P5
         Component: core
          Assignee: wayned at samba.org
          Reporter: hdunkel at aixigo.de
        QA Contact: rsync-qa at samba.org

Hi folks,

"--numeric-ids" is a lot of text and easy to be forgotten or
misspelled.

Since it is a highly important option for making backups of remote systems via
rsync I wonder if "-N" could be introduced as an abbreviation for
"--numeric-ids"? "-N" is not in use yet, afaics.

Just a suggestion, of course. Keep on your good work.

Regards
Harri

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--- Comment #1 from Harri <hdunkel at aixigo.de> ---
Created attachment 12689
  --> https://bugzilla.samba.org/attachment.cgi?id=12689&action=edit
proposed patch

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Wayne Davison <wayned at samba.org> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
         Resolution|---                         |WONTFIX
             Status|NEW                         |RESOLVED

--- Comment #2 from Wayne Davison <wayned at samba.org> ---
The -N option is the letter that the crtimes patch uses for --crtimes, so I
consider it already allocated.

One thing you can use is the popt (option parsing) library's support for
aliases in both /etc/popt and ~/.popt -- e.g.:

rsync alias -N --numeric-ids
rsync alias -9 -ai --numeric-ids --chmod=o-rwx --omit-link-times

As long as you allocate your hosts with a consistent /etc/popt file, you can
treat the option the same as if it were compiled into the executable.

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--- Comment #3 from Harri <hdunkel at aixigo.de> ---
I have several objections:
* --numeric-ids is in wide use, while there is no --crtimes in rsync yet
* --crtimes is useful only on MacOS, --numeric-ids on all Unix-like platforms.
The 
  probality for someone using --numeric-ids is much higher.
* There is no "n" in "crtimes". The letter was chosen just
because it was free.
  Another char could be used just as easy. But "N" ==
"numeric"? Thats easy to
  remember.
Of course the --crtimes is a useful option for the MacOS command line users,
but maybe Apple is dropping this feature in their new file system next week.

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Harri <hdunkel at aixigo.de> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Status|RESOLVED                    |REOPENED
         Resolution|WONTFIX                     |---

--- Comment #4 from Harri <hdunkel at aixigo.de> ---
PS: The popt feature is interesting, but I made this suggestion for the benefit
of *all* rsync users. Not to mention that there would be no error message if
the /etc/popt and ~/.popt files are missing and rsync would silently use
--crtimes instead, mapping it to NOOP.

Please reconsider.

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Wayne Davison <wayned at samba.org> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
         Resolution|---                         |WONTFIX
             Status|REOPENED                    |RESOLVED

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