Package: binutils-common
Version: 2.44-2 (Debian)
Severity: minor
Tags: patch
* What led up to the situation?
Checking for defects with a new version
test-[g|n]roff -mandoc -t -K utf8 -rF0 -rHY=0 -rCHECKSTYLE=10 -ww -z < "man
page"
[Use "groff -e ' $' -e '\\~$' <file>" to find obvious trailing spaces.]
["test-groff" is a script in the repository for "groff"; is not shipped]
(local copy and "troff" slightly changed by me).
[The fate of "test-nroff" was decided in groff bug #55941.]
* What was the outcome of this action?
troff:<stdin>:156: warning: font name 'CW' is deprecated
troff:<stdin>:427: warning: trailing space in the line
* What outcome did you expect instead?
No output (no warnings).
-.-
General remarks and further material, if a diff-file exist, are in the
attachments.
-- System Information:
Debian Release: trixie/sid
APT prefers testing
APT policy: (500, 'testing')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
Kernel: Linux 6.12.12-amd64 (SMP w/2 CPU threads; PREEMPT)
Locale: LANG=is_IS.iso88591, LC_CTYPE=is_IS.iso88591 (charmap=ISO-8859-1),
LANGUAGE not set
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /usr/bin/dash
Init: sysvinit (via /sbin/init)
-- no debconf information
Input file is ar.1
Output from "mandoc -T lint ar.1": (shortened list)
1 input text line longer than 80 bytes: ar [\fB\-X32_64\fR] ...
1 whitespace at end of input line
Remove trailing space with: sed -e 's/ *$//'
-.-.
Output from "test-groff -mandoc -t -ww -z ar.1": (shortened list)
1 font name 'CW' is deprecated
1 trailing space in the line
Remove trailing space with: sed -e 's/ *$//'
-.-.
Show if Pod::Man generated this.
Who is actually creating this man page? Debian or upstream?
Is the generating software out of date?
2:.\" Automatically generated by Pod::Man 5.0102 (Pod::Simple 3.45)
-.-.
Remove space characters (whitespace) at the end of lines.
Use "git apply ... --whitespace=fix" to fix extra space issues, or use
global configuration "core.whitespace".
Number of lines affected is
1
-.-.
Change '-' (\-) to '\(en' (en-dash) for a (numeric) range.
GNU gnulib has recently (2023-06-18) updated its
"build_aux/update-copyright" to recognize "\(en" in man pages.
ar.1:457:Copyright (c) 1991\-2025 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
-.-.
Wrong distance between sentences in the input file.
Separate the sentences and subordinate clauses; each begins on a new
line. See man-pages(7) ("Conventions for source file layout") and
"info groff" ("Input Conventions").
The best procedure is to always start a new sentence on a new line,
at least, if you are typing on a computer.
Remember coding: Only one command ("sentence") on each (logical) line.
E-mail: Easier to quote exactly the relevant lines.
Generally: Easier to edit the sentence.
Patches: Less unaffected text.
Search for two adjacent words is easier, when they belong to the same line,
and the same phrase.
The amount of space between sentences in the output can then be
controlled with the ".ss" request.
Mark a final abbreviation point as such by suffixing it with "\&".
Some sentences (etc.) do not begin on a new line.
Split (sometimes) lines after a punctuation mark; before a conjunction.
Lines with only one (or two) space(s) between sentences could be split,
so latter sentences begin on a new line.
Use
#!/usr/bin/sh
sed -e '/^\./n' \
-e 's/\([[:alpha:]]\)\. */\1.\n/g' $1
to split lines after a sentence period.
Check result with the difference between the formatted outputs.
See also the attachment "general.bugs"
[List of affected lines removed.]
-.-
Split lines longer than 80 characters into two or more lines.
Appropriate break points are the end of a sentence and a subordinate
clause; after punctuation marks.
Add "\:" to split the string for the output, "\<newline>" in the source.
Line 67, length 264
ar [\fB\-X32_64\fR] [\fB\-\fR]\fIp\fR[\fImod\fR] [\fB\-\-plugin\fR \fIname\fR]
[\fB\-\-target\fR \fIbfdname\fR] [\fB\-\-output\fR \fIdirname\fR]
[\fB\-\-record\-libdeps\fR \fIlibdeps\fR] [\fB\-\-thin\fR] [\fIrelpos\fR]
[\fIcount\fR] \fIarchive\fR [\fImember\fR...]
-.-.
Add a zero (0) in front of a decimal fraction that begins with a period
(.)
7:.if t .sp .5v
-.-.
Put a parenthetical sentence, phrase on a separate line,
if not part of a code.
See man-pages(7), item "semantic newline".
[List of affected lines removed.]
-.-
Use ".na" (no adjustment) instead of ".ad l" (and ".ad" to begin the
same adjustment again as before).
61:.if n .ad l
-.-.
Add lines to use the CR font for groff instead of CW.
.if t \{\
. ie \\n(.g .ft CR
. el .ft CW
.\}
11:.ft CW
-.-.
Section headings (.SH and .SS) do not need quoting their arguments.
452:.SH "SEE ALSO"
-.-.
Test nr. 96:
Define a fallback for font CW with
.if t \{\
. ie \n(.g .ds fC \f(CR
. el .ds fC \f(CW
. \}
. ds fP \fP
.\}
.
.if n \{\
. ds fC \fR
. ds fP \fP
.\}
156:If no modifiers are used with \f(CW\*(C`m\*(C'\fR, any members you name in
the
239:paths must not be absolute, may not contain \f(CW\*(C`..\*(C'\fR, and any
325:will result in the first \f(CW\*(C`subdir/file1\*(C'\fR being replaced with
326:\&\f(CW\*(C`file1\*(C'\fR from the current directory. Adding \fBP\fR will
-.-.
Output from "test-groff -mandoc -t -K utf8 -rF0 -rHY=0 -rCHECKSTYLE=10 -ww -z
":
troff:<stdin>:156: warning: font name 'CW' is deprecated
troff:<stdin>:427: warning: trailing space in the line
-.-.
Additionally:
Changed '\-\-\-' to an em-dash \(em.
-.-
Generally:
Split (sometimes) lines after a punctuation mark; before a conjunction.
--- ar.1 2025-03-02 21:00:29.255819321 +0000
+++ ar.1.new 2025-03-02 21:21:58.897679997 +0000
@@ -4,11 +4,14 @@
.\" Standard preamble:
.\" ========================================================================
.de Sp \" Vertical space (when we can't use .PP)
-.if t .sp .5v
+.if t .sp 0.5v
.if n .sp
..
.de Vb \" Begin verbatim text
-.ft CW
+.if t \{\
+. ie \\n(.g .ft CR
+. el .ft CW
+.\}
.nf
.ne \\$1
..
@@ -52,19 +55,36 @@
. \}
.\}
.rr rF
+.
+.\" Define a fallback for font CW with
+.if t \{\
+. ie \n(.g .ds fC \f(CR
+. el .ds fC \f(CW
+. \}
+. ds fP \fP
+.\}
+.
+.if n \{\
+. ds fC \fR
+. ds fP \fP
+.\}
+
.\" ========================================================================
.\"
.IX Title "AR 1"
.TH AR 1 2025-02-19 binutils-2.44 "GNU Development Tools"
.\" For nroff, turn off justification. Always turn off hyphenation; it makes
.\" way too many mistakes in technical documents.
-.if n .ad l
+.if n .na
.nh
.SH NAME
ar \- create, modify, and extract from archives
.SH SYNOPSIS
.IX Header "SYNOPSIS"
-ar [\fB\-X32_64\fR] [\fB\-\fR]\fIp\fR[\fImod\fR] [\fB\-\-plugin\fR \fIname\fR]
[\fB\-\-target\fR \fIbfdname\fR] [\fB\-\-output\fR \fIdirname\fR]
[\fB\-\-record\-libdeps\fR \fIlibdeps\fR] [\fB\-\-thin\fR] [\fIrelpos\fR]
[\fIcount\fR] \fIarchive\fR [\fImember\fR...]
+ar [\fB\-X32_64\fR] [\fB\-\fR]\fIp\fR[\fImod\fR] [\fB\-\-plugin\fR
+\fIname\fR] [\fB\-\-target\fR \fIbfdname\fR] [\fB\-\-output\fR
+\fIdirname\fR] [\fB\-\-record\-libdeps\fR \fIlibdeps\fR] [\fB\-\-thin\fR]
+[\fIrelpos\fR] [\fIcount\fR] \fIarchive\fR [\fImember\fR...]
.SH DESCRIPTION
.IX Header "DESCRIPTION"
The GNU \fBar\fR program creates, modifies, and extracts from
@@ -153,7 +173,7 @@ The ordering of members in an archive ca
programs are linked using the library, if a symbol is defined in more
than one member.
.Sp
-If no modifiers are used with \f(CW\*(C`m\*(C'\fR, any members you name in the
+If no modifiers are used with \*(fC\*(C`m\*(C'\fR, any members you name in the
\&\fImember\fR arguments are moved to the \fIend\fR of the archive;
you can use the \fBa\fR, \fBb\fR, or \fBi\fR modifiers to move them to a
specified place instead.
@@ -224,7 +244,7 @@ are listed.
If there is more than one file with the same name (say, \fBfie\fR) in
an archive (say \fBb.a\fR), \fBar t b.a fie\fR lists only the
first instance; to see them all, you must ask for a complete
-listing\-\-\-in our example, \fBar t b.a\fR.
+listing\(emin our example, \fBar t b.a\fR.
.IP \fBx\fR 4
.IX Item "x"
\&\fIExtract\fR members (named \fImember\fR) from the archive. You can
@@ -236,7 +256,7 @@ are extracted.
.Sp
Files cannot be extracted from a thin archive, and there are
restrictions on extracting from archives created with \fBP\fR: The
-paths must not be absolute, may not contain \f(CW\*(C`..\*(C'\fR, and any
+paths must not be absolute, may not contain \*(fC\*(C`..\*(C'\fR, and any
subdirectories in the paths must exist. If it is desired to avoid
these restrictions then used the \fB\-\-output\fR option to specify
an output directory.
@@ -322,8 +342,8 @@ when choosing which element to replace.
\& ar rcST archive.a subdir/file1 subdir/file2 file1
.Ve
.Sp
-will result in the first \f(CW\*(C`subdir/file1\*(C'\fR being replaced with
-\&\f(CW\*(C`file1\*(C'\fR from the current directory. Adding \fBP\fR will
+will result in the first \*(fC\*(C`subdir/file1\*(C'\fR being replaced with
+\&\*(fC\*(C`file1\*(C'\fR from the current directory. Adding \fBP\fR will
prevent this replacement.
.IP \fBs\fR 4
.IX Item "s"
@@ -407,7 +427,7 @@ plugin that claims the object in questio
.Sp
Please note that this plugin search directory is \fInot\fR the one
used by \fBld\fR's \fB\-plugin\fR option. In order to make
-\&\fBar\fR use the linker plugin it must be copied into the
+\&\fBar\fR use the linker plugin it must be copied into the
\&\fI${libdir}/bfd\-plugins\fR directory. For GCC based compilations
the linker plugin is called \fIliblto_plugin.so.0.0.0\fR. For Clang
based compilations it is called \fILLVMgold.so\fR. The GCC plugin
@@ -424,7 +444,7 @@ The \fB\-\-output\fR option can be used
directory into which archive members should be extracted. If this
option is not specified then the current directory will be used.
.Sp
-Note \- although the presence of this option does imply a \fBx\fR
+Note \- although the presence of this option does imply a \fBx\fR
extraction operation that option must still be included on the command
line.
.IP "\fB\-\-record\-libdeps\fR \fIlibdeps\fR" 4
@@ -449,12 +469,12 @@ option in either single or double quotes
backslash) may be included by prefixing the character to be included
with a backslash. The \fIfile\fR may itself contain additional
@\fIfile\fR options; any such options will be processed recursively.
-.SH "SEE ALSO"
+.SH SEE ALSO
.IX Header "SEE ALSO"
\&\fBnm\fR\|(1), \fBranlib\fR\|(1), and the Info entries for \fIbinutils\fR.
.SH COPYRIGHT
.IX Header "COPYRIGHT"
-Copyright (c) 1991\-2025 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+Copyright (c) 1991\(en2025 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
.PP
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3
Any program (person), that produces man pages, should check the output
for defects by using (both groff and nroff)
[gn]roff -mandoc -t -ww -b -z -K utf8 <man page>
The same goes for man pages that are used as an input.
For a style guide use
mandoc -T lint
-.-
Any "autogenerator" should check its products with the above mentioned
'groff', 'mandoc', and additionally with 'nroff ...'.
It should also check its input files for too long (> 80) lines.
This is just a simple quality control measure.
The "autogenerator" may have to be corrected to get a better man page,
the source file may, and any additional file may.
Common defects:
Not removing trailing spaces (in in- and output).
The reason for these trailing spaces should be found and eliminated.
"git" has a "tool" to point out whitespace,
see for example "git-apply(1)" and git-config(1)")
Not beginning each input sentence on a new line.
Line length and patch size should thus be reduced.
The script "reportbug" uses 'quoted-printable' encoding when a line is
longer than 1024 characters in an 'ascii' file.
See man-pages(7), item "semantic newline".
-.-
The difference between the formatted output of the original and patched file
can be seen with:
nroff -mandoc <file1> > <out1>
nroff -mandoc <file2> > <out2>
diff -d -u <out1> <out2>
and for groff, using
\"printf '%s\n%s\n' '.kern 0' '.ss 12 0' | groff -mandoc -Z - \"
instead of 'nroff -mandoc'
Add the option '-t', if the file contains a table.
Read the output from 'diff -d -u ...' with 'less -R' or similar.
-.-.
If 'man' (man-db) is used to check the manual for warnings,
the following must be set:
The option \"-warnings=w\"
The environmental variable:
export MAN_KEEP_STDERR=yes (or any non-empty value)
or
(produce only warnings):
export MANROFFOPT=\"-ww -b -z\"
export MAN_KEEP_STDERR=yes (or any non-empty value)
-.-
