[PATCH v3 08/13] libc.7: wfix

[PATCH v3 08/13] libc.7: wfix

[G. Branden Robinson]

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* Say "GNU/Linux distributions" instead of "Linux distributions".
* Clarify claim about popularity of glibc.
* Tighten wording.

Signed-off-by: G. Branden Robinson <g.branden.robinson@gmail.com>
---
 man7/libc.7 | 103 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++------------------------
 1 file changed, 55 insertions(+), 48 deletions(-)

diff --git a/man7/libc.7 b/man7/libc.7
index 43ec0269f..c6180075c 100644
--- a/man7/libc.7
+++ b/man7/libc.7
@@ -16,80 +16,88 @@ Because of some history
 use of the term \(lqlibc\(rq
 to refer to the standard C library is somewhat ambiguous on Linux.
 .SS glibc
-By far the most widely used C library on Linux is the
+The standard libc most popularly used with the Linux kernel is
 .UR http://www.gnu.org\:/software\:/libc/
 GNU C Library
 .UE ,
-often referred to as
+widely called
 .IR glibc .
-This is the C library that is nowadays used in all
-major Linux distributions.
-It is also the C library whose details are documented
+This implementation is nowadays used
+in all major GNU/Linux distributions.
+Its details are documented
 in the relevant pages of the
+Linux
 .I man-pages
-project
-(primarily in Section 3 of the manual).
-Documentation of glibc is also available in the glibc manual,
-available via the command
-.IR "info libc" .
-Release 1.0 of glibc was made in September 1992.
+project,
+primarily in section 3 of the manual.
+glibc also offers a manual of its own in Texinfo format,
+browsable at the command line with
+.RI \(lq "info libc" \(rq.
+Version 1.0 of glibc was released in September 1992.
 (There were earlier 0.x releases.)
-The next major release of glibc was 2.0,
+The next major release of glibc was 2.0
 at the beginning of 1997.
 .PP
-The pathname
+The file
 .I /lib/libc.so.6
-(or something similar)
-is normally a symbolic link that
-points to the location of the glibc library,
-and executing this pathname will cause glibc to display
-various information about the version installed on your system.
+or similar
+is normally a symbolic link to the glibc library.
+Execute it to display information about the version installed on your
+system.
 .SS Linux libc
-In the early to mid 1990s,
-there was for a while
+In the early to mid-1990s,
 .IR "Linux libc" ,
-a fork of glibc 1.x created by Linux developers who felt that glibc
-development at the time was not sufficing for the needs of Linux.
+a fork of glibc\~1,
+was maintained by Linux developers
+who felt that glibc development at the time
+did not meet the Linux user community's needs.
 Often,
-this library was referred to (ambiguously) as just \(lqlibc\(rq.
+this library was referred to,
+simply and ambiguously,
+as \(lqlibc\(rq.
 Linux libc released major versions 2, 3, 4, and 5,
-as well as many minor versions of those releases.
-Linux libc4 was the last version to use the a.out binary format,
-and the first version to provide (primitive) shared library support.
-Linux libc 5 was the first version to support the ELF binary format;
-this version used the shared library soname
+along with many minor updates.
+Linux libc\~4 was the last to use the
+object file format called \(lqa.out\(rq,
+and the first on Linux to provide (primitive) shared library support.
+Linux libc\~5 was the first on Linux to support ELF object code;
+it employed the
+.I soname
+(shared object name)
 .IR libc.so.5 .
 For a while,
-Linux libc was the standard C library in many Linux distributions.
+Linux libc was the standard C library in many GNU/Linux distributions.
 .PP
-However,
-notwithstanding the original motivations of the Linux libc effort,
-by the time glibc 2.0 was released
-(in 1997),
+Notwithstanding the original motivations of the Linux libc effort,
+by the time glibc 2.0 was released,
 it was clearly superior to Linux libc,
-and all major Linux distributions that had been using Linux libc
-soon switched back to glibc.
-To avoid any confusion with Linux libc versions,
-glibc 2.0 and later used the shared library soname
-.IR libc.so.6 .
+and all major GNU/Linux distributions that had been using Linux libc
+soon switched (back) to glibc.
+To avoid confusion with Linux libc versioning,
+glibc 2.0 and later use the soname
+.I libc.so.6
+on Linux systems to indicate their status as successors
+to Linux libc\~5.
 .PP
 Since the switch from Linux libc to glibc 2.0 occurred long ago,
 .I man-pages
 no longer takes care to document Linux libc details.
 Nevertheless,
-the history is visible in vestiges of information
-about Linux libc that remain in a few manual pages,
+vestiges of this history linger in comments
+about Linux libc in a few manual pages\(em\
 in particular,
 references to
 .I libc4
 and
 .IR libc5 .
 .SS Other C libraries
-There are various other less widely used C libraries for Linux.
-These libraries are generally smaller than glibc,
-both in terms of features and memory footprint,
-and often intended for building small binaries,
-perhaps targeted at development for embedded Linux systems.
+Other,
+less widely used,
+C libraries for Linux exist.
+They are generally smaller than glibc
+in terms of features and memory footprint,
+and are often intended for building small binaries,
+such as those targetting embedded systems.
 Among such libraries are
 .UR http://www\:.uclibc\:.org/
 .I uClibc
@@ -101,10 +109,9 @@ and
 .UR http://www\:.musl\-libc\:.org/
 .I "musl libc"
 .UE .
-Details of these libraries are covered by the
+Details of these are offered by Linux
 .I man-pages
-project,
-where they are known.
+where known.
 .SH SEE ALSO
 .BR syscalls (2),
 .BR getauxval (3),
-- 
2.30.2


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