Subject: Re: man pages: option ordering
To: Thomas Klausner <wiz@danbala.ifoer.tuwien.ac.at>
From: Martin Weber <Ephaeton@gmx.net>
List: tech-userlevel
Date: 01/06/2002 19:27:23
On Sun, Jan 06, 2002 at 06:54:38PM +0100, Thomas Klausner wrote:
> Hi!
> 
> Currently, the option ordering in our man pages is a mess. To wit:
> ls(1): A-Za-z
> pax(1): a-zA-Z
> make(1): AaBbCc...Zz
> csh(1): aAbBcC...zZ
> 
> I'd like to find a unified option order for all man pages and then
> switch to it.  This will also have an impact on the programs' usage
> output.
> 
> In my opinion, separating upper and lower case letters doesn't make
> sense, and makes options harder to find when browsing, so I'm for one
> of the last two, having a preference for the make(1) ordering (with no
> particular argument behind that).
> 
> Comments?

Yeah cool :) And *hum* could you ensure that long options, wich are adequate
to some short options, appear both under the adequate short and under an own,
long-option category ? I'd prefer the csh style personally, but well, also
no particular argument behind that :)

-a
-A
-b (--boption)
-B
...
-z
-Z
--aoption
--boption
...
--zoption
--Zoption

A unified approach will make all manpages easier to browse imho, so, go ahead :))

Martin Weber