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[rdks <nospaceleftondevice11one@xxxxxxxxx>]

This is not a bug, but expected behaviour.

If an ordering option is supplied to '-k' ('n' in this particular case),
global ordering options are overridden.

I.e. when sort is called this way:
    sort --reverse -k2
the global option '--reverse' takes effect.

But in this case:
    sort --reverse -k2n
the '--reverse' option is overridden by 'n', therefore the command
becomes equivalent to:
    sort -n -k2

The solution woud be to to either stick to global options:
   sort --reverse --numeric-sort -k2
or if sorting options for multiple fields are required, to add a
local reverse option to '-k':
   sort -k2rn

BTW: this behaviour is also documented in the man page:
...
       -k, --key=KEYDEF
              sort via a key; KEYDEF gives location and type
...
       KEYDEF is F[.C][OPTS][,F[.C][OPTS]] for start and stop position, where F is a field number and C a character position in the field; both are origin 1, and the stop position defaults to the line's
       end.  If neither -t nor -b is in effect, characters in a field are counted from the beginning of the preceding whitespace.  OPTS is one or more single-letter ordering options [bdfgiMhnRrV], which
       override global ordering options for that key.  If no key is given, use the entire line as the key.
...

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1404548

Title:
  sort --reverse does not reverse numeric sorts

Status in coreutils package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  The --reverse option is supposed to reverse the sense of comparisons, but does not affect numeric ('g' or 'n') sorts.
  With the input filed 02 q
  l 10 f
  abc 01 x
  abc 01 y
  abc 01 z
  n 10 u
  d 02 m
  d 02 b
  b 10 c
  I get the same results with either of
  sort --reverse -k2n 
  sort -k2n

  namely
  abc 01 x
  abc 01 y
  abc 01 z
  d 02 b
  d 02 m
  d 02 q
  b 10 c
  l 10 f
  n 10 u

  
  But if I do 
  sort --reverse -k2
  I get 
  n 10 u
  l 10 f
  b 10 c
  d 02 q
  d 02 m
  d 02 b
  abc 01 z
  abc 01 y
  abc 01 x

  And the same things happen with or without leading zeroes on field 2.

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
  Package: coreutils 8.21-1ubuntu5
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-43.72-generic 3.13.11.11
  Uname: Linux 3.13.0-43-generic x86_64
  ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.6
  Architecture: amd64
  CurrentDesktop: XFCE
  Date: Sat Dec 20 11:00:06 2014
  InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-08-11 (131 days ago)
  InstallationMedia: Xubuntu 14.04.1 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Release amd64 (20140723)
  SourcePackage: coreutils
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

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