OTP_RELEASE: incorrect documentation?

[rlipscombe]

Describe the bug

In https://www.erlang.org/doc/reference_manual/macros, ?OTP_RELEASE is documented as:

The OTP release that the currently executing ERTS application is part of, as an integer.

However, after experimenting, this macro appears to be the version of OTP used to compile (not execute) the current source file.

To reproduce:

#!/bin/sh

mkdir -p ebin

source ~/.kerl/erlangs/OTP-25.3.2.11/activate
erlc -o ebin src/otp_25.erl

source ~/.kerl/erlangs/OTP-26.2.5/activate
erlc -o ebin src/otp_26.erl

source ~/.kerl/erlangs/OTP-27.0-rc2/activate
erlc -o ebin src/otp_27.erl

-module(otp_25). % or _26, _27, as appropriate
-export([info/0]).

info() ->
    ?OTP_RELEASE.

% erl -pa ebin
Erlang/OTP 26 [erts-14.1.1] [source] [64-bit] [smp:8:8] [ds:8:8:10] [async-threads:1] [jit]

Eshell V14.1.1 (press Ctrl+G to abort, type help(). for help)
1> otp_25:info().
25
2> otp_26:info().
26
3> otp_27:info().
27

Does the documentation need to be corrected, or am I missing something?

[bjorng]

Yes, the documentation could be clearer. What is meant is that the OTP release that is running the compiler is returned. I have tried to make it a little bit clearer in the linked pull request.