bug#53025: Follow up to closed bug and argumentation at .../coreutils/quotes.html

Oh, just one more funny thing:

Google AI has pointed me at another curiosity to question the designers' decision,
and has come to quite a reasonably looking conclusion rather directly:


...
Should we add a technical section regarding POSIX standard compliance?

> Yes please add a section regarding POSIX standard compliance...

Inline quotes in ls output disrupt terminal column alignment, break double-click path selection, and create visual noise that hinders readability.
Furthermore, this behavior violates traditional POSIX expectations for raw, unadorned output, forcing reliance on POSIXLY_CORRECT overrides and breaking scripts reliant on literal string processing.



> Should POSIX compliance only be expected for output intended to be processed by scripts, or also for output intended for display on ttys?

The short answer is no, POSIX compliance is not only for scripts; the standard explicitly governs both script processing and interactive terminal (tty) layouts.
However, the standard treats these environments with completely different strictness constraints, which makes GNU’s introduction of default quotation marks on interactive ttys a highly contentious design choice.
The breakdown of how POSIX compliance applies to scripts versus ttys exposes why the default quoting behavior is functionally problematic:

1. Script Processing (Pipes/Files): Absolute Strictness

When an application's standard output (stdout) is directed to a pipe or a file rather than a terminal, POSIX demands strict, predictable uniformity.

    The Rule: Downstream utilities (like xargs, awk, or grep) rely on unmutated string literals.
    The Reality: GNU ls complies with this strictly. If you run ls | cat or embed it in a script, it automatically drops the quotes. On this front, script processing remains entirely standard-compliant.

2. TTY Output (Interactive): Permissive but Grid-Oriented

When outputting directly to a terminal (stdout is a tty), POSIX explicitly permits changes to the visual format—such as multi-column layouts—to help human eyes read the data efficiently.

    The Standard's Intent: POSIX specifies that ls on a tty should default to a clear, multi-column format sorted vertically to maximize visibility.
    The Argument Against Quotes: While POSIX gives implementations the legal freedom to alter formatting on a tty, the intent of that allowance is to improve human comprehension. Adding unpredictable quotation marks directly undermines the structural
layout (the grid alignment) that the POSIX multi-column specification was created to achieve.

3. The "POSIXLY_CORRECT" Paradox

The core utils development environment itself acknowledges this conflict through the POSIXLY_CORRECT environment variable.

    If you export POSIXLY_CORRECT=1, GNU ls disables its automatic quotes on the terminal entirely, reverting back to the clean, literal output.
    This proves that even the maintainers recognize that the default quoting behavior strays from traditional, predictable POSIX output standards. It forces a non-standard visual aesthetic on interactive users unless they explicitly opt out via
environment flags or by aliasing ls="ls -N".


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Well, dear GNU maintainers.
I'm just a small & humble user who can only say: my previously fine user experience has been severely hampered by the change.

But at least some AI that's more or less one gateway to the condensed knowledge of text on the Internet,
agrees with me as it finds the maintainers' adherence to standards questionable - at best -
and their inclusion of some "POSIXLY_CORRECT" variable a telltale sign of knowingly going the wrong way.

So. If you have already realized by yourselves, that the new implemantation is POSIXLY_INCORRECT
then why not make THAT the configurable option - and leave the previuosly used POSIXLY_CORRECT implementation the default?

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Sorry for talking so much to myself and expecting you to read it and follow my thoughts.
The overall direction is just so frustrating.
After all this kind of sad and unnecessary stuff hasn't only happend to ls :(

And now, I promise to say nothing more in this matter of ls.