Hi, I've found the exec man page quite difficult to read when trying to find the behavior for a specific function. Since the names of the functions are inline and the order of the descriptions isn't clear, it's hard to find which paragraphs apply to each function. I thought it would be much easier to read if the grouping based on letters is stated. I wrote a patch against version 5.00. Thanks! Matthew diff --git a/man3/exec.3 b/man3/exec.3 index 499a05358..a0d582bed 100644 --- a/man3/exec.3 +++ b/man3/exec.3 @@ -80,14 +80,12 @@ for further details about the replacement of the current process image.) The initial argument for these functions is the name of a file that is to be executed. .PP +The functions can be grouped based on the letters following exec. +.SS l - execl(), execlp(), execle() +.PP The .I "const char\ *arg" -and subsequent ellipses in the -.BR execl (), -.BR execlp (), -and -.BR execle () -functions can be thought of as +and subsequent ellipses can be thought of as .IR arg0 , .IR arg1 , \&..., @@ -101,44 +99,35 @@ The list of arguments be terminated by a null pointer, and, since these are variadic functions, this pointer must be cast .IR "(char\ *) NULL" . +.SS v - execv(), execvp(), execvpe() .PP The -.BR execv (), -.BR execvp (), -and -.BR execvpe () -functions provide an array of pointers to null-terminated strings that +.I "char\ *const argv[]" +argument is an array of pointers to null-terminated strings that represent the argument list available to the new program. The first argument, by convention, should point to the filename associated with the file being executed. The array of pointers .I must be terminated by a null pointer. +.SS e - execle(), execvpe() .PP -The -.BR execle () -and -.BR execvpe () -functions allow the caller to specify the environment of the -executed program via the argument +The environment of the caller is specified via the argument .IR envp . The .I envp argument is an array of pointers to null-terminated strings and .I must be terminated by a null pointer. -The other functions take the environment for the new process +All other +.BR exec () +functions take the environment for the new process image from the external variable .I environ in the calling process. -.SS Special semantics for execlp(), execvp(), and execvpe() +.SS p - execlp(), execvp(), execvpe() .PP -The -.BR execlp (), -.BR execvp (), -and -.BR execvpe () -functions duplicate the actions of the shell in +These functions duplicate the actions of the shell in searching for an executable file if the specified filename does not contain a slash (/) character. The file is sought in the colon-separated list of directory pathnames
diff --git a/man3/exec.3 b/man3/exec.3 index 499a05358..a0d582bed 100644 --- a/man3/exec.3 +++ b/man3/exec.3 @@ -80,14 +80,12 @@ for further details about the replacement of the current process image.) The initial argument for these functions is the name of a file that is to be executed. .PP +The functions can be grouped based on the letters following exec. +.SS l - execl(), execlp(), execle() +.PP The .I "const char\ *arg" -and subsequent ellipses in the -.BR execl (), -.BR execlp (), -and -.BR execle () -functions can be thought of as +and subsequent ellipses can be thought of as .IR arg0 , .IR arg1 , \&..., @@ -101,44 +99,35 @@ The list of arguments be terminated by a null pointer, and, since these are variadic functions, this pointer must be cast .IR "(char\ *) NULL" . +.SS v - execv(), execvp(), execvpe() .PP The -.BR execv (), -.BR execvp (), -and -.BR execvpe () -functions provide an array of pointers to null-terminated strings that +.I "char\ *const argv[]" +argument is an array of pointers to null-terminated strings that represent the argument list available to the new program. The first argument, by convention, should point to the filename associated with the file being executed. The array of pointers .I must be terminated by a null pointer. +.SS e - execle(), execvpe() .PP -The -.BR execle () -and -.BR execvpe () -functions allow the caller to specify the environment of the -executed program via the argument +The environment of the caller is specified via the argument .IR envp . The .I envp argument is an array of pointers to null-terminated strings and .I must be terminated by a null pointer. -The other functions take the environment for the new process +All other +.BR exec () +functions take the environment for the new process image from the external variable .I environ in the calling process. -.SS Special semantics for execlp(), execvp(), and execvpe() +.SS p - execlp(), execvp(), execvpe() .PP -The -.BR execlp (), -.BR execvp (), -and -.BR execvpe () -functions duplicate the actions of the shell in +These functions duplicate the actions of the shell in searching for an executable file if the specified filename does not contain a slash (/) character. The file is sought in the colon-separated list of directory pathnames
