Dear Jerry Van Baren,
In message 4A773C1C.7080109@ge.com you wrote:
It is a configuration/design decision: see include/command.h line 46ff, struct cmd_tbl_s, field "repeatable". This is configured via the U_BOOT_CMD macro.
Sometimes it is nice (e.g. sequencing through memory dumps), sometimes it bites (you found one of those!). IMHO, it is enabled in places where it would be better to rely on command line recall rather than the repeat function.
The general rule is that any command that is non-destructive is repeatable, i. e. a "tftp" will be repeated, while an "erase" will not.
Indeed, today command line history makes it partially dispensable, but often at the cost of more typing (think about using the "md" command).
I think the repeat functionality predated the command line recall functionality, so it use to be more desirable to repeat the command because there wasn't an alternative way to repeat the command.
Correct, this, and because that was exactly what I wanted when I implemented it :-)
Best regards,
Wolfgang Denk