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ID Category Severity Type Date Submitted Last Update
0000156 [1003.1(2008)/Issue 7] Shell and Utilities Objection Error 2009-09-22 15:31 2009-12-07 16:55
Reporter geoffclare View Status public  
Assigned To ajosey
Priority normal Resolution Accepted  
Status Interpretation Required  
Name Geoff Clare
Organization The Open Group
User Reference
Section df
Page Number 2595
Line Number 83575
Interp Status Approved
Final Accepted Text Note: 0000289
Summary 0000156: df -k and free inodes
Description The description of the df utility states:

    "The format of the default output from df is unspecified, but all
    space figures are reported in 512-byte units, unless the -k option
    is specified. This output shall contain at least the file system
    names, amount of available space on each of these file systems,
    [XSI] and the number of free file slots, or inodes, available;
    when -t is specified, the output shall contain the total allocated
    space as well.[/XSI]"

Since this talks about the file units in the default output with
and without -k, it implies that the other requirements on the default
output (specifically the XSI requirement to report the number of
free inodes) also apply when -k is used. However, current and
historical practice on System-V based systems is that the number
of free inodes is not reported when -k is used.
Desired Action Change

    "and the number of free file slots"

to

    "and, if no options other than -t are specified, the number of
    free file slots"
Tags No tags attached.
Attached Files

- Relationships

-  Notes
(0000241)
msbrown (manager)
2009-09-24 16:17

Previous resolution was in error, this requires an interpretation.

"The standard states the requirement as listed above, and conforming implementations must conform to this. However, concerns have been raised about this which are being referred to the sponsor."

While investigating this, we discovered that some XSI-branded implementations do not provide the required inode information, even without the -k option being used. This interpretation request concerns the requirements for the -k case only. The inode information requirement is still in place for the default case.
(0000289)
ajosey (manager)
2009-11-07 07:24

Interpretation response
------------------------
The standard states the requirements for the df utility,
and conforming implementations must conform to this. However, concerns
have been raised about this which are being referred to the sponsor."

Rationale:
-------------
None.

Notes to the Editor (not part of this interpretation):
-------------------------------------------------------
Make the change suggested by the submitter
(0000292)
Roger Marquis (reporter)
2009-11-08 17:13

Recommendation: conform to existing practice.

Since none of the most common implementation of 'df' return inode
information without '-i' perhaps it would be more productive to conform POSIX to standard practice.

Standard practice is what systems admins expect, what their scripts
reflect, and what POSIX should standardize unless there is a compelling
reason to change differ.

The default behavior of 'df', whether including '-k' or not is:

  Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% MountPoint

Neither 512K blocks nor inodes are returned. This is because that
information is rarely what users of this utility want.
(0000296)
geoffclare (manager)
2009-11-11 09:40

(Response to Note: 0000292)

Currently the only standard way to find out the number of free
inodes is to use df without -P or -k. If we remove the requirement
for df to output the number of free inodes when invoked this way,
we would have to add a -i option so that there is still a way to
obtain this information. We cannot add an option in a TC; it would
have to wait for the next revision. Therefore I don't believe we
can consider making such a change in this interpretation (because we
need to fix the -k problem in TC1, but can't add -i). However, we
could certainly consider it for the next revision. If you would
like to set the ball rolling on that, please submit a new aardvark
with the type field set to "Enhancement Request".

- Issue History
Date Modified Username Field Change
2009-09-22 15:31 geoffclare New Issue
2009-09-22 15:31 geoffclare Status New => Under Review
2009-09-22 15:31 geoffclare Assigned To => ajosey
2009-09-22 15:31 geoffclare Name => Geoff Clare
2009-09-22 15:31 geoffclare Organization => The Open Group
2009-09-22 15:31 geoffclare Section => df
2009-09-22 15:31 geoffclare Page Number => 2595
2009-09-22 15:31 geoffclare Line Number => 83575
2009-09-22 15:31 geoffclare Interp Status => ---
2009-09-24 16:09 msbrown Status Under Review => Resolved
2009-09-24 16:09 msbrown Resolution Open => Accepted
2009-09-24 16:17 msbrown Interp Status --- => Pending
2009-09-24 16:17 msbrown Note Added: 0000241
2009-09-24 16:17 msbrown Status Resolved => Interpretation Required
2009-11-07 07:24 ajosey Note Added: 0000289
2009-11-07 07:25 ajosey Interp Status Pending => Proposed
2009-11-07 07:25 ajosey Final Accepted Text => Note: 0000289
2009-11-08 17:13 Roger Marquis Note Added: 0000292
2009-11-11 09:40 geoffclare Note Added: 0000296
2009-12-07 16:55 ajosey Interp Status Proposed => Approved


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