Re: [PATCH] prctl.2: Fix typo

enh
2023-10-31T19:16:06Z

On Tue, Oct 31, 2023 at 11:40 AM Alejandro Colomar <alx@kernel.org> wrote:
>
> Hi Elliott,
>
> On Tue, Oct 31, 2023 at 09:19:56AM -0700, enh wrote:
> > > I think a consistent use of operation instead of option would improve
> > > things. We just need to make sure it's consistent.
> >
> > i certainly like that idea philosophically --- i actually tried to use
> > the minimal number of different words when naming arguments in
> > bionic's headers, to minimize the number of words folks who don't
> > speak english would need to learn.
> >
> > looking at man7, i note that ioctl() and ptrace() have "request".
> > fcntl() has "command". flock() has "operation".
>
> Hmm, interesting. I think operation would be the most accurate one.
> What do you think? Should we uniformize by using operation in all three?

"operation" is certainly the most general, and i struggle to see any
value to the current wording --- it's not like any of them help the
reader know "what goes here" without accompanying documentation.

TL;DR: "yeah, if you change the man pages, i'll definitely change
Android's headers to simplify them in this way" (and i have no
particular opinion about _which_ word, and that sounds like a bikeshed
it's not worth going near :-) ).

> Cheers,
> Alex
>
> --
> <https://www.alejandro-colomar.es/>