From owner-freebsd-arch@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Mar 21 19:23:05 2014 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-arch@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) (using TLSv1 with cipher ADH-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 1DFBE46A for ; Fri, 21 Mar 2014 19:23:05 +0000 (UTC) Received: from mail-pb0-f50.google.com (mail-pb0-f50.google.com [209.85.160.50]) (using TLSv1 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-RC4-SHA (128/128 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id DE10A802 for ; Fri, 21 Mar 2014 19:23:04 +0000 (UTC) Received: by mail-pb0-f50.google.com with SMTP id md12so2817514pbc.9 for ; Fri, 21 Mar 2014 12:23:04 -0700 (PDT) X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=1e100.net; s=20130820; h=x-gm-message-state:sender:content-type:mime-version:subject:from :in-reply-to:date:cc:content-transfer-encoding:message-id:references :to; bh=Ni6vJ+PsNCtSifKSdpJhnt6fxZ9hnr42KmjMjz22hXA=; b=CK0S2MpbWNG0szVkFdjemNUiHRSc8K+UaTLz9seiSeptV/NI14YL7IaD6bMemeX0VO qIWq9Ri4y1TkBoy0Pui+xSViV46ihbnBLGXiEqPCx/YxyKQLkBnJCaprAv3KCSiwcE1j vbVa8rlBifWNEhuEyPOgFiYN19axQNmy0ApNmS4usSYSpj0CJft8mdIMDDgn5qiDyYpY wwyJ8k7Hh7A6AyubcSU81xyO2yYm2AsTh5yHxOkjTj/Jhb8ic8aW41lbdZBH5SCnWrRF R5kBRBwc0phTAFfGfOQeHocKQ4Y/XqrX/HgdFZAmMpjEh1X+KY+wXxlGx10qJr7s4ojb U3GA== X-Gm-Message-State: ALoCoQk8VIHK0N5snvhnMKCo679kQ8jGmr0KoWoz5+gpNeqbDNFanBArE7nW+KH2IMcqrAzY3cZa X-Received: by 10.66.20.10 with SMTP id j10mr57357297pae.11.1395428287863; Fri, 21 Mar 2014 11:58:07 -0700 (PDT) Received: from lgmac-scingram.corp.netflix.com (dc1-prod.netflix.com. [69.53.236.251]) by mx.google.com with ESMTPSA id om6sm11284596pbc.43.2014.03.21.11.58.06 for (version=TLSv1 cipher=ECDHE-RSA-RC4-SHA bits=128/128); Fri, 21 Mar 2014 11:58:07 -0700 (PDT) Sender: Warner Losh Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252 Mime-Version: 1.0 (Mac OS X Mail 7.2 \(1874\)) Subject: Re: Hello fdclose From: Warner Losh In-Reply-To: <1395422417.81853.14.camel@revolution.hippie.lan> Date: Fri, 21 Mar 2014 12:58:05 -0600 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Message-Id: <98DE2314-1233-4C12-8346-5D1240B9BAAF@bsdimp.com> References: <201403181404.52197.jhb@freebsd.org> <201403191523.33275.jhb@freebsd.org> <86zjkkr5ma.fsf@nine.des.no> <86fvmbzlbn.fsf@nine.des.no> <86mwgj7aru.fsf@nine.des.no> <1395422417.81853.14.camel@revolution.hippie.lan> To: Ian Lepore X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.1874) Cc: Warren Block , Mariusz Zaborski , freebsd-current@FreeBSD.org, freebsd-arch@FreeBSD.org, jilles@FreeBSD.org, =?windows-1252?Q?Dag-Erling_Sm=F8rgrav?= X-BeenThere: freebsd-arch@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.17 Precedence: list List-Id: Discussion related to FreeBSD architecture List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 21 Mar 2014 19:23:05 -0000 On Mar 21, 2014, at 11:20 AM, Ian Lepore wrote: > On Fri, 2014-03-21 at 17:54 +0100, Dag-Erling Sm=F8rgrav wrote: >> Warren Block writes: >>> Dag-Erling Sm=F8rgrav writes: >>>> I mean the FreeBSD project, and the reason is as John stated: all >>>> sentences must start with a capital letter. I've gotten so used to >>>> this over the past 15 years that I even do it in email and other >>>> non-FreeBSD written material. >>> "Because it's been that way for 15 years" is not always a >>> justification (consider BIND in base, for example :). >>=20 >> "I don't like your answer, so I will ignore it" is not a = justification >> either. It's kindergarden behavior and beneath the dignity of a = FreeBSD >> committer. >>=20 >> We have a rule that sentences must always start with a capital = letter. >> The fact that this rule was instituted 15 years ago does not >> automatically invalidate it, and neither does the fact that Joe = Random >> Committer disagrees with it. >>=20 >> DES >=20 > Just as the age of a moronic "rule" such as this doesn't in any way > justify the idea that it could never be changed. Especially when the > "rule" appears to be an undocumented prejudice. It has been the way things have been for a long time, and everybody that has been writing man pages in the project for any length of time knows it. Ruslan was especially good about fixing this issue back in the day. This rule was hashed out and there=92s really no compelling = reason to change it. Unlike BIND, we have had no complaints about it in the almost two decades it has been around=85 It does serve a useful purpose, though, which is why it has endured. If you were to have a man page that said =91Putc(3) returns =85=92 then = the automated tools (and web links) that find Putc.3 wouldn=92t be able to = since it doesn=92t exist. > People love to throw around assertions about "rules" of the English > language. It doesn't have many rules (subject has to agree in number > with the verb, that's about it for unbreakable rules), but it has as > many opinions on proper style as there are readers and writers. This is the proper style for FreeBSD man page, by convention. It is so basic that it doesn=92t surprise me it isn=92t in the docs, but it also = surprises me that it isn=92t. There=92s numerous instances of this rule being mentioned in commit = messages: http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/cvs-doc/2008-February/017562.html http://osdir.com/ml/os.freebsd.devel.cvs.doc/2004-07/msg00284.html = http://blog.gmane.org/gmane.os.freebsd.devel.documentation/month=3D2005020= 1/page=3D6 or the discussions in the archives like: http://osdir.com/ml/freebsd.devel.documentation/2002-05/msg00589.html = http://markmail.org/thread/jx2jr5myngp5jg5d#query:+page:1+mid:lasvnzqoojxf= eoet+state:results or a few other places. These discussions span the last 15 years (the oldest one is 1999, but = the convention is easily a few years older than that). Warner