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Re: [PATCH] Correct docstring of 'symlink'
From: |
Ludovic Courtès |
Subject: |
Re: [PATCH] Correct docstring of 'symlink' |
Date: |
Sun, 29 Mar 2015 19:19:07 +0200 |
User-agent: |
Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/24.4 (gnu/linux) |
Stefan Monnier <address@hidden> skribis:
>> - "Create a symbolic link named @var{oldpath} with the value\n"
>> - "(i.e., pointing to) @var{newpath}. The return value is\n"
>> + "Create a symbolic link named @var{newpath} with the value\n"
>> + "(i.e., pointing to) @var{oldpath}. The return value is\n"
>
> This is weird terminology.
>
> First the "new vs old" is meaningless for a symlink since the target may
> not even exist. In "man ln" the terminology used is "link-name vs
> target" which I think is a lot more clear (Elisp's `make-symbolic-link'
> uses "filename vs linkname" which is not as good).
>
> Second, the GNU coding standards says:
>
> Please do not use the term "pathname" that is used in Unix
> documentation; use "file name" (two words) instead. We use the term
> "path" only for search paths, which are lists of directory names.
>
> so none of the two args should be named "<something>path".
Agreed on both points. Unfortunately Guile is an old piece of software
and there are issues like this.
I would gladly accept a patch that fixes documentation to always use
“file name.”
Thanks,
Ludo’.