linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH 0/2] man7/ip.7: Clarify PKTINFO's docs

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Message-ID: <vbdfw7ecw4mw4jlvcv4evtj7ngeqbxenr5wzxl56sn5d6ducw3@yomryb4vbtr5>
Date: Tue, 18 Nov 2025 14:51:22 +0100
From: Alejandro Colomar <alx@...nel.org>
To: Jakub Głogowski <not@...dz.net>
Cc: linux-man@...r.kernel.org, LKML <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>, 
	Linux API <linux-api@...r.kernel.org>, ej@...i.de
Subject: Re: [PATCH 0/2] man7/ip.7: Clarify PKTINFO's docs

Hi Jakub,

On Fri, Nov 14, 2025 at 03:29:29PM +0100, Jakub Głogowski wrote:
> I found the PKTINFO docs pretty confusing, so I tried clarifying them:
> - being more specific about each field in the struct
>   (e.g. "local address of the packet" for a received packet could've
>   been interpreted in myriad ways),
> - making the differences between sendmsg(2)'s and recvmsg(2)'s handling
>   of that struct more explicit,
> - and some other slight rewording to make it (IMO) more readable - I cut
>   out most of a paragraph that wasn't really saying anything, etc.
> 
> I'm not sure if this should even be documented in ip(7) together with
> the other sockopts, though?  sendmsg(2)'s handling of in_pktinfo is
> completely unrelated to the IP_PKTINFO sockopt.  Documenting it in its
> own manual page would also give us more room for subsection headings and
> other formatting, examples, etc - instead of trying to cram it into
> what's already an enormous manpage.
> 
> Same goes for some of the other more complex sockopts, I guess.

Do you suggest moving each socket option to a manual page under
man2const/?  I think I agree with that.  There's precedent, and it makes
the pages more readable.

I'll try to do that soon.  I'll ping you when I've finished, in case you
want to apply further changes.

> PS. sorry for not signing this email, but neomutt didn't want to
> cooperate :/  I'll try to figure it out for any followup patches.

Ok.


Have a lovely day!
Alex

> Jakub Głogowski (2):
>   man/man7/ip.7: Clarify PKTINFO's semantics depending on packet
>     direction
>   man/man7/ip.7: Reword IP_PKTINFO's description
> 
>  man/man7/ip.7 | 57 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++------------------------
>  1 file changed, 30 insertions(+), 27 deletions(-)
> 
> -- 
> 2.47.3
> 

-- 
<https://www.alejandro-colomar.es>
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