this post was submitted on 12 Sep 2023
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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less, I don't remember what distro it was, but there wasn'tless. There wasmorethough.Sometimes, more is less.
There's a LESS_IS_MORE env var for
lesswhich makes it behave likemore. Or something like that. Check the manpageThere is a variable in less source code which keep status if less should behave like more
But when will "then" be "now"?
Tuesday.
SOON
Will the future be better tomorrow?
It was, but it was (and still is) a Unix tool. I believe POSIX still requires that
morebe provided (even if it's justlesssecretly).The original Unix
morecould only go forwards. Someone wanted to make something likemorethat could go both forwards and backwards, so he called itlessas a joke (because "less" is a "backwards more"). For the past 40 years, everyone's realized thatlessis much better than the originalmore, so nobody uses the original any more.(MSDOS took the idea of "more" before "less" caught on).
Also, sometimes they have an old version of less. There was a change in the past, I don't know, five or so years that made the "exit if less than one page" flag behave better. I don't remember the specifics but it made using it as a fit pager way better. It used to be that it was difficult to have it act like cat when the output was less than a page. But newer versions support it.
What distro was this?