From ff1721325dfdf76640130513e7a14b4c08291f35 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: =?UTF-8?q?Zbigniew=20J=C4=99drzejewski-Szmek?= <zbyszek@amutable.com>
Date: Sat, 30 May 2026 21:44:58 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] man/systemd: reword description of 2/3/4/5
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We shouldn't say that that they boot into "a … legacy target", because
they boot into the standard targets. Those names are just aliases now.
(And also the user is not required to know what SysV even is, so it
shouldn't be used in the main explanation.)
---
 man/systemd.xml | 22 +++++++++++-----------
 1 file changed, 11 insertions(+), 11 deletions(-)

diff --git a/man/systemd.xml b/man/systemd.xml
index 30ae385029..9020579d73 100644
--- a/man/systemd.xml
+++ b/man/systemd.xml
@@ -996,10 +996,10 @@
         <term><varname>rd.emergency</varname></term>
         <term><varname>-b</varname></term>
 
-        <listitem><para>Boot into emergency mode. This is equivalent
-        to <varname>systemd.unit=emergency.target</varname> or
-        <varname>rd.systemd.unit=emergency.target</varname>, respectively, and
-        provided for compatibility reasons and to be easier to type.</para>
+        <listitem><para>Boot into emergency mode. Those options are equivalent to
+        <varname>systemd.unit=emergency.target</varname> or
+        <varname>rd.systemd.unit=emergency.target</varname>, respectively. They were initially
+        provided for compatibility with SysV, but are retained as convenient shortcuts.</para>
 
         <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v186"/></listitem>
       </varlistentry>
@@ -1012,10 +1012,10 @@
         <term><varname>S</varname></term>
         <term><varname>1</varname></term>
 
-        <listitem><para>Boot into rescue mode. This is equivalent to
-        <varname>systemd.unit=rescue.target</varname> or
-        <varname>rd.systemd.unit=rescue.target</varname>, respectively, and
-        provided for compatibility reasons and to be easier to type.</para>
+        <listitem><para>Boot into rescue mode. Those options are equivalent to either
+        <varname>systemd.unit=rescue.target</varname> or <varname>rd.systemd.unit=rescue.target</varname>.
+        They were initially provided for compatibility with SysV, but are retained as convenient
+        shortcuts.</para>
 
         <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v186"/></listitem>
       </varlistentry>
@@ -1026,11 +1026,11 @@
         <term><varname>4</varname></term>
         <term><varname>5</varname></term>
 
-        <listitem><para>Boot into the specified legacy SysV runlevel.
+        <listitem><para>Shortcuts to boot into specific targets:
         <varname>2</varname>, <varname>3</varname>, and <varname>4</varname> are equivalent to
         <varname>systemd.unit=multi-user.target</varname>; and <varname>5</varname> is equivalent to
-        <varname>systemd.unit=graphical.target</varname>, and provided for compatibility reasons and to be
-        easier to type.</para>
+        <varname>systemd.unit=graphical.target</varname>. Those options were initially provided
+        for compatibility with SysV, but are retained as convenient shortcuts.</para>
 
         <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v186"/></listitem>
       </varlistentry>