Thanks to your issue (#1042), I just found out that stat -c is GNU, but that macOS/FreeBSD use stat -f. Also, their format flags don’t match (!) but these both return file size:

# GNU
stat -c '%s' file

# macOS/FreeBSD
stat -f '%z' file

But a heads up, you should add the -L argument (same on both platforms) so that even calling a symlink returns the results you want.

You want this:

stat -Lc '%s' -- .bash_history

because %s is an argument of the -c option.

Wait, I just noticed targz uses both stats, without a uname -s-based condition. I'll use that "hack" (not really a hack, because it's the simplest most reliable way known)

You may want to keep the -L option dropped in 72303304b8

Now it's ready (for real, haha)

I've been busy, and thinking of many things yesterday. It seems my cognitive load was higher than I expected. I apologize (to everyone) for the little mistakes

@mathiasbynens please review, it's been months 😕