On Wed, 18 Apr 2007 16:53:38 +0300 Peter Pentchev <roam@ringlet.net> wrote: > truncate - FreeBSD utility to truncate or extend the size of files > > The truncate utility adjusts the length of each regular file given > on the command-line. This package is simply a redistribution of the > utility as found in the FreeBSD base system. That description doesn't help explain why a file would need to be truncated (or extended without allocating space). Why truncate a file (and lose data) rather than split the file? Why extend a file without allocating space? Most (all?) file->open routines will support complete truncation to zero length, what is the advantage of retaining only a portion of the old data in the file and risk losing data integrity (because not all regular files use linear storage). XML/HTML/SGML are just three common regular file types that will react badly to arbitrary truncation and ignore extended file sizes without adding data. Don't assume that users will know anything about the FreeBSD version - you need to explain the what, why and when of using such a program without reference to assumptions based on *BSD. -- Neil Williams ============= http://www.data-freedom.org/ http://www.nosoftwarepatents.com/ http://www.linux.codehelp.co.uk/
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