Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2001 13:20:02 -0800 (PST) From: swear@blarg.net (Gary W. Swearingen) To: freebsd-doc@freebsd.org Subject: Re: docs/32082: true.1 totally incorrect Message-ID: <200111192120.fAJLK2x90278@freefall.freebsd.org>
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The following reply was made to PR docs/32082; it has been noted by GNATS.
From: swear@blarg.net (Gary W. Swearingen)
To: setantae <setantae@submonkey.net>
Cc: FreeBSD-gnats-submit@FreeBSD.ORG, doc@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject: Re: docs/32082: true.1 totally incorrect
Date: 19 Nov 2001 13:12:42 -0800
I think "true" and "false" should not bother with DIAGNOSTIC sections,
but if used they should match the description's terminology and sense.
All of "exit code", "exit status", "status" are in common use ("exit
value", less so), but in the "sh", "ksh", and "csh" man pages "exit
code" is used only in "sh" and there only in two adjacent sentences.
Selection of "status" or "exit status" is more context dependent and a
matter of taste. (I would try to avoid using "code", even though that
is more natural to me than "status" because of my personal experience.)
It's debatable whether the status of "false" should be given as "one" or
"non-zero". Should man pages describe the actual program or the
presumed specification of the program? What specification should be
presumed in this case? The shell man pages sometimes say that a command
returns "one" when "non-zero" would seem to suffice. (I think man pages
should describe presumed specifications, but in this case I think the
specification should be that "false" should exit with status = "1".)
Which brings up another issue. Is an exit status code value an integer
or a string and should they be given as numerics or English words? (I
guess I'd wimp out and say that people should be expected to deal with
the small confusion and allow both forms but recommend English words in
most contexts as demanded by standard rules of English for readability.)
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