svn commit: r211936 - in head: bin/test lib/libc/net lib/libc/stdio lib/libc/stdlib lib/libc/sys lib/libipx libexec/ypxfr sbin/ipfw secure/lib/libcrypto/man share/man/man4 share/man/man9 usr.sbin/I...

[Bruce Evans]

On Sat, 28 Aug 2010, Bruce Cran wrote:

> Log:
>  Fix incorrect usage of 'assure' and 'insure'.

I think some of the `assure's are more correct than their replacement
of `ensure'.  The difference is subtle -- my small 1960's English
dictionary starts by saying that both mean "make safe"; it gives
the meaning "make certain to happen" only for `ensure', and this is
usually the meaning that we want, but I read `assure' as saying a
little more -- that we have done the ensuring and that clients cant
trust us to have done it.

At least in old drafts, both POSIX and C99 use both `assure' and
`ensure', but never `insure'.  C99 only has 3 `assure's so it is easier
to analyze.  I think 1 or 2 of them would be better as `ensure'.  But
C99 also uses `assuredly'.  It would be strange if an assurance or
satisfaction of an `assuredly' could not be done by `assure'ing it.

Bruce