Re: xstrtol-error: Use quote() before print command line arguments.

Bernhard Voelker <[email protected]> writes:

> On 6/12/26 1:30 PM, Pádraig Brady wrote:
>> On 12/06/2026 01:35, Collin Funk wrote:
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>> I noticed the following inconsistent error message in GNU coreutils:
>>>
>>>      $ od -S $'\t'
>>>      od: invalid -S argument '    '
>>>
>>> For clarity, would would usually escape that, e.g., like this:
>>>
>>>      $ uname $'\t'
>>>      uname: extra operand ‘\t’
>>>      Try 'uname --help' for more information.
>>>
>>> The cause of this inconsistency is the xstrtol-error module, which does
>>> not use quote().
>>>
>>> I am proposing the attached patch to fix this inconsistency. However,
>>> since it affects other packages, I felt it would be rude to make this
>>> change without asking for approval. Here is the list of affected
>>> packages from the lists in maint-tools.git:
>>>
>>>      $ git grep -F 'xstrtol-error' used-modules/
>>>      used-modules/coreutils:  xstrtol-error
>>>      used-modules/datamash:    xstrtol-error
>>>      used-modules/findutils:    xstrtol-error
>>>
>>> I beleive findutils and datamash already use quote() so I think (and
>>> hope) this change is uncontroversial.
>> Thanks for taking the time to audit usage.
>> Given the existing usage, the change looks good I think.
>
> I'm also fine for GNU findutils: there's only one use of xstrol_fatal in locate(1).

Thanks both for checking.

I actually see datamash doesn't use xstrtol_{error,fatal}. I guess the
dependency was leftover from some old code that has since been removed.

I went ahead and pushed that patch. Will update coreutils in a bit.

Collin