Re: CVS commit: src/usr.bin/make

[Valery Ushakov <uwe%stderr.spb.ru@localhost>]

On Thu, Jan 25, 2024 at 07:35:46 +0000, Simon J. Gerraty wrote:

> Modified Files:
> 	src/usr.bin/make: make.1
> 
> Log Message:
> Indicate that for :U newval is optional

I think this is more confusing than helpful.  There's no further
syntactic structure about newval, it's just everything up to the the
end, so this "optional" wording sort of creates the distinction
between ":U" has newval and that newval is empty and ":U" has no
newval and when no newval is present :U substitutes nothing.

Also right in the next few lines you have ":D" and an ${VAR:D:Unewval}
example.  And there newval is not opional, so this creates cognitive
load on the reader, IMO, when :D and :U are for some reasone treated
differently.

I'd say, that "opional" wording is better off being reverted.

-uwe