Re: [nft PATCH] doc: nft.8: Describe iface_type data type

[Phil Sutter <phil@nwl.cc>]

On Tue, Jan 27, 2026 at 11:47:16PM +0100, Florian Westphal wrote:
> Phil Sutter <phil@nwl.cc> wrote:
> > On Tue, Jan 27, 2026 at 11:17:59PM +0100, Florian Westphal wrote:
> > > Phil Sutter <phil@nwl.cc> wrote:
> > > > +INTERFACE TYPE TYPE
> > > > +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> > > 
> > > TYPE TYPE?
> > 
> > Yes, sadly. ;)
> 
> Ugh.
> 
> > We also have "ICMP TYPE TYPE" and "ICMPV6 TYPE TYPE" - the types
> > themselves are called "icmp_type", "icmpv6_type" and "iface_type". So
> > section titles formed like "<type> type" end up this way. It seems
> > wrong, but "INTERFACE TYPE" is misleading as the type is not called
> > "interface" but "interface type".
> 
> Whats wrong with INTERFACE TYPE?

As said, these headers are all structured as "<typename> TYPE":

- INTEGER TYPE
- BITMASK TYPE
- STRING TYPE
- INTERFACE TYPE TYPE
- LINK LAYER ADDRESS TYPE
- IPV4 ADDRESS TYPE
...
- ICMP TYPE TYPE
- ICMP CODE TYPE
- ICMPV6 TYPE TYPE
...

IMO we could drop the " TYPE" suffix from them all, but only merging the
"TYPE TYPE" cases is inconsistent.

> Its called interface type.
> I'd remove the extra TYPE everywhere, its not many occurences:
> 
> data-types.txt:ICMP TYPE TYPE
> data-types.txt:The ICMP Type type is used to conveniently specify the ICMP header's type field.
> data-types.txt:ICMPV6 TYPE TYPE
> data-types.txt:The ICMPv6 Type type is used to conveniently specify the ICMPv6 header's type field.

Here we at least get a hint from the casing: The type's name is "ICMPv6
Type", so "the type named "ICMPv6 Type" becomes "the ICMPv6 Type type".

I get your point, it looks wrong and sounds odd when reading out loud
but it is formally correct.

Cheers, Phil