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* Should .At 32v rather be [AT&T] UNIX/32V rather than Version 32 AT&T UNIX?
@ 2021-08-18 18:46 наб
  2021-08-19  6:34 ` Guy Harris
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 6+ messages in thread
From: наб @ 2021-08-18 18:46 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: tech

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Hi!

At present:
-- >8 --
$ printf '.At v7\n\n.At 32v' | ./mandoc -mdoc
UNTITLED                             LOCAL                            UNTITLED

Version 7 AT&T UNIX

Version 32V AT&T UNIX
-- >8 --

But I believe it should read:
-- >8 -
$ printf '.At v7\n\n.At 32v' | ./mandoc -mdoc
UNTITLED                             LOCAL                            UNTITLED

Version 7 AT&T UNIX

AT&T UNIX/32V
-- >8 --

My reasoning being that 32V is a direct port of V7 to the VAX
with single-digit and non-formative new utilities (tsort, ..?);
bundling it in with V[1234567] is, at its best, disingenuous,
and, at worst, just plainly wrong.

The designations of early unices originate in their manuals;
how does 32V stack up here?

/usr/man/man0/title:
-- >8 --
            Bell Telephone Laboratories, Incorporated
                       Holmdel, New Jersey

                  UNIX/32V PROGRAMMER’S MANUAL

                           Version 1.0

                         February, 1979
-- >8 --

/usr/man/man0/title] (TM in superscript):
-- >8 --
‐‐

  UNIXTM/32V TIME‐SHARING SYSTEM:

                    UNIX PROGRAMMER’S MANUAL

                      Version 1.0, Volume 1

                         February, 1979

            Bell Telephone Laboratories, Incorporated
                       Holmdel, New Jersey
-- >8 --

In both cases, the manual is designated as Version 1.0 for "UNIX/32V".
The fundamental .At contract is to include "AT&T UNIX",
hence why I think "AT&T UNIX/32V" is best.

32V is available for autopsy at
  http://ftp.okass.net/pub/mirror/minnie.tuhs.org/Distributions/USDL/32V/32v_usr.tar.gz

For the record and paralleling major implementations,
I've raised this as for groff as Debian #991633:
  https://bugs.debian.org/991633
The same reasoning is laid out there, no comments at this time.

Looking forward to your thoughts!

Best,
наб

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^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 6+ messages in thread

* Re: Should .At 32v rather be [AT&T] UNIX/32V rather than Version 32 AT&T UNIX?
  2021-08-18 18:46 Should .At 32v rather be [AT&T] UNIX/32V rather than Version 32 AT&T UNIX? наб
@ 2021-08-19  6:34 ` Guy Harris
  2021-08-19 11:54   ` наб
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 6+ messages in thread
From: Guy Harris @ 2021-08-19  6:34 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: tech

On Aug 18, 2021, at 11:46 AM, наб <nabijaczleweli@nabijaczleweli.xyz> wrote:

> My reasoning being that 32V is a direct port of V7 to the VAX
> with single-digit and non-formative new utilities (tsort, ..?);
> bundling it in with V[1234567] is, at its best, disingenuous,
> and, at worst, just plainly wrong.

In what way does calling it "Version 32V AT&T UNIX" bundle it in with V[1-7]?

(BTW, tsort was in V7, but I digress.)

However:

> The designations of early unices originate in their manuals;
> how does 32V stack up here?

Yes, Bell Labs appeared to call it UNIX/32V, not Version 32V AT&T UNIX.

However however, if the goal was to be compatible with current versions of -mdoc, then calling it Version 32V AT&T UNIX achieves that goal.  That appears to date back at least as far as 4.4-Lite-2, from a quick "egrep -i 32v" in Lite-2's /usr/src/share/tmac directory.

Presumably, from the Debian bug you filed, your goal is to get all implementations of -mdoc changed, not just the mdoc implementation.

(Note, BTW, that calling V7 "Version 7 AT&T UNIX" also dates back to Lite-2's -mdoc (if not earlier); I'm not sure whether the *operating system* had an official name, or whether it was just the UNIX Programmer's Manual that came with it being the Seventh Edition of the manual.)--
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^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 6+ messages in thread

* Re: Should .At 32v rather be [AT&T] UNIX/32V rather than Version 32 AT&T UNIX?
  2021-08-19  6:34 ` Guy Harris
@ 2021-08-19 11:54   ` наб
  2021-08-19 15:13     ` Ingo Schwarze
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 6+ messages in thread
From: наб @ 2021-08-19 11:54 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: tech

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On Wed, Aug 18, 2021 at 11:34:16PM -0700, Guy Harris wrote:
> In what way does calling it "Version 32V AT&T UNIX" bundle it in with V[1-7]?
In the way that "Version 32V AT&T UNIX" is way too close to
"Version 7 AT&T UNIX". The latter binds very strongly, because that's
the systems most've usually heard about. It's an odd version number to
keep that format, because it's so much larger than anything before it,
because it's not a version of anything because it's a direct port of V7
to the 32-bit VAX.

> (BTW, tsort was in V7, but I digress.)
Oh, so it was! I've manged to miss it when I last looked at the dumps
somehow. That brings down the utilities that originate from 32V to… 0?

> However:
> 
> > The designations of early unices originate in their manuals;
> > how does 32V stack up here?
> 
> Yes, Bell Labs appeared to call it UNIX/32V, not Version 32V AT&T UNIX.
> 
> However however, if the goal was to be compatible with current versions of -mdoc, then calling it Version 32V AT&T UNIX achieves that goal.  That appears to date back at least as far as 4.4-Lite-2, from a quick "egrep -i 32v" in Lite-2's /usr/src/share/tmac directory.
I mean, the goal, originally, of anything of this class is to be
visually-compatible with established implementations. This I will not
disagree with, and it's a good goal.

But the end-goal is to be correct, which I believe the current string
is not, and I'm inclined to believe that it was a throwaway decision
nobody remembers because it also starts with a number, like the other
ones.

Changing it doesn't have far-reaching layouting compatibility problems,
but now that I think about it, AT&T starts with a vowel and Version
with a consonant; I'd classify this as "meh".

The entirety of NetBSD src/ mentions \b32v\b exactly once:
-- >8 --
nabijaczleweli@tarta:~/store/NetBSD/src$ grep -RE '\b32v\b'
lib/libc/stdlib/alloca.3:.\" The function appeared in 32v, pwb and pwb.2 and in 3bsd 4bsd
share/man/man4/man4.vax/dz.4:.At 32v .
share/tmac/doc2html:.   if "\\$1"32v" Version 32V <code>AT&T UNIX</code>\\$2
share/tmac/doc2html:.   if "\\$1"32v" Version 32V <code>AT&T UNIX</code>
external/bsd/mdocml/dist/att.c: LINE("32v",     "Version\\~32V AT&T UNIX");
external/bsd/mdocml/dist/mdoc.7:.It Cm v[1-7] | 32v
external/gpl2/groff/dist/tmac/doc-syms:.ds doc-str-At-32v \&Version\~32V
external/gpl2/groff/dist/tmac/doc-syms:.as doc-str-At-32v " \*[doc-Tn-font-size]AT&T UNIX\*[doc-str-At]
external/gpl2/groff/dist/tmac/groff_mdoc.man:.Dl 32v, v1, v2, v3, v4, v5, v6, v7, V, V.1, V.2, V.3, V.4
-- >8 --

Illumos does so 0 times. FreeBSD thrice:
-- >8 --
nabijaczleweli@tarta:~/uwu/freebsd-src$ git grep '\b32v\b'
contrib/mandoc/att.c:   LINE("32v",     "Version\\~32V AT&T UNIX");
contrib/mandoc/mdoc.7:.It Cm v[1-7] | 32v
lib/libc/stdlib/alloca.3:.At 32v .
lib/libc/stdlib/alloca.3:.\" The function appeared in 32v, pwb and pwb.2 and in 3bsd 4bsd
share/man/man7/sticky.7:.At 32v .
Binary file sys/contrib/openzfs/tests/zfs-tests/tests/functional/cli_root/zpool_create/draidcfg.gz matches
usr.bin/paste/paste.1:.At 32v .
-- >8 --

All of these are roughly "A dz driver appeared in [At 32v].",
so I don't think this is a problem.

> Presumably, from the Debian bug you filed, your goal is to get all implementations of -mdoc changed, not just the mdoc implementation.
There are two mdoc implementations in Debian ‒ groff and mdoc ‒
so I could care less about other independent implementations
(are there any?). If either of them go through I also plan on posting
a similar patch to NetBSD.

Illumos and FreeBSD use mandoc in addition to OpenBSD.
Am I missing any free system?

> (Note, BTW, that calling V7 "Version 7 AT&T UNIX" also dates back to Lite-2's -mdoc (if not earlier); I'm not sure whether the *operating system* had an official name, or whether it was just the UNIX Programmer's Manual that came with it being the Seventh Edition of the manual.)
.At in -mdoc first appeared in 4.4BSD-Alpha as:
-- >8 --
.de At
.nr cF \\n(.f
.nr cZ \\n(.s
.ds aa \&\f\\n(cF\s\\n(cZ
.if \\n(.$==2 \{\
.       if "\\$1"32v" \&Version 32V \\*(tNAT&T UNIX\\*(aa\\$2
.       if "\\$1"v6"  \&Version 6 \\*(tNAT&T UNIX\\*(aa\\$2
.       if "\\$1"v7"  \&Version 7 \\*(tNAT&T UNIX\\*(aa\\$2
.       if "\\$1"V"  \&\\*(tNAT&T\\*(aa System V \\*(tNUNIX\\*(aa\\$2
.       if "\\$1"V.1"  \&\\*(tNAT&T\\*(aa System V.1 \\*(tNUNIX\\*(aa\\$2
.       if "\\$1"V.4"  \&\\*(tNAT&T\\*(aa System V.4 \\*(tNUNIX\\*(aa\\$2
.\}
.if \\n(.$==1 \{\
.       if "\\$1"32v" \&Version 32V \\*(tNAT&T UNIX\\*(aa
.       if "\\$1"v6"  \&Version 6 \\*(tNAT&T UNIX\\*(aa
.       if "\\$1"v7"  \&Version 7 \\*(tNAT&T UNIX\\*(aa
.       if "\\$1"V"  \&\\*(tNAT&T\\*(aa System V \\*(tNUNIX\\*(aa
.       if "\\$1"V.1"  \&\\*(tNAT&T\\*(aa System V.1 \\*(tNUNIX\\*(aa
.       if "\\$1"V.4"  \&\\*(tNAT&T\\*(aa System V.4 \\*(tNUNIX\\*(aa
.\}
.if \\n(.$==0 \{\
\&\\*(tNAT&T UNIX\\*(aa
.\}
..
-- >8 --
And hasn't changed up to and including 4.4BSD-Lite2.

But, no, the research UNIX line didn't have explicit names beyond the
manual versions (cf. [1]), but given the manual being distributed with
the system, the difference is moot if you consider common usage.

Best,
наб

[1]: http://ftp.okass.net/pub/mirror/minnie.tuhs.org/Distributions/Research/Dennis_v5/v5man.pdf
     vs
	 http://ftp.okass.net/pub/mirror/minnie.tuhs.org/Distributions/Research/Dennis_v1/manintro.pdf and
	 http://ftp.okass.net/pub/mirror/minnie.tuhs.org/Distributions/Research/Dennis_v1/UNIX_ProgrammersManual_Nov71.pdf
	 vs
	 http://ftp.okass.net/pub/mirror/minnie.tuhs.org/Distributions/Research/Dennis_v2/v2man.pdf

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^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 6+ messages in thread

* Re: Should .At 32v rather be [AT&T] UNIX/32V rather than Version 32 AT&T UNIX?
  2021-08-19 11:54   ` наб
@ 2021-08-19 15:13     ` Ingo Schwarze
  2021-09-01 16:53       ` наб
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 6+ messages in thread
From: Ingo Schwarze @ 2021-08-19 15:13 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: nabijaczleweli; +Cc: tech

Hello Nab,

the string "UNIX/32V" actually makes sense in retrospect because
many later operating systems used strings like "systemname/architecture"
to distinguish between ports of "systemname" to different architectures.
Consequently, i do not object to using this string "UNIX/32V" as
part of the output from .At 32v .

I do insist, however, that the printed string must contain "AT&T".
While UNIX/32V is reasonably well known in general, there may still
be people hearing it for the first time and not knowing it came
from AT&T.

Using "AT&T UNIX/32V" would seem like an improvement to me because it
makes clear that "32V" is not a version number.

Then again, i think printing "Version 7 AT&T UNIX/32V" might be even better
because some people may not know that 32v is just a port of v7, and it is
not that much longer.

You might worry that the "32V" is easy to overlook in "Version 7
AT&T UNIX/32V".  But i would argue that manual pages need to be
read attentively in general.  Small differences in wording are often
crucial, and if a hasty reader misses this particular detail, that's
unlikely to have dire consequences.

The way to make this change is to open a feature request at

  https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?group=groff

unless somebody has already done that, post a message to <groff@gnu.org>
mentioning that ticket and briefly summarizing the rationale,
ideally also including the patch at the end to ease review.
Once that is pushed to the groff git, i will make sure mandoc follows.


Nab wrote on Thu, Aug 19, 2021 at 01:54:47PM +0200:

> But the end-goal is to be correct, which I believe the current string
> is not, and I'm inclined to believe that it was a throwaway decision

I believe Cynthia Livingston did not usually make "throwaway decisions".

> nobody remembers

Cynthia added it in this commit:

s 00128/00026/00064
d D 5.3 91/04/20 02:36:13 cael 5 3
c register usage changes, reorg .St macro

.\" Ns At macro - AT&T UNIX
.de At
.nr cF \\n(.f
.nr cZ \\n(.s
.ds aa \&\f\\n(cF\s\\n(cZ
.if \\n(.$==2 \{\
.       if "\\$1"32v" \&Version 32V \\*(tNAT&T UNIX\\*(aa\\$2
.       if "\\$1"v6"  \&Version 6 \\*(tNAT&T UNIX\\*(aa\\$2
.       if "\\$1"v7"  \&Version 7 \\*(tNAT&T UNIX\\*(aa\\$2
.       if "\\$1"V"  \&\\*(tNAT&T\\*(aa System V \\*(tNUNIX\\*(aa\\$2
.       if "\\$1"V.1"  \&\\*(tNAT&T\\*(aa System V.1 \\*(tNUNIX\\*(aa\\$2
.\}
.if \\n(.$==1 \{\
.       if "\\$1"32v" \&Version 32V \\*(tNAT&T UNIX\\*(aa
.       if "\\$1"v6"  \&Version 6 \\*(tNAT&T UNIX\\*(aa
.       if "\\$1"v7"  \&Version 7 \\*(tNAT&T UNIX\\*(aa
.       if "\\$1"V"  \&\\*(tNAT&T\\*(aa System V \\*(tNUNIX\\*(aa
.       if "\\$1"V.1"  \&\\*(tNAT&T\\*(aa System V.1 \\*(tNUNIX\\*(aa
.\}
..

Did you ask her whether she remembers why she chose these particular
words?  She is alive for all i know, and was well last time i
exchanged mail with her.  Then again, maybe this is not really
important enough to bother her.

If the wording can be improved, it can be changed.

Yours,
  Ingo
--
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^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 6+ messages in thread

* Re: Should .At 32v rather be [AT&T] UNIX/32V rather than Version 32 AT&T UNIX?
  2021-08-19 15:13     ` Ingo Schwarze
@ 2021-09-01 16:53       ` наб
  2021-09-02 12:40         ` Ingo Schwarze
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 6+ messages in thread
From: наб @ 2021-09-01 16:53 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: Ingo Schwarze; +Cc: tech

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Hi!

On Thu, Aug 19, 2021 at 05:13:01PM +0200, Ingo Schwarze wrote:
> Using "AT&T UNIX/32V" would seem like an improvement to me because it
> makes clear that "32V" is not a version number.
> 
> Then again, i think printing "Version 7 AT&T UNIX/32V" might be even better
> because some people may not know that 32v is just a port of v7, and it is
> not that much longer.
> 
> You might worry that the "32V" is easy to overlook in "Version 7
> AT&T UNIX/32V".  But i would argue that manual pages need to be
> read attentively in general.  Small differences in wording are often
> crucial, and if a hasty reader misses this particular detail, that's
> unlikely to have dire consequences.
I wouldn't strictly go so far as to say that Version 7 AT&T UNIX/32V
is /better/, per se, since the important distinguishing factor is
slightly short as compared to the rest of the string and common usage
favours implying the Version 7,
but then it /is/ at a, quite prominent, end, and is also correct.
Either's perfectly fine by me.

> The way to make this change is to open a feature request at
>   https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?group=groff
> unless somebody has already done that, post a message to <groff@gnu.org>
> mentioning that ticket and briefly summarizing the rationale,
> ideally also including the patch at the end to ease review.
> Once that is pushed to the groff git, i will make sure mandoc follows.
Great, thanks for the run-down!

> Nab wrote on Thu, Aug 19, 2021 at 01:54:47PM +0200:
> > But the end-goal is to be correct, which I believe the current string
> > is not, and I'm inclined to believe that it was a throwaway decision
> I believe Cynthia Livingston did not usually make "throwaway decisions".
I primarily meant "not giving much thought to something relatively
inconsequential". Much like I thought my phrasing was.

> > nobody remembers
> Cynthia added it in this commit:
> 
> s 00128/00026/00064
> d D 5.3 91/04/20 02:36:13 cael 5 3
> c register usage changes, reorg .St macro
> 
> .\" Ns At macro - AT&T UNIX
> .de At
> .nr cF \\n(.f
> .nr cZ \\n(.s
> .ds aa \&\f\\n(cF\s\\n(cZ
> .if \\n(.$==2 \{\
> .       if "\\$1"32v" \&Version 32V \\*(tNAT&T UNIX\\*(aa\\$2
> .       if "\\$1"v6"  \&Version 6 \\*(tNAT&T UNIX\\*(aa\\$2
> .       if "\\$1"v7"  \&Version 7 \\*(tNAT&T UNIX\\*(aa\\$2
> .       if "\\$1"V"  \&\\*(tNAT&T\\*(aa System V \\*(tNUNIX\\*(aa\\$2
> .       if "\\$1"V.1"  \&\\*(tNAT&T\\*(aa System V.1 \\*(tNUNIX\\*(aa\\$2
> .\}
> .if \\n(.$==1 \{\
> .       if "\\$1"32v" \&Version 32V \\*(tNAT&T UNIX\\*(aa
> .       if "\\$1"v6"  \&Version 6 \\*(tNAT&T UNIX\\*(aa
> .       if "\\$1"v7"  \&Version 7 \\*(tNAT&T UNIX\\*(aa
> .       if "\\$1"V"  \&\\*(tNAT&T\\*(aa System V \\*(tNUNIX\\*(aa
> .       if "\\$1"V.1"  \&\\*(tNAT&T\\*(aa System V.1 \\*(tNUNIX\\*(aa
> .\}
> ..
> 
> Did you ask her whether she remembers why she chose these particular
> words?  She is alive for all i know, and was well last time i
> exchanged mail with her.  Then again, maybe this is not really
> important enough to bother her.
I, uh, haven't, if only because I didn't know the SCCS histories
were still available! I had been under the false impression that
CSRG CD#3 was The CSRG CD.
But, no, I don't believe this is important enough, or that,
whatever the reasoning, the final answer to this will change.

> If the wording can be improved, it can be changed.
> 
> Yours,
>   Ingo

Oh, and by the by: does your mutt config somehow latinise your mail, or?

Best,
наб

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^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 6+ messages in thread

* Re: Should .At 32v rather be [AT&T] UNIX/32V rather than Version 32 AT&T UNIX?
  2021-09-01 16:53       ` наб
@ 2021-09-02 12:40         ` Ingo Schwarze
  0 siblings, 0 replies; 6+ messages in thread
From: Ingo Schwarze @ 2021-09-02 12:40 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: nabijaczleweli; +Cc: tech

Hi,

just to inform the list: Nab now initiated the discussion on the
groff side.

Nab wrote on Wed, Sep 01, 2021 at 06:53:49PM +0200:

> Oh, and by the by: does your mutt config somehow latinise your mail, or?

My mutt config is about the longest configuration file i use, which is
weird because i dislike config files in general and very strongly prefer
minimal ones, but this hasn't anything to do with configuration.

I merely prefer sending email using pure US-ASCII and do so manually
when there isn't an unusually compelling reason to use UTF-8.

Yours,
  Ingo
--
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Thread overview: 6+ messages (download: mbox.gz / follow: Atom feed)
-- links below jump to the message on this page --
2021-08-18 18:46 Should .At 32v rather be [AT&T] UNIX/32V rather than Version 32 AT&T UNIX? наб
2021-08-19  6:34 ` Guy Harris
2021-08-19 11:54   ` наб
2021-08-19 15:13     ` Ingo Schwarze
2021-09-01 16:53       ` наб
2021-09-02 12:40         ` Ingo Schwarze

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