Why does oot say "hey" in usleep -o?

Question

On a Centos 6.6 box I noticed this...

[root@abcd /]# usleep --help
Usage: usleep [microseconds]
  -v, --version     Display the version of this program, and exit
  -o, --oot         oot says hey!

Help options:
  -?, --help        Show this help message
  --usage           Display brief usage message
[root@abcd /]# usleep -o
oot says hey!

While the man page doesn't mention it...

OPTIONS
   --usage Show short usage message.

   --help, -?
          Print help information.

   -v, --version
          Print version information.

So, why does oot say "hey"?

Edit: Certainly this is an Easter egg, but it seems like it might be one with a story.

Devs don't know either https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg117735.html — steve, Aug 20 '15 at 18:52
"Oot" can be an acronym for "out of time" which makes some sense in this context. — Mark Wagner, Aug 20 '15 at 19:08

score 9 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 28 '15 at 07:13

Not sure about the easter egg, but

Why does oot say “hey” in usleep -o?

simple, because it's in the source:

struct poptOption options[] = {
        { "version", 'v', POPT_ARG_NONE, &showVersion, 0, 
        "Display the version of this program, and exit" },
        { "oot", 'o', POPT_ARG_NONE, &showOot, 0, 
        "oot says hey!" },
    POPT_AUTOHELP
        { 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 }
    };

There is no further indication on why it was introduced. ducks.

Why does oot say "hey" in usleep -o?

1 Answers1

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