Re: [patch #4610] Consolidated documentation patch

[Benno Schulenberg]

Charles Levert wrote:
> * On Friday 2005-11-11 at 15:59:25 +0100, Benno Schulenberg wrote:
> > (Although I don't like to see "Unix" in allcaps.)
>
> I wasn't sure about this one.
>
>    -- UNIX was the original marketing term
>    -- The Open Group uses UNIX.
>    -- Uniformization of typographical conventions
>    -- Its instigators now spell it Unix.
>    -- New words tend to simplify over time,

All that is relevant.  But what counts most IMO is: "Unix" isn't an 
abbreviation or acronym; "POSIX" is, "GNU" is, "MS" is (sort of), 
and "DOS" is.  "Unix" is simply a name: uppercase initial.

>    -- Is public CVS a release (mere publication)?

No, I don't think so.  Only tarballs officially released by the 
maintainer.

> Stable releases:  1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004.

Perfect.

> How's this?  We append a parenthesized sentence
> to each option, so that it's right there when
> the reader needs it for portability purposes?

No other man or info page does this, as far as I can see.  And 
really, if someone plainly wants to write portable scripts, what 
better to use than the POSIX man pages?

The separation may be useful for someone who uses both GNU and Unix 
greps, but these pages document GNU grep.  Why make things less 
ordered or more cluttered just to cater a bit for the other Unices?

Benno