Hi, Pinging to check if you ever saw this. Thanks! Matthew On Wed, Mar 27, 2019 at 1:21 AM Matthew Kenigsberg <matthewkenigsberg@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > 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
