Re: [PATCH v1 1/1] man/man3/strnul.3: New page

[Alejandro Colomar <alx@kernel.org>]

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Hi Branden,

On 2026-02-21T11:41:42-0600, G. Branden Robinson wrote:
> Hi Alex,
> 
> At 2026-02-21T16:02:52+0100, Alejandro Colomar wrote:
> > +.SH RETURN VALUE
> > +.IR s+strlen(s) .
> 
> Too cute, in my opinion.  Use English.  :)

The thing is, at first I thought, am I going to repeat the same exact
words as in the DESCRIPTION?

DESCRIPTION
     strnul() returns a pointer to the terminating null byte in the
     string s.

RETURN VALUE
     strnul() returns a pointer to the terminating null byte in the
     string s.

I could remove the DESCRIPTION altogether...  What would you do?

> 
> C novices struggle with pointer arithmetic as it is.  (Even non-novices
> can, when working with exotic architectures with multiple memory models
> like the x86's historical--and thankfully near-forgotten--`near` and
> `far`.  Pointer arithmetic in the former can, if my vague recollection
> is correct, do surprising stuff like wrap around a 64 KiB memory segment
> without causing a fault.)

I might as well write it as &s[strlen(s)] if pointer arithmetic is the
confusing part.  :)

> 
> I assume that the string library reforms you're pursuing are intended in
> part to be adopted by newcomers to C.

I intend old programmers to use it too.  I guess you're expecting
a patch to groff once this is in a branch of gnulib you're using.  ;)

>  Avoiding cleverness when
> presenting new interfaces can make them less scary.

Agree.


Have a lovely night!
Alex

> 
> Regards,
> Branden



-- 
<https://www.alejandro-colomar.es>

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