Merge branch 'upstream'

[gnulib.git] / doc / gnulib-intro.texi

diff --git a/doc/gnulib-intro.texi b/doc/gnulib-intro.texi
index d5d7408..09ac675 100644 (file)
--- a/doc/gnulib-intro.texi
+++ b/doc/gnulib-intro.texi
@@ -1,4 +1,38 @@
-@node Library vs. Reusable Code
+@node Benefits
+@section Benefits of using Gnulib
+
+Gnulib is useful to enhance various aspects of a package:
+
+@itemize @bullet
+@item
+Portability: With Gnulib, a package maintainer can program against the
+POSIX and GNU libc APIs and nevertheless expect good portability to
+platforms that don't implement POSIX.
+
+@item
+Maintainability: When a package uses modules from Gnulib instead of code
+written specifically for that package, the maintainer has less code to
+maintain.
+
+@item
+Security: Gnulib provides functions that are immune against vulnerabilities
+that plague the uses of the corresponding commonplace functions. For
+example, @code{asprintf}, @code{canonicalize_file_name} are not affected
+by buffer sizing problems that affect @code{sprintf}, @code{realpath}.
+@code{openat} does not have the race conditions that @code{open} has. Etc.
+
+@item
+Reliability: Gnulib provides functions that combine a call to a system
+function with a check of the result. Examples are @code{xalloc},
+@code{xprintf}, @code{xstrtod}, @code{xgetcwd}.
+
+@item
+Structure: Gnulib offers a way to structure code into modules, typically
+one include file, one source code file, and one autoconf macro for each
+functionality. Modularity helps maintainability.
+@end itemize
+
+@node Library vs Reusable Code
 @section Library vs. Reusable Code
 
 Classical libraries are installed as binary object code.  Gnulib is
@@ -35,7 +69,7 @@ that.
 Similarly, Gnulib has a facility for executing a command in a
 subprocess.  It is at the same time a portability enhancement (it
 works on GNU, Unix, and Windows, compared to the classical
-@code{fork()}/@code{exec()} which is not portable to Windows), as well
+@code{fork}/@code{exec} idiom which is not portable to Windows), as well
 as an application aid: it takes care of redirecting stdin and/or
 stdout if desired, and emits an error message if the subprocess
 failed.
@@ -175,7 +209,7 @@ C++ language or from the Linux kernel.
 @subsection Interfaces to external libraries
 
 Examples are the @samp{iconv} module, which interfaces to the
-@code{iconv()} facility, regardless whether it is contained in libc or in
+@code{iconv} facility, regardless whether it is contained in libc or in
 an external @code{libiconv}.  Or the @samp{readline} module, which
 interfaces to the GNU readline library.
 
@@ -250,12 +284,13 @@ not a problem, since compiled tests are not installed by ``make install''.
 Documentation files are under this copyright:
 
 @quotation
-Copyright @copyright{} 200X-200Y Free Software Foundation, Inc.@*
+Copyright @copyright{} 2004-200Y Free Software Foundation, Inc.@*
 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
-under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
+under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or
 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
-Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover
-Texts.
+Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.  A
+copy of the license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free
+Documentation License''.
 @end quotation
 @end table