bin/15205: [patch] Addition to random(6)

[Alexander Best]

The following reply was made to PR bin/15205; it has been noted by GNATS.

From: Alexander Best <arundel at freebsd.org>
To: Chip Camden <sterling at camdensoftware.com>
Cc: bug-followup at freebsd.org
Subject: Re: bin/15205: [patch] Addition to random(6)
Date: Tue, 10 Aug 2010 09:55:04 +0000

 On Mon Aug  9 10, Chip Camden wrote:
 > Quoth Alexander Best on Tuesday, 10 August 2010:
 > > could you provide an example how to reproduce the same output (ls /bin | random -s 8) with an unpatched copy of ranom?
 > > 
 > > cheers.
 > > alex
 > > 
 > > -- 
 > > a13x
 > 
 > 
 > Sure:
 > 
 > ls /bin | random 8
 
 i don't think this reproduces the exact ouput as `ls /bin | random -s 8`.
 
 `random 8` will print each input line with a probability of 1/8th.
 
 `random -s 8` on the other hand will print a random line out of every 8 lines of input. this means that for a static number of input lines `random -s 8` will always produce the same number of output lines, wheras the number of lines returned by `random 8` will be different for each run.
 
 cheers
 alex
 
 ps: please keep bug-followup@ in the CC field so our conversation gets archived by GNATS.
 
 > 
 > -- 
 > Sterling (Chip) Camden    | sterling at camdensoftware.com | 2048D/3A978E4F
 > http://camdensoftware.com | http://chipstips.com        | http://chipsquips.com
 
 
 
 -- 
 a13x