Re: history -r should print error message if file doesn't exist

On 2026-01-14 at 05:32 -0700, Stan Marsh wrote:
> From:	Chet Ramey
> Subject: Re: history -r should print error message if file doesn't exist
> Date:	Tue, 13 Jan 2026 13:47:16 -0500
> 
> > On 1/11/26 3:31 PM, Dan Jacobson wrote:
> > > history -r should print error message if file doesn't exist.
> > > $ history -r zzzzz
> > > $
> 
> > Not unreasonable. There are a few values of errno where printing an error
> > message is appropriate.
> 
> I don't understand what you are trying to say here.
> 
> Are you saying it is "not-a-bug" and thus nothing to see here?
> 
> Or something else?
> 
> FWIW, I think it can and should be fixed.  It seems clear to me that
> trying to access a non-existent file is something the user would want
> to hear about.

Quite the opposite. I understand in that message that Chet is agreeing
with jidanni
(although I think this depends on the builtin, rather than on errno. I
can't think on an
errno returned when opening/reading a file you would /not/ want
reported for an utility
like history -r)



> =================================================================================
> Please do not send me replies to my posts on the list.
> I always read the replies via the web archive, so CC'ing to me is unnecessary.

This explains why you are creating a new thread every time you "reply" to a post.
You are free to use archives to read mailing lists, but you should set the in-Reply-To header.
so that you don't break threading.

bug-bash mailing list archives are exceptionally well-prepared for that.

So, on the message from Chet at 
https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bash/2026-01/msg00032.html, when
you click on reply via email, that will call to the script at 
https://lists.gnu.org/mp/yyz.py that will HTTP-302 redirect to:

mailto:chet.ramey@case[.]edu?In-Reply-To=61d1e8aa-507e-4e0a-ab3c-
35bbc690c0cb%40case.edu&Subject=Re%3A%20history%20-
r%20should%20print%20error%20message%20if%20file%20doesn%27t%20exist

that should open your MUA with To:, In-Reply-To: and Subject:
prefilled, where you would only need
to change the To: to [email protected] in order to reach the list in the
proper thread.

Alternatively, you could manually copy into the In-Reply-To header the
proper value (you can find it
on the page source as the value of the "d" hidden input field)


Regards