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Posix

2 GoKawiil briefs on this topic

Essay argues OS build tools should share dependency data across compilers and package managers

A technical essay contends that modern operating systems, particularly POSIX-based free and open-source ones, miss optimization opportunities because compilers, build systems and package managers don't share dependency and resource information with each other or the wider system. The author compares older C build tooling, where compiler and build system are separate, with modern languages like Rust, Go and Zig, where tight integration already yields benefits. They use a hypothetical tightly-integrated C build system to illustrate what additional advantages could be unlocked.

Blog post traces history of cp -r vs -R flag divergence

A developer blog post examines whether the cp command's -r and -R recursive-copy flags have ever behaved differently. It traces GNU coreutils source code back to 1992, finding the two flags originally set different internal variables, before being merged into identical behavior in 2002. The post also checks OpenBSD 7.9 and NetBSD 11, finding both still treat -r and -R as distinct, with manuals recommending -R.