uutils/coreutils

Difference in offsets for `od --strings -N`

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#11613 opened on Apr 3, 2026

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U - odgood first issuereported-canonical-2

Description

This is a difference between uu od and GNU od, but uu's output is more reasonable. Should this be submitted to GNU coreutils' issue tracker?

root@b082d601e194:/tmp# od --version
od (GNU coreutils) 9.7
Packaged by Debian (9.7-3)
Copyright (C) 2025 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

Written by Jim Meyering.
root@b082d601e194:/tmp# printf "foo\0bar " | od --strings -N7
0000000 foo
root@b082d601e194:/tmp# printf "foo\0bar " | od --strings -N8
0000000 foo
0000003 bar

root@03081849be59:/tmp# od --version
od (uutils coreutils) 0.6.0
root@03081849be59:/tmp# printf "foo\0bar " | od --strings -N7
0000000 foo
0000004 bar
root@03081849be59:/tmp# printf "foo\0bar " | od --strings -N8
0000000 foo
0000004 bar

Contributor guide

Tech stack
rustshell
Domain
cli
Issue type
bug
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
3
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
half day
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
fresh
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
clear
Prerequisites
Rustod command
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
60
Research direction
Investigate the offset calculation in the `od` implementation, particularly when ` N` and ` strings` flags are combined. Examine the logic that outputs string offsets and compare with GNU behavior. Look at the relevant source files (e.g., `src/uu/od/src/od.rs`) and existing tests to understand the expected output and identify the discrepancy.