Date: Thu, 16 Aug 2001 10:43:02 +0930 From: Greg Lehey <grog@FreeBSD.org> To: Ruslan Ermilov <ru@FreeBSD.org> Cc: Alexander Langer <alex@big.endian.de>, cvs-committers@FreeBSD.org, cvs-all@FreeBSD.org, Bruce Evans <bde@zeta.org.au> Subject: "Rules" in documentation (was: cvs commit: src/bin/pwd pwd.1 src/bin/sh sh.1 src/gnu/usr.bin/man/manpath manpath.man src/lib/libc/db/man mpool.3 src/lib/libc/net getaddrinfo.3 getipnodebyname.3 src/lib/libc/posix1e acl.3 cap.3 cap_get_proc.3 posix1e.3 ...) Message-ID: <20010816104302.I49989@wantadilla.lemis.com> In-Reply-To: <20010815100157.C47417@sunbay.com>; from ru@FreeBSD.org on Wed, Aug 15, 2001 at 10:01:57AM %2B0300 References: <20010815100157.C47417@sunbay.com> <20010815180724.A19209-100000@besplex.bde.org> <20010815114633.A61889@sunbay.com> <200107061646.f66Gkmf53701@freefall.freebsd.org> <20010814204826.A22531@zerogravity.kawo2.rwth-aachen.d> <20010815100157.C47417@sunbay.com>
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On Wednesday, 15 August 2001 at 10:01:57 +0300, Ruslan Ermilov wrote: > On Tue, Aug 14, 2001 at 08:48:26PM +0200, Alexander Langer wrote: >> Thus spake Ruslan Ermilov (ru@FreeBSD.org): >> >>> share/man/man9 DECLARE_MODULE.9 DEVICE_IDENTIFY.9 >>> DEV_MODULE.9 DRIVER_MODULE.9 >>> MODULE_DEPEND.9 MODULE_VERSION.9 >>> mdoc(7) police: sort SEE ALSO xrefs (sort -b -f +2 -3 +1 -2). >> >> The xref's have been sorted _logically_. >> Especially DEVICE_IDENTIFY(9)'s SEE ALSO section is unhandsome now. >> >> And I still think MODULE* comes before module*, which is the usual >> UNIX sort method. >> > We have a rule for this, in mdoc(7): > >> It is recommended that the cross references are sorted >> on the section number, then alphabetically on the >> names within a section, and placed in that order and >> comma separated. I don't see a rule here, only a recommendation. > "Alphabetically" means that the case is unimportant. > Think of the SEE ALSO as of a book's Index. All folded-case alphabetical sorting I have seen has kept a consistent style. Not doing so would look really messy. On Wednesday, 15 August 2001 at 11:46:33 +0300, Ruslan Ermilov wrote: > On Wed, Aug 15, 2001 at 06:13:49PM +1000, Bruce Evans wrote: >> On Wed, 15 Aug 2001, Ruslan Ermilov wrote: >> >>> On Tue, Aug 14, 2001 at 08:48:26PM +0200, Alexander Langer wrote: >>>> The xref's have been sorted _logically_. >>>> Especially DEVICE_IDENTIFY(9)'s SEE ALSO section is unhandsome now. >>>> >>>> And I still think MODULE* comes before module*, which is the usual >>>> UNIX sort method. >>>> >>> We have a rule for this, in mdoc(7): >>> >>>> It is recommended that the cross references are sorted >>>> on the section number, then alphabetically on the >>>> names within a section, and placed in that order and >>>> comma separated. >>> >>> "Alphabetically" means that the case is unimportant. >>> Think of the SEE ALSO as of a book's Index. >> >> I think case is important. It just doesn't make much difference for >> man pages because most man pages don't have unhandsome upper case names Unfortunately, they now do. This is another "rule". > Well, I looked at the several of my books, including "TCP/IP > Illustrated" by Stevens and "The Design and Implementation of the > 4.4BSD Operating System" by McKusick (both books published by AWL), > and they had their Index sorted alphabetically, not > lexicographically. Well, that could be the publisher's guideline. The correct place to look would be a style guide. But I don't think that the index in a book has very much in common with SEE ALSO in man pages. If a man page writer has a particular reason for a specific sequence, I don't think other people should go in and change it. And I think we should have fewer rules and more guidelines. Greg -- See complete headers for address and phone numbers To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe cvs-all" in the body of the message
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