From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from smtp.kernel.org (aws-us-west-2-korg-mail-alma10-1.taild15c8.ts.net [100.103.45.18]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by smtp.subspace.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id B7F4D22576E for ; Sun, 2 Aug 2026 21:34:45 +0000 (UTC) Authentication-Results: smtp.subspace.kernel.org; arc=none smtp.client-ip=100.103.45.18 ARC-Seal:i=1; a=rsa-sha256; d=subspace.kernel.org; s=arc-20240116; t=1785706486; cv=none; b=oUfWEQloTAVBeDudfUhxXqSXOJuhSa66phgEKYxbpB/BYM81yAqUtfitsm8DGh4k2M5ioH1GXFo+kLxXwJm/Iuj6r6gSFFb3YDrxPT16NlzWiLajPlcAbBxnTxYSMgHH3yE1hfr2v/IXT9myVSs2/zeU4kZ+dINzUQ1RJWD63ck= ARC-Message-Signature:i=1; a=rsa-sha256; d=subspace.kernel.org; s=arc-20240116; t=1785706486; c=relaxed/simple; bh=QZnvbVau9OA1yES2E07c0OmZduL8Ysrkh4hNSPfQxSw=; h=Date:From:To:Cc:Subject:Message-ID:References:MIME-Version: Content-Type:Content-Disposition:In-Reply-To; b=qFlIcmu+E2GaJbqlHFbTJHEXmkPUiwwKhEecgHFgzUVE+fTjn7xUNpnJ1KtKnkVWmjLxwBZ726DOGxep52BveAPLtLrR4us04kJInOHR6j7YLrUmWByGEtyfrgWUNwKQR51LgwXxqYXjVPtWO44SDbSBjVwrvidaMVbMis81ce0= ARC-Authentication-Results:i=1; smtp.subspace.kernel.org; dkim=pass (2048-bit key) header.d=kernel.org header.i=@kernel.org header.b=X+CgqVy2; arc=none smtp.client-ip=100.103.45.18 Authentication-Results: smtp.subspace.kernel.org; dkim=pass (2048-bit key) header.d=kernel.org header.i=@kernel.org header.b="X+CgqVy2" Received: by smtp.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id C27801F000E9; Sun, 2 Aug 2026 21:34:43 +0000 (UTC) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=kernel.org; s=k20260515; t=1785706485; bh=XXYFUPJAtbCNPWRkRAqfapVuFvAgdVOLhY5jsfFBBPM=; h=Date:From:To:Cc:Subject:References:In-Reply-To; b=X+CgqVy2287J7qi3gxlgN77a4WGIRmtAELDewYkvRWyUs7Jrvl88syn+DgMFONitN cdOhCYA5kA5k3EzCPUtRJTrDWQ5VBleGk0Ry5eVxx3TsC/V3serOiLgslYlslIKnup 1N5EXWsLJU+Rn7QlzfJs10wMsHYGzOCZqQZ7t101+rCXINAJDyLpcLyssVPfGBP+/U n7pOtEEFOQMgS0Lckz8WR5N838YXwVyBURF4oJ/0s32nPLP2X+iSL5+ZewE4dGn7B1 cSVlK1M3m0IsbBkO/LrYdadr5jssDpUFgm+AXAUtNlC6jhTBylaobecxytFFMGWbCy hXnhg0T6fK2lw== Date: Sun, 2 Aug 2026 23:34:40 +0200 From: Alejandro Colomar To: "Maciej W. Rozycki" Cc: Collin Funk , "G. Branden Robinson" , Paul Eggert , linux-man@vger.kernel.org, bug-gnulib@gnu.org, libc-alpha@sourceware.org Subject: Re: the Linux man-pages as an educational tool Message-ID: References: <15288158.RDIVbhacDa@cagnes> <20260802000833.zpu27l7ibvrbouna@illithid> <87cxw1s58a.fsf@gmail.com> Precedence: bulk X-Mailing-List: linux-man@vger.kernel.org List-Id: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; micalg=pgp-sha512; protocol="application/pgp-signature"; boundary="oxi5iqsvxt4eseua" Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: --oxi5iqsvxt4eseua Content-Type: text/plain; protected-headers=v1; charset=utf-8 Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable From: Alejandro Colomar To: "Maciej W. Rozycki" Cc: Collin Funk , "G. Branden Robinson" , Paul Eggert , linux-man@vger.kernel.org, bug-gnulib@gnu.org, libc-alpha@sourceware.org Subject: Re: the Linux man-pages as an educational tool Message-ID: References: <15288158.RDIVbhacDa@cagnes> <20260802000833.zpu27l7ibvrbouna@illithid> <87cxw1s58a.fsf@gmail.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: Hi Maciej, > Date: 2026-08-02 22:23:36+0100 > From: "Maciej W. Rozycki" > > What problem are you trying to fix anyway, what's wrong with=20 > using for the APIs in question? Programmers misunderstand these functions (some more than others), and think they are appropriate for handling strings in ways that they are inappropriate. If was described as providing functions that exclusively handle strings, then programmers that only need to handle strings would naturally self-limit to functions from this header file. Those programmers that need more niche memory functions --maybe because they need to handle a substring, or maybe because they need to handle a utmp(5) fixed-width null-padded character array-- can resort to , but that comes with the implied warning that those functions are not the simple interfaces that probides; they are sharper: you can do more with them, but you need to be more careful. Most programmers can live in the safe bubble of : those functions always require a string as input, and always provide a string as output. Plain and simple. It's difficult to write bugs when using those. That's the rationale. Have a lovely night! Alex >=20 > Maciej --=20 --oxi5iqsvxt4eseua Content-Type: application/pgp-signature; name="signature.asc" -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- iQIzBAABCgAdFiEES7Jt9u9GbmlWADAi64mZXMKQwqkFAmpvt+oACgkQ64mZXMKQ wqnsFRAAmh6lhP/G7x0QI9eH97AyMg814jLxZPuaofNbqLhUIoD2vpqjP5HvWlIV 2T0KU54So4Wx6T9gcMwmYo4NbubkyMQknAbTvl14U5/TpiMUydE29PTb4lfKO4m1 kJgwOOoqZEWGUR4HoJ2qoN8KYJ/U/uyeU+Oj6Hsy7TvzDgsg6H8IW3YA8vFSrG4b wZXqHpzSFOih4AgS7xyaJ3H3xfvMea7nnTFHLD5KW9ecD41Y2mvW6u0NiOLl2jgq uYKnXiuaRAk5HmUZSDmne2ECC2hCWWjOFdQ/jr/+eNTTOhmA5N9bZP9Rg4uQpGP3 2OjF00lY0t/XVMMaxS8KCs5rKu9iYEij77fsf0h+lw3UgibiwZp75q/Qo9IRdCN1 Az4baWj0Wre0GHf1my44Lq/s8QAlCsnI9+ISoQuMpq9/3yU7Eu0rDVWGnEbXTG0n 0o2q041Hh5GXWlS0vhvJ1PPPaXOx7KX08Hlpmj3de75hiUOJMmBPyIvOihcAhFJY +eN7L97wGwz20ehjFLujYYphkk7V7HidjvUJH8mReetI8T5+gFgKZ0b7txOOyr9F +Qbpo79VH7KYQoPCIDMsXere8WtxykkdfqDPIhDtSUsZhqEmWzM0iKzAUiE7HdaH sDIxkyOJUbAExdVzkgD8cFF+pqdH+MhDV6c0kKPGqiV5GcF8W/U= =UEWm -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --oxi5iqsvxt4eseua--