Re: [Gnu-arch-users] Re: [HEY TOM!] unhelpful error for unreadable directories

[Tom Lord]

    > From: address@hidden

    > Nits about backticks and accents aside, it's still a good idea to
    > delimit the filename (or any other string coming from outside).

I have a habit in tla code which may as well be promoted to "coding
standard": filenames in error messages should be delimited on the left
by ": " and on the right by newline.  Keep the stuff to the left of
the ": " as succinct as possible.  As in:

        unable to frob patch log (permission denied)
          tree: /home/lord/wd/tla
          log: tla--devo--1.1

That avoids the issue of whether to use ", `, or ' to delimit
filenames, is easier to cut and paste, and tends to cope with
longer filenames in messages better than most approaches.

strerr strings generally should go in parentheses, as shown, next to a
more specific description of the error.

-t