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Re: [PATCH 6/9] Slightly revise documentation of POSIX mode.
From: |
G. Branden Robinson |
Subject: |
Re: [PATCH 6/9] Slightly revise documentation of POSIX mode. |
Date: |
Tue, 31 Dec 2024 18:49:10 -0600 |
At 2024-12-31T12:35:15-0500, Chet Ramey wrote:
> On 12/30/24 8:29 PM, G. Branden Robinson wrote:
> > At 2024-12-30T12:40:48-0500, Chet Ramey wrote:
> > > On 12/16/24 12:48 PM, G. Branden Robinson wrote:
> > > > * doc/bash.1: Introduce "POSIX mode" earlier in the document.
> > > > Set the word "POSIX" in small caps (as traditionally done for
> > > > acronyms)
> > >
> > > `POSIX' is not an acronym, despite the Open Group's efforts to
> > > retcon it. It's historically been just a name.
> >
> > Okay. The important point here is not what "POSIX" literally stands
> > for, if anything, but how it's pronounced. Traditionally, as in
> > 50-70 years ago, the use of small caps to typeset a word was a cue
> > that a term was not to be read like an initialism (USA, FBI, BBC)
> > but as a pronounceable word (NASA, NATO, UNICEF).
>
> POSIX is pronounceable.
I tried to communicate my knowledge of that. I assumed that was why
you, or the person who asked you to change the styling of "POSIX" in
bashref.texi, made the choice of small caps.
> At some point in the past, when I was more accommodating,
;-)
> someone requested that I use it in the texinfo manual. Since it was
> only the texinfo manual, I suspect it was somone connected with GNU,
> but I can't remember.
A style guide for the Bash documentation might be a good thing to have.
Regards,
Branden
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