This is a list of Linux related functions/commands/files/projects that are badly named.
Usually, the names were good at that time, but outdated nowadays.
I am not intended to actually rename those things since the names have historical reasons. I am just trying to share some ideas to help Linux newbies who are confused about these wierd names.
Pull requests are welcome.
Better names are: sendsignal(1) and sendsignal(2).
kill(1) and kill(2) can send much more signals than SIGKILL.
Moreover, kill(1) actually sends SIGTERM instead of SIGKILL if no signal specified.
Better name is: /etc/user.
There are no passwords in /etc/passwd nowadays. The passwords are in /etc/shadow.
Just like /etc/group contains a list of groups, a file that contains a list of users should be renamed to /etc/user.
Better name is: netdump(1).
It can dump more protocols than TCP.
Better name is: sysconf(1)
The default behavior of ulimit(1) is getting/setting file size, but it can deal with more system configurations than that.
In addition to that, the prefix "u" means "user", but it only affect the current session instead of all the sessions of the user.
Better name is: count(1).
wc(1) stands for "word count", but it can count words, newlines, bytes, etc.
Better name is: str2int(3).
If atoi(3) was named str2int(3), this StackOverflow question won't exist.
Better name is: /etc/nfs.exports.
It's not clear that /etc/exports belongs to NFS unless you check out man 5 exports.
Better name is: proc(1)
top(1) can display the processes information with the top usage of CPU/Memory. However, the name "top" is unclear because it can be interpreted as "top files in a filesystem", "top network transfer" or anything.
Furthermore, if you press "R" key in top(1), it reverse the sorting order and make it bottom(1) :P
Therefore, proc(1) is clearer because it does nothing more than displaying process information.
Wikipedia says "top" is short for "Table Of Process". But I don't think that is the original design.
Better name is: M-Bus
The "D" in "D-Bus" stands for "Desktop". However, the communication (IPC and RPC) is not limited to desktop anymore. It can be renamed to "M-Bus" where "M" stands for "Message".
Better name is: /cfg.
It's a directory for host-specific configuration files. Why not just call it /cfg?
Better name is: cupscancel(1).
The program name seems like it can cancel anything. In fact, it can only be used to cancel printer jobs.
Better name is: cc(1).
The man page says: "Convert and copy a file". Since it Convert and Copy a file, why not just name it cc?
The Jargon File says dd stands for "Dataset Definition", but I think it's not very comprehensive for what dd(1) actually does.