I made some minor documentation improvements more than a year ago,
but had never shared them. I've just pushed this:
>From b8fd7ae75637970a7102358be737c7e8558f9e1b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Jim Meyering <meyering@xxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 23 Nov 2017 06:58:38 -0800
Subject: [PATCH] doc/autoconf.texi: fix spelling/grammar nits
---
doc/autoconf.texi | 123 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++---------------
1 file changed, 84 insertions(+), 39 deletions(-)
diff --git a/doc/autoconf.texi b/doc/autoconf.texi
index b3517c88..2ac66969 100644
--- a/doc/autoconf.texi
+++ b/doc/autoconf.texi
@@ -543,7 +543,7 @@ Top
* make -k Status:: Exit status of @samp{make -k}
* VPATH and Make:: @code{VPATH} woes
* Single Suffix Rules:: Single suffix rules and separated dependencies
-* Timestamps and Make:: Subsecond timestamp resolution
+* Timestamps and Make:: Sub-second timestamp resolution
@code{VPATH} and Make
@@ -2314,14 +2314,14 @@ Configuration Actions
The variables set during the execution of @command{configure} are
@emph{not} available here: you first need to set them via the
-@var{init-cmds}. Nonetheless the following variables are precomputed:
+@var{init-cmds}. Nonetheless the following variables are pre-computed:
@table @code
@item srcdir
@vrindex srcdir
The name of the top source directory, assuming that the working
directory is the top build directory. This
-is what the @command{configure} option @option{--srcdir} sets.
+is what @command{configure}'s @option{--srcdir} option sets.
@item ac_top_srcdir
@vrindex ac_top_srcdir
@@ -2494,7 +2494,7 @@ Preset Output Variables
(@pxref{Configuration Actions}) may also be used during
@command{configure} tests. For example, it is permissible to reference
@samp{$srcdir} when constructing a list of directories to pass via
-option @option{-I} during a compiler feature check. When used in this
+the @option{-I} option during a compiler feature check. When used in this
manner, coupled with the fact that @command{configure} is always run
from the top build directory, it is sufficient to use just
@samp{$srcdir} instead of @samp{$top_srcdir}.
@@ -2725,7 +2725,7 @@ Preset Output Variables
it contains zero or more runs of @code{../}, so it should not be
appended with a slash for concatenation. This helps for @command{make}
implementations that otherwise do not treat @file{./file} and @file{file}
-as equal in the toplevel build directory.
+as equal in the top-level build directory.
@end defvar
@defvar abs_top_builddir
@@ -7110,7 +7110,7 @@ Generic Compiler Characteristics
@caindex prog_fc_openmp
@uref{http://@/www.openmp.org/, OpenMP} specifies extensions of C, C++,
and Fortran that simplify optimization of shared memory parallelism,
-which is a common problem on multicore CPUs.
+which is a common problem on multi-core CPUs.
If the current language is C, the macro @code{AC_OPENMP} sets the
variable @code{OPENMP_CFLAGS} to the C compiler flags needed for
@@ -7357,7 +7357,7 @@ C Compiler
architectures. This can happen, for example, when generating Mac OS X
universal binary files, which work on both PowerPC and Intel
architectures. In this case, the different variants might be for
-different architectures whose endiannesses differ. If
+architectures with differing endianness. If
@command{configure} detects this, it executes @var{action-if-universal}
instead of @var{action-if-unknown}.
@@ -9829,7 +9829,7 @@ Defining Symbols
@end example
@end defmac
-Due to a syntactical bizarreness of the Bourne shell, do not use
+Due to a syntactical oddity of the Bourne shell, do not use
semicolons to separate @code{AC_DEFINE} or @code{AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED}
calls from other macro calls or shell code; that can cause syntax errors
in the resulting @command{configure} script. Use either blanks or
@@ -10938,7 +10938,7 @@ Balancing Parentheses
@end example
@noindent
-In the above example, the @code{AS_IF} call underquotes its arguments.
+In the above example, the @code{AS_IF} call under-quotes its arguments.
As a result, the unbalanced @samp{)} generated by the premature
expansion of @code{my_case} results in expanding @code{AS_IF} with a
truncated parameter, and the expansion is syntactically invalid:
@@ -11166,7 +11166,7 @@ autom4te Invocation
@table @file
@item @var{file}.m4f
This file is an M4 frozen file. Note that @emph{all the previous files
-are ignored}. See the option @option{--melt} for the rationale.
+are ignored}. See the @option{--melt} option for the rationale.
@item @var{file}?
If found in the library path, the @var{file} is included for expansion,
@@ -11409,7 +11409,7 @@ autom4te Invocation
@itemx -p @var{macro}
Cache the traces of @var{macro}, but do not enable traces. This is
especially important to save CPU cycles in the future. For instance,
-when invoked, @command{autoconf} preselects all the macros that
+when invoked, @command{autoconf} pre-selects all the macros that
@command{autoheader}, @command{automake}, @command{autoreconf}, etc.,
trace, so that running @command{m4} is not needed to trace them: the
cache suffices. This results in a huge speed-up.
@@ -15720,7 +15720,7 @@ Signal Handling
Various shells seem to handle @code{SIGQUIT} specially: they ignore it even
if it is not blocked, and even if the shell is not running interactively
(in fact, even if the shell has no attached tty); among these shells
-are at least Bash (from version 2 onwards), Zsh 4.3.12, Solaris 10
+are at least Bash (from version 2 onward), Zsh 4.3.12, Solaris 10
@code{/bin/ksh} and @code{/usr/xpg4/bin/sh}, and AT&T @code{ksh93} (2011).
Still, @code{SIGQUIT} seems to be trappable quite portably within all
these shells. OTOH, some other shells doesn't special-case the handling
@@ -15732,7 +15732,7 @@ Signal Handling
not a bug, but a conscious design choice (although its overall value might
be debatable). The exact details of how this is attained vary from shell
to shell. For example, upon running @code{perl -e 'kill 2, $$'}, after
-the perl process has been interrupted AT&T @code{ksh93} (2011) will
+the perl process has been interrupted, AT&T @code{ksh93} (2011) will
proceed to send itself a @code{SIGINT}, while Solaris 10 @code{/bin/ksh}
and @code{/usr/xpg4/bin/sh} will proceed to exit with status 130 (i.e.,
128 + 2). In any case, if there is an active trap associated with
@@ -17446,7 +17446,7 @@ Limitations of Builtins
using a syntax-highlighting editor that searches for the balancing
counterpart, or more importantly, when using a case statement as an
underquoted argument to an Autoconf macro. @xref{Balancing
-Parentheses}, for tradeoffs involved in various styles of dealing with
+Parentheses}, for trade-offs involved in various styles of dealing with
unbalanced @samp{)}.
Zsh handles pattern fragments derived from parameter expansions or
@@ -17797,11 +17797,11 @@ Limitations of Builtins
when executing a child process. However, some shells have extensions
that involve interpreting some environment values specially, regardless
of the variable name. We currently know of one case: all versions of
-Bash released prior to 27 September 2014 intepret an environment
+Bash released prior to 27 September 2014 interpret an environment
variable with an initial content substring of @code{() @{} as an
exported function definition (this is the ``Shellshock'' remote
execution bug, CVE-2014-6271 and friends, where it was possible to
-eploit the function parser to cause remote code execution on child bash
+exploit the function parser to cause remote code execution on child bash
startup; newer versions of Bash use special environment variable
@emph{names} instead of values to implement the same feature).
@@ -18091,7 +18091,7 @@ Limitations of Builtins
@end example
@cindex @command{set -e}
-The option @option{-e} has historically been underspecified, with enough
+The @option{-e} option has historically been under-specified, with enough
ambiguities to cause numerous differences across various shell
implementations; see for example
@uref{https://www.in-ulm.de/@/~mascheck/@/various/@/set-e/, this overview},
@@ -19126,7 +19126,7 @@ Limitations of Usual Tools
@item @command{find}
@c -----------------
@prindex @command{find}
-The option @option{-maxdepth} seems to be GNU specific.
+The @option{-maxdepth} option seems to be GNU specific.
Tru64 v5.1, NetBSD 1.5 and Solaris @command{find}
commands do not understand it.
@@ -19421,7 +19421,7 @@ Limitations of Usual Tools
In Mac OS X 10.3, @command{od} does not support the
standard Posix options @option{-A}, @option{-j}, @option{-N}, or
-@option{-t}, or the XSI option @option{-s}. The only
+@option{-t}, or the XSI option, @option{-s}. The only
supported Posix option is @option{-v}, and the only supported
XSI options are those in @option{-bcdox}. The BSD
@command{hexdump} program can be used instead.
@@ -19926,7 +19926,7 @@ Portable Make
* make -k Status:: Exit status of @samp{make -k}
* VPATH and Make:: @code{VPATH} woes
* Single Suffix Rules:: Single suffix rules and separated dependencies
-* Timestamps and Make:: Subsecond timestamp resolution
+* Timestamps and Make:: Sub-second timestamp resolution
@end menu
@node $< in Ordinary Make Rules
@@ -20013,7 +20013,7 @@ Backslash-Newline-Empty
@noindent
which fails with a syntax error, due to the Bash bug. To avoid this
-problem, avoid nullable macros in the last line of a multiline command.
+problem, avoid nullable macros in the last line of a multi-line command.
@c This has been seen on ia64 hpux 11.20, and on one hppa hpux 10.20,
@c but another hppa hpux 10.20 didn't have it. Bob Proulx
@@ -20474,7 +20474,7 @@ Newlines in Make Rules
nlinit=`echo 'nl="'; echo '"'`; eval "$$nlinit"
@end example
-For example, in order to create a multiline @samp{sed} expression that
+For example, in order to create a multi-line @samp{sed} expression that
inserts a blank line after every line of a file, this code can be used:
@example
@@ -21111,7 +21111,7 @@ Make Target Lookup
It seems the sole solution that would please every @command{make}
implementation is to never rely on @code{VPATH} searches for targets.
-In other words, @code{VPATH} should be reserved to unbuilt sources.
+In other words, @code{VPATH} should be reserved to sources that are not built.
@node Single Suffix Rules
@@ -21768,7 +21768,7 @@ Volatile Objects
Even when accessing objects defined with a volatile type,
the C standard allows only
extremely limited signal handlers: in C99 the behavior is undefined if a signal
-handler reads any nonlocal object, or writes to any nonlocal object
+handler reads any non-local object, or writes to any non-local object
whose type is not @code{sig_atomic_t volatile}, or calls any standard
library function other than @code{abort}, @code{signal}, and
@code{_Exit}. Hence C compilers need not worry about a signal handler
@@ -21806,7 +21806,7 @@ Volatile Objects
from @code{volatile} than the C Standard requires, and installers who
compile an application in a similar environment can sometimes benefit
from the extra constraints imposed by kernels on compilers.
-Admittedly we are handwaving somewhat here, as there are few
+Admittedly we are hand-waving somewhat here, as there are few
guarantees in this area; the rules of thumb may help to fix some bugs
but there is a good chance that they will not fix them all.
@@ -24822,7 +24822,7 @@ AC_ACT_IFELSE vs AC_TRY_ACT
quoting their arguments;
@item
-the combinatoric explosion is solved by decomposing on the one hand the
+the combinatorial explosion is solved by decomposing on the one hand the
generation of sources, and on the other hand executing the program;
@item
@@ -25403,7 +25403,7 @@ Writing Testsuites
@table @samp
@item ignore
The content of the output is ignored, but still captured in the test
-group log (if the testsuite is run with option @option{-v}, the test
+group log (if the testsuite is run with the @option{-v} option, the test
group log is displayed as the test is run; if the test group later
fails, the test group log is also copied into the overall testsuite
log). This action is valid for both @var{stdout} and @var{stderr}.
@@ -25494,7 +25494,7 @@ Writing Testsuites
e.g. module @samp{testme} in the example above, those modules must be
already compiled.
-If the testsuite is run in verbose mode, with option @option{--verbose},
+If the testsuite is run in verbose mode and with the @option{--verbose} option,
EUnit is also run in verbose mode to output more details about
individual unit tests.
@end defmac
@@ -26377,7 +26377,7 @@ Debugging
mismatched or unbalanced parentheses or braces (@pxref{Balancing
Parentheses}),
-@item under- or overquoted macro arguments (@pxref{Autoconf
+@item under- or over-quoted macro arguments (@pxref{Autoconf
Language}, @pxref{Quoting and Parameters}, @pxref{Quotation and Nested
Macros}),
@@ -26813,7 +26813,7 @@ Concept Index
@c LocalWords: Systemology Checkpointing Changequote INTERCAL changequote dfn
@c LocalWords: Quadrigraphs builtins Shellology acconfig Bugward LIBOBJ Imake
@c LocalWords: LIBOBJS IFELSE cindex flushright Pinard Metaconfig uref Simons
-@c LocalWords: distclean uninstall noindent versioning Tromey dir
+@c LocalWords: distclean uninstall noindent versioning Tromey dir vr
@c LocalWords: SAMS samp aclocal acsite underquoted emph itemx prepend SUBST
@c LocalWords: evindex automake Gettext autopoint gettext symlink libtoolize
@c LocalWords: defmac INIT tarname ovindex cvindex BUGREPORT PREREQ asis PROG
@@ -26836,7 +26836,7 @@ Concept Index
@c LocalWords: PowerPC GNUC libPW pragma Olibcalls CHOWN chown CLOSEDIR VFORK
@c LocalWords: closedir FNMATCH fnmatch vfork FSEEKO LARGEFILE fseeko SVR sc
@c LocalWords: largefile GETGROUPS getgroups GETLOADAVG DGUX UMAX NLIST KMEM
-@c LocalWords: SETGID getloadavg nlist GETMNTENT irix
+@c LocalWords: SETGID getloadavg nlist GETMNTENT irix acxindex autom
@c LocalWords: getmntent UnixWare GETPGRP getpgid getpgrp Posix's pid LSTAT
@c LocalWords: lstat rpl MEMCMP memcmp OpenStep MBRTOWC mbrtowc MKTIME mktime
@c LocalWords: localtime MMAP mmap OBSTACK obstack obstacks ARGTYPES timeval
@@ -26846,7 +26846,7 @@ Concept Index
@c LocalWords: linux netinet ia Tru XFree DIRENT NDIR dirent ndir multitable
@c LocalWords: NAMLEN strlen namlen MKDEV SYSMACROS makedev RESOLV resolv DNS
@c LocalWords: inet structs NAMESER arpa NETDB netdb UTekV UTS GCC's kB
-@c LocalWords: STDBOOL BOOL stdbool cplusplus bool Bool stdarg tm
+@c LocalWords: STDBOOL BOOL stdbool cplusplus bool Bool stdarg tm te
@c LocalWords: ctype strchr strrchr rindex bcopy memmove memchr WEXITSTATUS
@c LocalWords: WIFEXITED TIOCGWINSZ GWINSZ termios preprocess preprocessable
@c LocalWords: DECLS strdup calloc BLKSIZE blksize RDEV rdev TZNAME tzname pw
@@ -26869,11 +26869,11 @@ Concept Index
@c LocalWords: drivespec Posixy DJGPP doschk prettybird LPT pfew Zsh's yu yaa
@c LocalWords: yM uM aM firebird IP subdir misparses ok Unpatched abc bc zA
@c LocalWords: CDPATH DUALCASE LINENO prepass Subshells lineno NULLCMD cmp wc
-@c LocalWords: MAILPATH scanset arg NetBSD Almquist printf expr cp
-@c LocalWords: Oliva awk Aaaaarg cmd regex xfoo GNV OpenVMS VM
-@c LocalWords: sparc Proulx nbar nfoo maxdepth acdilrtu TWG mc
+@c LocalWords: MAILPATH scanset arg NetBSD Almquist printf expr cp pR
+@c LocalWords: Oliva awk Aaaaarg cmd regex xfoo GNV OpenVMS VM url fc
+@c LocalWords: sparc Proulx nbar nfoo maxdepth acdilrtu TWG mc ing FP
@c LocalWords: mkdir exe uname OpenBSD Fileutils mktemp umask TMPDIR guid os
-@c LocalWords: fooXXXXXX Unicos utimes hpux hppa unescaped
+@c LocalWords: fooXXXXXX Unicos utimes hpux hppa unescaped SUBST'ed
@c LocalWords: pmake DOS's gmake ifoo DESTDIR autoconfiscated pc coff mips gg
@c LocalWords: dec ultrix cpu wildcards rpcc rdtsc powerpc readline
@c LocalWords: withval vxworks gless localcache usr LOFF loff CYGWIN Cygwin
@@ -26891,9 +26891,54 @@ Concept Index
@c LocalWords: GOBJC OTP ERLC erl valloc decr dumpdef errprint incr
@c LocalWords: esyscmd len maketemp pushdef substr syscmd sysval translit txt
@c LocalWords: sinclude foreach myvar tolower toupper uniq BASENAME STDIN
-@c LocalWords: Dynix basename aname cname macroexpands xno xcheck
-@c LocalWords: LIBREADLINE lreadline lncurses libreadline
-
+@c LocalWords: Dynix basename aname cname macroexpands xno xcheck iso
+@c LocalWords: LIBREADLINE lreadline lncurses libreadline vrindex SYS
+@c LocalWords: syncodeindex define'd caindex CAindex MacKenzie DIRS
+@c LocalWords: Runtime runtime Submakes submakes MAKEFLAGS whitespace
+@c LocalWords: Timestamps Unportability Canonicalizing stdalign dirN
+@c LocalWords: acinclude AMFLAGS LIBS OBJCXXFLAGS GOFLAGS runstatedir
+@c LocalWords: metacharacter EXPENSIVEP errno setjmp wctype sys mawk
+@c LocalWords: nawk ggrep egrep gegrep fgrep gfgrep LEX lex yytext nm
+@c LocalWords: yywrap xflex lexyy YFLAGS yacc divnum libs fuindex ffs
+@c LocalWords: environ sigaction extern ftello nonnull STRTOLD LLONG
+@c LocalWords: strtold vfprintf ULLONG strcasecmp strncasecmp MSVC th
+@c LocalWords: NDEBUG Xenix INO libc ISDIR ISREG Tektronix Amdahl ino
+@c LocalWords: typedef pxref fileblocks submembers INTMAX intmax UINT
+@c LocalWords: INTPTR intptr SSIZE ssize uint UINTPTR uintptr OPENMP
+@c LocalWords: openmp OpenMP omp Alignas Alignof Noreturn UTF vals gl
+@c LocalWords: offsetof VARARRAYS VLA CCC stdcxx nullptr
+@c LocalWords: constexpr decltype unicode fstreams iostreams iomanip
+@c LocalWords: stringstreams GXX OBJCPP OBJCXX objcxx GOBJCXX erlc tx
+@c LocalWords: OBJCXXCPP FIXEDFORM GFC argc argv shellvar fpp MODEXT
+@c LocalWords: freeform fixedform MODINC MODOUT gccgo GOC xmkmf fseek
+@c LocalWords: interpval ftell Interix macOS PTHREAD NonStop XOPEN xc
+@c LocalWords: IEC ATTRIBS BFP DFP O'Donell Sebor ERTS Erlang's erts
+@c LocalWords: erlang Wundef scalable USG NOTMAKE DOUCH
+@c LocalWords: IVE changesyntax ifnotinfo oline num cfg debugfile cdr
+@c LocalWords: debugmode traceoff traceon patsubst dumpdefs ifelse aa
+@c LocalWords: mkstemp undivert lifo errprintn BINSH sanitization bcd
+@c LocalWords: cleardivert bmatch bpatsubsts subst cond nblank ifval
+@c LocalWords: ifblank ifnblank ifvaln fputc fgetc argn mapall dvarv
+@c LocalWords: shiftn abcd elt noquote mkargs joinall SHA prereq dup
+@c LocalWords: listc setb seta ARITH HNUM xcurly xoccupied
+@c LocalWords: TESTA TESTB TESTC hoc xpg xxyzzyz dtksh nosuch fifos
+@c LocalWords: fifo Stardent sig WIF WIFSIGNALED SIGQUIT tty perl ret
+@c LocalWords: SIGINT NUL SFN PRN aeiou MSYS SIGTERM xhi arith UWIN
+@c LocalWords: CLICOLOR FPATH POSIXLY Shellshock CVE OSF doit ec ci
+@c LocalWords: notreached cim nc ACL faccessat Alexandre getline sqrt
+@c LocalWords: CONVFMT FS OFMT CDS chgrp futimens utimensat oo esc od
+@c LocalWords: ownerships mape readdir mkfifo mknod testsuites XSI rf
+@c LocalWords: bcdox hexdump filelist rmdir flushleft busybox nl HAZy
+@c LocalWords: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ Fantazy FAntAZy adc unix xb
+@c LocalWords: SUBMAKEFLAGS ehBc ehB hBc hvB dmake hostname nlinit xf
+@c LocalWords: DCOMMENT bart pathnames ifhtml randx
+@c LocalWords: sumc hic ic fwrapv ftrapv SIGFPE memset fmudflap ctime
+@c LocalWords: asctime lvalues lvalue Multithreaded decstation gdb na
+@c LocalWords: enableval lesskey FHS superset waitpid libfoo cposix
+@c LocalWords: mem RESTARTABLE bzero DejaGNU EUNIT subfile optarg ive
+@c LocalWords: nolog expout experr erlflags EUnit testme eunit myprog
+@c LocalWords: configmake vx bashdb tvtwm questers UUCP McGrath
+@c LocalWords: ispell
@c Local Variables:
@c fill-column: 72
@c ispell-local-dictionary: "american"
--
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