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From: Alejandro Colomar <alx.manpages@gmail.com>
To: Douglas McIlroy <douglas.mcilroy@dartmouth.edu>
Cc: linux-man@vger.kernel.org, Alejandro Colomar <alx@kernel.org>,
	Martin Sebor <msebor@redhat.com>,
	"G. Branden Robinson" <g.branden.robinson@gmail.com>,
	Jakub Wilk <jwilk@jwilk.net>
Subject: Re: [PATCH v3 1/1] strcpy.3: Rewrite page to document all string-copying functions
Date: Wed, 14 Dec 2022 17:36:43 +0100	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <76d2db42-a3ba-9560-91ed-075e94c14f5c@gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <CAKH6PiUrQzb7vRZxUs0742WnfaLpcUec0QfdJQJ5Di8LqFg+NA@mail.gmail.com>


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Hi Doug!

Thanks for having a look at it!

On 12/14/22 17:22, Douglas McIlroy wrote:
>> a sequence of zero or more non-null characters followed by a null byte
> 
> Varying  terminology (character vs byte) is poor style in technical writing.

I thought of using null character, but it was longer, and I prefer shorter terms.

About using byte for everything... it feels a bit wrong especially when I'm 
trying to make a clear distinction between strings and character sequences that 
don't have a terminating NUL.

And, since the two are distinct things that should not be mixed (as far as 
strings are concerned), it doesn't feel so bad using different terms for them.

> 
>> concatenate
> 
> We began fighting this pomposity before v7. There has only been
> backsliding since..
> "Catenate" is crisper, means the same thing, and concurs with the "cat" command.
> I invite you to join the battle for simplicity.

Heh, I didn't know the word existed.  In Spanish we only have "concatenar". 
I'll happily join this battle for simplicity :)

> 
>> chain copy
> 
> This term is never overtly defined. The definition might be inferred
> from, "To chain copy
> functions, they need to return a pointer to the end", but the
> problematic grammar of the
> sentence diverts attention from its content.

Okay, I'll try to improve the wording in that paragraph; indeed that subsection 
intended to define the "chain copy" term.

> 
>> strscpy
> 
> Doesn't it muddy the waters to include a non-library function in man3?

Initially I wanted to discuss it because it always comes up in discussions about 
better string-copying functions.

But since I don't provide an implementation for it (since it's hard to get 
right) (as opposed to the other functions that are not in libraries, for which I 
show trivial implementations), and don't see it very useful, I can remove it. 
Less lines wasted with it.

Maybe I'll keep a small mention to it.

> 
> Doug

Cheers,

Alex

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  reply	other threads:[~2022-12-14 16:37 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 53+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2022-12-11 23:59 string_copy(7): New manual page documenting string copying functions Alejandro Colomar
2022-12-12  0:17 ` Alejandro Colomar
2022-12-12  0:25 ` Alejandro Colomar
2022-12-12  0:32 ` Alejandro Colomar
2022-12-12 14:24 ` [PATCH 1/3] strcpy.3: Rewrite page to document all string-copying functions Alejandro Colomar
2022-12-12 17:33   ` Alejandro Colomar
2022-12-12 18:38     ` groff man(7) extensions (was: [PATCH 1/3] strcpy.3: Rewrite page to document all string-copying functions) G. Branden Robinson
2022-12-13 15:45       ` a Q quotation macro for man(7) (was: groff man(7) extensions) G. Branden Robinson
2022-12-12 23:00   ` [PATCH v2 0/3] Rewrite strcpy(3) Alejandro Colomar
2022-12-13 20:56     ` Jakub Wilk
2022-12-13 20:57       ` Alejandro Colomar
2022-12-13 22:05       ` Alejandro Colomar
2022-12-13 22:46         ` Alejandro Colomar
2022-12-14  0:03     ` [PATCH v3 0/1] Rewritten page for string-copying functions Alejandro Colomar
2022-12-14  0:14       ` Alejandro Colomar
2022-12-14  0:16         ` Alejandro Colomar
2022-12-14 16:17       ` [PATCH v4 " Alejandro Colomar
2022-12-15  0:26         ` [PATCH v5 0/5] Rewrite pages about " Alejandro Colomar
2022-12-19 21:02           ` [PATCH v6 0/5] Rewrite documentation for " Alejandro Colomar
2022-12-19 21:02           ` [PATCH v6 1/5] string_copy.7: Add page to document all " Alejandro Colomar
2022-12-20 15:00             ` Stefan Puiu
2022-12-20 15:03               ` Alejandro Colomar
2023-01-20  3:43             ` Eric Biggers
2023-01-20 12:55               ` Alejandro Colomar
2022-12-19 21:02           ` [PATCH v6 2/5] stpecpy.3, stpecpyx.3, ustpcpy.3, ustr2stp.3, zustr2stp.3, zustr2ustp.3: Add new links to string_copy(7) Alejandro Colomar
2022-12-19 21:02           ` [PATCH v6 3/5] stpcpy.3, strcpy.3, strcat.3: Document in a single page Alejandro Colomar
2022-12-19 21:02           ` [PATCH v6 4/5] stpncpy.3, strncpy.3: " Alejandro Colomar
2022-12-19 21:02           ` [PATCH v6 5/5] strncat.3: Rewrite to be consistent with string_copy.7 Alejandro Colomar
2022-12-15  0:26         ` [PATCH v5 1/5] string_copy.7: Add page to document all string-copying functions Alejandro Colomar
2022-12-15  0:30           ` Alejandro Colomar
2022-12-15  0:26         ` [PATCH v5 2/5] stpecpy.3, stpecpyx.3, ustpcpy.3, ustr2stp.3, zustr2stp.3, zustr2ustp.3: Add new links to string_copy(7) Alejandro Colomar
2022-12-15  0:27           ` Alejandro Colomar
2022-12-16 18:47             ` Stefan Puiu
2022-12-16 19:03               ` Alejandro Colomar
2022-12-16 19:09                 ` Alejandro Colomar
2022-12-15  0:26         ` [PATCH v5 3/5] stpcpy.3, strcpy.3, strcat.3: Document in a single page Alejandro Colomar
2022-12-16 14:46           ` Alejandro Colomar
2022-12-16 14:47             ` Alejandro Colomar
2022-12-15  0:26         ` [PATCH v5 4/5] stpncpy.3, strncpy.3: " Alejandro Colomar
2022-12-15  0:28           ` Alejandro Colomar
2022-12-15  0:26         ` [PATCH v5 5/5] strncat.3: Rewrite to be consistent with string_copy.7 Alejandro Colomar
2022-12-15  0:29           ` Alejandro Colomar
2022-12-14 16:17       ` [PATCH v4 1/1] strcpy.3: Rewrite page to document all string-copying functions Alejandro Colomar
2022-12-14  0:03     ` [PATCH v3 " Alejandro Colomar
2022-12-14 16:22       ` Douglas McIlroy
2022-12-14 16:36         ` Alejandro Colomar [this message]
2022-12-14 17:11           ` Alejandro Colomar
2022-12-14 17:19             ` Alejandro Colomar
2022-12-12 23:00   ` [PATCH v2 1/3] " Alejandro Colomar
2022-12-12 23:00   ` [PATCH v2 2/3] stpcpy.3, stpncpy.3, strcat.3, strncat.3, strncpy.3: Transform the old pages into links to strcpy(3) Alejandro Colomar
2022-12-12 23:00   ` [PATCH v2 3/3] stpecpy.3, stpecpyx.3, strlcat.3, strlcpy.3, strscpy.3: Add new " Alejandro Colomar
2022-12-12 14:24 ` [PATCH 2/3] stpcpy.3, stpncpy.3, strcat.3, strncat.3, strncpy.3: Transform the old pages into " Alejandro Colomar
2022-12-12 14:24 ` [PATCH 3/3] stpecpy.3, stpecpyx.3, strlcat.3, strlcpy.3, strscpy.3: Add new " Alejandro Colomar

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