On Fri, Jan 08, 2021 at 05:29:31PM -0600, Edgar Pettijohn wrote: > In the BUGS section for the getopt(3) manual it mentions not using > single digits for options. I know spamd uses -4 and -6 there are > probably others. Should they be changed? Or is the manual mistaken? >
That section seems ambiguous (especially in light of your post) on whether using digits is wrong, or abusing digit support for multi-digit number option support is wrong. But I think the intention is the latter. FWIW, POSIX explicitly permits digits: Guideline 3: Each option name should be a single alphanumeric character (the alnum character classification) from the portable character set. The -W (capital-W) option shall be reserved for vendor options. Multi-digit options should not be allowed. https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/basedefs/V1_chap12.html#tag_12_02 Guideline 3 applies to getopt(3) because, The getopt() function... shall follow Utility Syntax Guidelines 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, and 10 in XBD Utility Syntax Guidelines. https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/functions/getopt.html