Re: Issue in man page getpt.3

Alejandro Colomar
2025-12-25T21:20:20Z

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Hi Branden,

On Thu, Dec 25, 2025 at 03:05:33PM -0600, G. Branden Robinson wrote:
> Hi Alex,
>
> At 2025-12-25T14:22:54+0100, Alejandro Colomar wrote:
> > On Thu, Dec 25, 2025 at 02:20:39PM +0100, Alejandro Colomar wrote:
> > > On Wed, Dec 24, 2025 at 02:38:26PM +0000, Helge Kreutzmann wrote:
> > > > Without further ado, the following was found:
> > > >
> > > > Issue: multiplexor → multiplexer
> > >
> > > I see both used:
> > >
> > > $ grep -rho multiplex.r man/ | sort| uniq -c
> > > 4 multiplexer
> > > 4 multiplexor
> > >
> > > Which one should we prefer, and why?
> >
> > A reason for 'e' is that __NR_multiplexer uses 'e'.
>
> That's the best reason to choose 'e', and the one I'd select.

Agree. Thanks!

commit 011bcb9c453cbf6490f7678e8d2f880acf2026f7 (HEAD -> contrib)
Author: Alejandro Colomar <alx@kernel.org>
Date: Thu Dec 25 22:15:32 2025 +0100

man/: Unify spelling of 'multiplexer'

Both 'o' and 'e' are used in the manual pages:

$ grep -rho multiplex.r man/ | sort| uniq -c
4 multiplexer
4 multiplexor

Let's stick to 'e', for consistency with __NR_multiplexer.

Reported-by: Helge Kreutzmann <debian@helgefjell.de>
Acked-by: "G. Branden Robinson" <g.branden.robinson@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Alejandro Colomar <alx@kernel.org>

>
> The question of usage of -or or -er is a messy one in English, whether
> in Commonwealth or Yankee forms.[1][2]
>
> (If we're being even more picky, -trix further spices the mix.[3])

:-)

>
> Regards,
> Branden
>
> [1] https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2007/10/agentive-suffixes-er-and-or-and-little.html
> [2] https://ianjamesparsley.wordpress.com/2023/02/17/the-weirdness-of-agent-nouns/
> [3] https://www.cjr.org/language_corner/womens_suffixes.php

Thanks!

Have a lovely night!
Alex