14 files changed, 31 insertions, 24 deletions
diff --git a/man2/accept.2 b/man2/accept.2
index bc24f5c813..90551f8e56 100644
--- a/man2/accept.2
+++ b/man2/accept.2
@@ -173,7 +173,7 @@ these system calls return a file descriptor
 for the accepted socket (a nonnegative integer).
 On error, \-1 is returned,
 .I errno
-is set appropriately, and
+is set to indicate the error, and
 .I addrlen
 is left unchanged.
 .SS Error handling
diff --git a/man2/clock_getres.2 b/man2/clock_getres.2
index 9d86e05ba8..936b05a1c6 100644
--- a/man2/clock_getres.2
+++ b/man2/clock_getres.2
@@ -264,9 +264,10 @@ clock_gettime(clkid, &ts);
 .BR clock_settime (),
 and
 .BR clock_getres ()
-return 0 for success, or \-1 for failure (in which case
+return 0 for success.
+On error, \-1 is returned and
 .I errno
-is set appropriately).
+is set to indicate the error.
 .SH ERRORS
 .TP
 .B EACCES
diff --git a/man2/gettimeofday.2 b/man2/gettimeofday.2
index 929bea05fa..085b86ad05 100644
--- a/man2/gettimeofday.2
+++ b/man2/gettimeofday.2
@@ -145,9 +145,10 @@ No doubt it is a bad idea to use this feature.
 .BR gettimeofday ()
 and
 .BR settimeofday ()
-return 0 for success, or \-1 for failure (in which case
+return 0 for success.
+On error, \-1 is returned and
 .I errno
-is set appropriately).
+is set to indicate the error.
 .SH ERRORS
 .TP
 .B EFAULT
diff --git a/man2/ioctl_tty.2 b/man2/ioctl_tty.2
index 635e85704e..6dfe176e3c 100644
--- a/man2/ioctl_tty.2
+++ b/man2/ioctl_tty.2
@@ -681,7 +681,7 @@ The
 system call returns 0 on success.
 On error, it returns \-1 and sets
 .I errno
-appropriately.
+to indicate the error.
 .SH ERRORS
 .TP
 .B EINVAL
diff --git a/man2/keyctl.2 b/man2/keyctl.2
index ea3a5d3dd0..7eb27bba07 100644
--- a/man2/keyctl.2
+++ b/man2/keyctl.2
@@ -1660,7 +1660,7 @@ Zero.
 .PP
 On error, \-1 is returned, and
 .I errno
-is set appropriately to indicate the error.
+is set to indicate the error.
 .SH ERRORS
 .TP
 .B EACCES
diff --git a/man2/mkdir.2 b/man2/mkdir.2
index 7eccb16458..6934e331a4 100644
--- a/man2/mkdir.2
+++ b/man2/mkdir.2
@@ -113,9 +113,10 @@ for an explanation of the need for
 .BR mkdir ()
 and
 .BR mkdirat ()
-return zero on success, or \-1 if an error occurred (in which case,
+return zero on success.
+On error, \-1 is returned and
 .I errno
-is set appropriately).
+is set to indicate the error.
 .SH ERRORS
 .TP
 .B EACCES
diff --git a/man2/mknod.2 b/man2/mknod.2
index bb1b2cc426..fad459d8ce 100644
--- a/man2/mknod.2
+++ b/man2/mknod.2
@@ -152,9 +152,10 @@ for an explanation of the need for
 .BR mknod ()
 and
 .BR mknodat ()
-return zero on success, or \-1 if an error occurred (in which case,
+return zero on success.
+On error, \-1 is returned and
 .I errno
-is set appropriately).
+is set to indicate the error.
 .SH ERRORS
 .TP
 .B EACCES
diff --git a/man2/mlock.2 b/man2/mlock.2
index c020ab7359..95bf500ed8 100644
--- a/man2/mlock.2
+++ b/man2/mlock.2
@@ -178,7 +178,8 @@ calling process.
 On success, these system calls return 0.
 On error, \-1 is returned,
 .I errno
-is set appropriately, and no changes are made to any locks in the
+is set to indicate the error,
+and no changes are made to any locks in the
 address space of the process.
 .SH ERRORS
 .TP
diff --git a/man2/open.2 b/man2/open.2
index 781e3aedec..df3a8175d4 100644
--- a/man2/open.2
+++ b/man2/open.2
@@ -964,15 +964,15 @@ and provides a superset of the features of
 It is documented separately, in
 .BR openat2 (2).
 .SH RETURN VALUE
+On success,
 .BR open (),
 .BR openat (),
 and
 .BR creat ()
-return the new file descriptor (a nonnegative integer),
-or \-1 if an error occurred
-(in which case,
+return the new file descriptor (a nonnegative integer).
+On error, \-1 is returned and
 .I errno
-is set appropriately).
+is set to indicate the error.
 .SH ERRORS
 .BR open (),
 .BR openat (),
diff --git a/man2/perf_event_open.2 b/man2/perf_event_open.2
index 95f3286219..19d80de58f 100644
--- a/man2/perf_event_open.2
+++ b/man2/perf_event_open.2
@@ -3464,11 +3464,12 @@ This is needed when setting up uncore or northbridge events, as
 those PMUs present socket-wide events.
 .RE
 .SH RETURN VALUE
+On success,
 .BR perf_event_open ()
-returns the new file descriptor, or \-1 if an error occurred
-(in which case,
+returns the new file descriptor.
+On error, \-1 is returned and
 .I errno
-is set appropriately).
+is set to indicate the error.
 .SH ERRORS
 The errors returned by
 .BR perf_event_open ()
diff --git a/man2/pipe.2 b/man2/pipe.2
index ef282300e5..078b579259 100644
--- a/man2/pipe.2
+++ b/man2/pipe.2
@@ -150,7 +150,7 @@ to achieve the same result.
 On success, zero is returned.
 On error, \-1 is returned,
 .I errno
-is set appropriately, and
+is set to indicate the error, and
 .I pipefd
 is left unchanged.
 .PP
diff --git a/man2/socketpair.2 b/man2/socketpair.2
index d09d897b7a..629cf0f48d 100644
--- a/man2/socketpair.2
+++ b/man2/socketpair.2
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ The two sockets are indistinguishable.
 On success, zero is returned.
 On error, \-1 is returned,
 .I errno
-is set appropriately, and
+is set to indicate the error, and
 .I sv
 is left unchanged
 .PP
diff --git a/man3/getpass.3 b/man3/getpass.3
index 8c0f0e20da..95c72147e3 100644
--- a/man3/getpass.3
+++ b/man3/getpass.3
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ newline, terminated by a null byte (\(aq\e0\(aq).
 This buffer may be overwritten by a following call.
 On error, the terminal state is restored,
 .I errno
-is set appropriately, and NULL is returned.
+is set to indicate the error, and NULL is returned.
 .SH ERRORS
 The function may fail if
 .TP
diff --git a/man3/mkfifo.3 b/man3/mkfifo.3
index a6e3e2deeb..5432cc9a93 100644
--- a/man3/mkfifo.3
+++ b/man3/mkfifo.3
@@ -117,8 +117,9 @@ On success
 and
 .BR mkfifoat ()
 return 0.
-In the case of an error, \-1 is returned (in which case, \fIerrno\fP
-is set appropriately).
+On error, \-1 is returned and
+.I errno
+is set to indicate the error.
 .SH ERRORS
 .TP
 .B EACCES