[BusyBox] bb_opt_complementaly request

[Rob Landley]

On Wednesday 08 December 2004 03:32 pm, Paul Fox wrote:
>  >     bb_opt_complementaly = "u~g:g~u:G~u:u~G:G~g:g~G";
>
> i hope vladimir won't be offended by this -- i say it in the
> spirit of trying to understand, and to help others.  i'm
> certainly _not_ trying to criticize!

I've always found it entirely incomprehensible.  And I doubt Vladimir will be 
offended about his english, since I'm under the impression he doesn't speak 
any.  (I believe he uses a russian/english translation program.)

> could someone who understands well how bb_opt_complementaly works,
> and who is a native english speaker, take a stab at rewriting the
> comments at the head of libbb/getopt_ulflags.c?

Here's a start, from when I asked about it a year ago:

http://www.busybox.net/lists/busybox/2003-October/009519.html

> i'm sure i'm not the only one who has a lot of trouble with that
> paragraph, since a) "complementaly" isn't a word, and b)
> "incongruously" doesn't mean what it looks like someone thinks it
> does.  :-)
>
> i do think the variable name should remain unchanged, however, out
> of respect for tradition, if nothing else.  :-)

I try to avoid this particular mess entirely, when possible.  I parse 
arguments with getopts (and set my flags with index(optlist)) as tightly as I 
can, and if somebody wants to shrink using the complementally stuff that 
they're welcome to...

Rob