debian: column is outdated, causing errors on --help invocation

[jsamr]

Category

• distro-dependant (a bug occurred because of a distribution specificity)

Describe the bug

Debian ships a 2004 old version of “column” utility from BSD ports, instead of picking the “util-linux” one.

See:

• https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=908975
• https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=961301
• https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/util-linux/+bug/1705437

Reproduction

1. Run bootiso --help on Debian

bootiso v4.0.1 - create a bootable USB drive from an image file.
Usage: bootiso [modifier...] <imagefile>
       bootiso action [modifier...] <imagefile>
       bootiso action

Invoked with no action flag, bootiso will default to install action in automatic mode: inspect <imagefile>boot capabilities and find the best way to make a bootable USB drive.

ACTIONS
column: invalid option -- '-'
usage: column [-txne] [-c columns] [-s sep] [file ...]

GENERIC MODIFIERS
column: invalid option -- '-'
usage: column [-txne] [-c columns] [-s sep] [file ...]

Advanced modifiers are described in bootiso man page.

INSTALL MODE MODIFIERS
column: invalid option -- '-'
usage: column [-txne] [-c columns] [-s sep] [file ...]

-->

Exit status

0

Suggestion fix (optional)

Check for "column" support of advanced tags before printing.