Date: Sun, 16 Feb 2003 13:30:16 -0800 (PST) From: Per Hedeland <per@hedeland.org> To: freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: docs/48125: [PATCH] Incorrect errno strings in intro(2) Message-ID: <200302162130.h1GLUGKE037248@freefall.freebsd.org>
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The following reply was made to PR docs/48125; it has been noted by GNATS. From: Per Hedeland <per@hedeland.org> To: freebsd-gnats-submit@FreeBSD.org, per@hedeland.org Cc: Subject: Re: docs/48125: [PATCH] Incorrect errno strings in intro(2) Date: Sun, 16 Feb 2003 22:25:21 +0100 Well, I'm glad you appreciated it, but it really wasn't a major effort or anything - mostly just a bit of awk'ing on the respective sources.:-) However, regarding the contractions: I can see where you're coming from, since I gather that using them in "formal" documents is frowned upon - but I must really strongly disagree with your suggestion to change the code! The output of programs should not be changed for such "frivolous" reasons - e.g. there may well be scripts etc out there that, however unwisely, rely on the exact format of error messages to function correctly. Not to mention that using contractions in error messages is a long-standing Unix tradition, even in cases where the message doesn't originate in sys_errlist. I'd suggest that either you consider these strings to not be part of the actual "document text" (which would be correct I think), and thereby exempt from considerations of "good writing style" - or if that isn't acceptable, leave the "Cannot"s in the man page and the "Can't"s in the code - this discrepancy shouldn't matter *too* much to the reader, who is unlikely to be searching the man page for "Can't" anyway... --Per Hedeland To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-doc" in the body of the message
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