From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.0 (2014-02-07) on aws-us-west-2-korg-lkml-1.web.codeaurora.org Received: from vger.kernel.org (vger.kernel.org [23.128.96.18]) by smtp.lore.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4C702C4708C for ; Tue, 6 Dec 2022 02:08:30 +0000 (UTC) Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S233686AbiLFCI3 (ORCPT ); Mon, 5 Dec 2022 21:08:29 -0500 Received: from lindbergh.monkeyblade.net ([23.128.96.19]:37946 "EHLO lindbergh.monkeyblade.net" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S233748AbiLFCI2 (ORCPT ); Mon, 5 Dec 2022 21:08:28 -0500 Received: from esa1.mentor.iphmx.com (esa1.mentor.iphmx.com [68.232.129.153]) by lindbergh.monkeyblade.net (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 5265EB7DA for ; Mon, 5 Dec 2022 18:08:27 -0800 (PST) X-IronPort-AV: E=Sophos;i="5.96,220,1665475200"; d="scan'208";a="91779716" Received: from orw-gwy-02-in.mentorg.com ([192.94.38.167]) by esa1.mentor.iphmx.com with ESMTP; 05 Dec 2022 18:08:27 -0800 IronPort-SDR: zfQePd2vVI7sG0C0lCl4fOpfD4QuR+UUIGY/8VwQG1C+moIFmWRCwVhfsdYy7dVKMyvJhVJD0W lctvx1y8eLqb2PHPRs+CW35bvyzVBwoR/+qvym5FJRRAM95ewKOmOGe9iMryPyrl14b/D+rr8B /WZfWr7uQJCVOkZqSV21//MNOHNjZvnAiJKM3lNImt7qZQ7Bx/Lr4EB2XGyRUBE4yCD7r/BzIl UOdusWY0KoKyOa+Qt8xdcKx/ykYDTa3UdqHAuSRgVG0RiXst7nohWEWsWJ4lzs2ryeZ6tgJv4B /+U= Date: Tue, 6 Dec 2022 02:08:21 +0000 From: Joseph Myers To: Alejandro Colomar CC: Martin Uecker , Jonathan Wakely , Michael Matz , Ingo Schwarze , JeanHeyd Meneide , , Subject: Re: [PATCH] Various pages: SYNOPSIS: Use VLA syntax in function parameters In-Reply-To: <4f36c878-e7a5-761d-8f27-6cc38f5b1c95@gmail.com> Message-ID: References: <20220826210710.35237-1-alx.manpages@gmail.com> <68746776-87bf-80f9-8e3e-7392e8cef1bb@gmail.com> <77c3557f-4a62-3ede-4df4-4b2b78e265b1@codesourcery.com> <5ae032cd-7a5f-f72b-29ae-6ad7f418da8@codesourcery.com> <7931044a-b707-5a70-86c2-be298c35aa57@gmail.com> <792055f0-114d-d4bc-52f0-c242d1767c0b@gmail.com> <31e1cf34-b42f-24c5-2109-f8214c28af3e@gmail.com> <494309ce-c8ec-5219-f83e-b8dda5b9bcd1@gmail.com> <8aeb958eee2e084ea34d027878428a59a77b196d.camel@tugraz.at> <457bac3a-b83a-fe97-c5e1-f4efd2376821@gmail.com> <9fc8d4ea-607b-8a3d-490d-4b5662b677bc@gmail.com> <4f36c878-e7a5-761d-8f27-6cc38f5b1c95@gmail.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" X-Originating-IP: [137.202.0.90] X-ClientProxiedBy: svr-ies-mbx-14.mgc.mentorg.com (139.181.222.14) To svr-ies-mbx-10.mgc.mentorg.com (139.181.222.10) Precedence: bulk List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-man@vger.kernel.org On Sat, 3 Dec 2022, Alejandro Colomar via Gcc wrote: > What do you think about it? I'm not asking for your opinion about adding it > to GCC, but rather for replacing the current '.' in the man-pages before I > release later this month. Do you think I should apply that change? I think man pages should not use any novel syntax - even syntax newly added to the C standard or GCC, unless required to express the standard prototype for a function. They should be written for maximal comprehensibility to C users in general, who are often behind on knowledge standard features let alone the more obscure extensions - and certainly don't know about random, highly speculative suggestions for possible features suggested in random mailing list threads. So: don't use any invented syntax (even if you explain it somewhere in the man pages), don't use any syntax newly introduced in C23 unless strictly necessary and you're sure it's already extremely widely understood among C users, be wary of syntax introduced in C11. If a new feature in this area were introduced in C29, waiting at least several years after that standard is released (*not* just after the feature gets added to a draft) to start using the new syntax in man pages would be a good idea. -- Joseph S. Myers joseph@codesourcery.com