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

[Roland Illig <roland.illig%gmx.de@localhost>]

Am 25.01.2024 um 14:25 schrieb Valery Ushakov:
> 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.

I agree. Make doesn't distinguish between an empty string and an absent
string here, so the wording in the manual page should be kept equally
simple.

If anything, you might mention that newval may be empty, but then you'd
have to add the same wording in many other places, for consistency:

* the variable name in ${:Uvalue}
* the two branches of the ':?' modifier in ${cond:?}
* the pattern matching modifiers after ':S,from,to' (1gW)
* the variable name in the variable assignment '!=cmd'
* the argument of a function call in '.if defined()'

Most of these cases don't need this wording, and the '!=cmd' case
shouldn't be documented at all, as it is a dirty hack.

Roland