Re: [PATCH] Use recommended long options syntax in man page

[Richard Copley]

On 10 January 2018 at 03:36, Eli Zaretskii <address@hidden> wrote:
>> Cc: address@hidden, address@hidden, address@hidden, address@hidden
>> From: Paul Eggert <address@hidden>
>> Date: Tue, 9 Jan 2018 14:21:49 -0800
>>
>> That is true only for options with an optional argument, as Bug#24949#30
>> mentions. Most options are not that way, and we needn't recommend the
>> spurious "=" for them.
>
> Newbies or people who only rarely use these options would not know
> which arguments are optional, so recommending to always use a '='
> makes their muscle memory more future-proof.

Both arguments have merit. Manuals aren't just for newbies. Maybe
there's room to introduce the syntax with the = first, then elaborate
explaining the actual syntax in full. Or maybe that level of detail is
best left for the TexInfo manual.