portsnap

[jb]

Polytropon <freebsd <at> edvax.de> writes:

> ... 
> > Yes, it is a keyword, a keyword parameter that tells CLI command what to do
> > (yes, a keyword that may be taken verbatim or translated into an internal
> > command parameter(s), a keyword that represents an action).
> > But, it is not a command, or parameter of type command.
> 
> I think Robert is right (which implies that you are wrong), at
> least in acknowledging the _possibility_ to interpret _certain_
> command line arguments as "commands to the program" (where a
> program can do various actions), in opposite to a "modifier"
> (which changes the way the "one action" a program performs
> in a certain way).
> ...

Putting aside the linguistics about executable command, entry, function, 
parameter, and argument - let's reduce the case to one common ground, so we
can compare them.

The are two entities, each having in their description as receiving a command
as a parameter, namely: 
- portsnap ... command ...
  e.g. portsnap fetch  
- system(command);
  e.g. system("ls -al"); 
 
The former is passed an action keyword as an argument (I like the word
"keyword"; we could use "command keyword" as perhaps even a better fit and
the closest to describe the nature of it).
The latter is passed a command as an argument.

So, the manual for portsnap(8) is imprecise, actually unfortunate because
misleading.
 
jb