On Wed, Jan 09, 2019 at 01:01:57AM +0100, Michael Kerrisk (man-pages) wrote:
> Hello Bjarni,
>
> On Mon, 24 Dec 2018 at 01:43, Bjarni Ingi Gislason <bjarniig@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >
> > Changes to the git repository "man-pages" from Saturday 22th December
> > 2018.
> >
> > Use a single capital font macro for a genuine single argument.
> > The output is unchanged.
>
> You've sent several patches along these lines, but you've not
> explained why you propose the changes. Is it just general tidiness? I
> can see that argument, but given that the output is unchanged, I'm
> also reluctant to make such changes because of churn that may
> invalidate other pending patches. Tell me some more about the
> rationale for these patches please.
>
Using an alternating font macro for one argument is for example
1) a misuse of it
2) does not comply with its description, purpose, and intended use
3) fosters ignorance
4) is not future proof
5) depends on its current implementation
6) is bad practice
7) lures readers to repeat it ("seeing is believing")
8) contradicts the fundamental rule (principle), not to depend on how
something is implemented ("The mythical man-month")
9) is not part of computer science
10) the rules for subroutines apply generally to macros.
#
Overlapping different patches create generally two situations:
1) merge conflict. Solved manually with an editor by inspection
(git-merge(1)).
2) not usable as the context is not found. Fixed by making a new
patch.
As my patches only affect a single line, possibly far enough from
other single line changes, both cases should not be a problem.
The extent of problems depends on the order of application of
patches.
N.B. As I have already added the patches to my local repository, new
patches have created and will only (hopefully) create merge conflicts
for me in a few cases.
--
Bjarni I. Gislason
