<command> vs <application>

Brad Smith brads at redhat.com
Thu Sep 8 14:51:05 UTC 2005


I am a bit confused about these tags.

At first I had assumed that <application> was for referring to a program
as a proper noun and <command> was for instructions that one might
execute. For example:

<para>
	<application>links</application> is an unusual web 
	browser in that, unlike graphical browsers such as 
	<application>Firefox</application>, it is run 
	from the command-line with an instruction like 
	<command>links http://fedora.redhat.com</command>.
</para>

However, upon closer inspection of the docbook docs, <command> seems to
be meant for any reference a CLI command, whereas <application> is meant
for any GUI application. So the "correct" markup for the above would be:

<para>
	<command>links</command> is an unusual web 
	browser in that, unlike graphical browsers such as 
	<application>Firefox</application>, it is run 
	from the command-line with an instruction like 
	<command>links http://fedora.redhat.com</command>.
</para>

I can understand why we might want to differentiate between commands the
user might run and commands that are just being mentioned (my initial
assumption), but the official definition, which requires a different tag
for links and Firefox when mentioned in the same context, seems
arbitrary and kind of silly.

Can someone please shed some light on what the rationale is here?

Thanks,
--Brad
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