Jukka Ruohonen <jruoho...@iki.fi> wrote: > On Wed, May 05, 2010 at 12:58:13AM +0700, Robert Elz wrote: > > | As something like gets() has been standardized for ages, it makes > > | sense to explicitly note that this may no longer be true (with > > | respect to POSIX). > > > > That's where I disagree, it is just bloat - once it stops being a > > standardised function, just stop calling it one. If the doc notes that > > fgets() is POSIX, and says nothing about gets(), the implication is quite > > clear, isn't it? > > I think the term "bloat" hardly ever applies to manual pages. If anything, > they are often too terse. A paragraph or two about history or standards > never hurts anyone. Two additional things: <...>
I think it does apply. Manual pages are something one works with, like a tool. Ability to easily and quickly find the information you need is an important factor. If you will write fairy-tales, that wont be convenient. > > That history will be in the CVS logs. That's enough for maintainers. > > For others reading the man page, this is all irrelevant (it would almost > > I think the history is relevant or at least interesting; one of the > intriguing things about UNIX, really. History is indeed important, however it belongs to books, articles, etc. Other part of history belongs to version control logs, as Robert already mentioned. If I will want to figure out why and by whom some function was invented, how it looked originally, why it diverged, etc - CVS logs will likely answer that better, than a manual page. -- Mindaugas