Re: GSoc 2015 man-pages proposal: a parser for glibc feature test macros

["Carlos O'Donell" <carlos at redhat dot com>]

On 02/19/2015 03:30 AM, Michael Kerrisk (man-pages) wrote:
> Hi Carlos,
> 
> I wonder if I might be able to engage you as a backup mentor for a
> GSoC project that I am proposing here:
> https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/gsoc_2015.html
> 
> The basic idea is to produce a parser for glibc code to tell answer
> the questions: what feature test macros (FTMs) can be defined to
> expose the definition of function foo(). The purpose is then to use
> that information to update FTM information contained in the man pages.
> However, it would of course also be useful information for the glibc
> manual, should the project wish to start documenting such things. (I
> believe this information is little documented in the manual at the
> moment.)
> 
> What do you think of the idea? And would you be willing to be a backup
> mentor? (I expect little effort to be involved on your part, but GSoc
> requires two mentors for a proposal.)
> 
> BTW, if any other glibc maintainer would be willing to act as a backup
> mentor, I'd be happy hear from you.

I would be happy to be a backup mentor.

The idea sounds interesting. I don't know that all combinations of
FTMs are designed to be allowed, and I expect that the result will
always need some human expert cleanup. Therefore it would be good
to have glibc developer review of the results. I'm not suggesting
I should be that reviewer, but the community should review to make
sure it's correct.

Cheers,
Carlos.