The documentation in uci.h for uci_lookup_ptr states that setting the 'extended' parameter will enable the use of extended syntax. However in the function definition it is clear that this is not the only requirement, in order to use extended syntax whilst looking for anonymous sections as you also need to set a flag in uci_ptr ptr, ptr->flags |= UCI_LOOKUP_EXTENDED.
I could not find any reason why the flags could not be automatically set at the start of the function, or the logic check 'ptr->flags & UCI_LOOKUP_EXTENDED' deleted. It would seem natural to me, that if you set a parameter flag to use extended syntax, it would actually use it.
So I was wondering whether anyone knew the reason why this is done...