Package: debianutils
Version: 5.21
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 ' $' <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>:22: 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 6.12.9-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)
Versions of packages debianutils depends on:
ii libc6 2.40-5
debianutils recommends no packages.
debianutils suggests no packages.
-- no debconf information
Input file is which.debianutils.1
Output from "mandoc -T lint which.debianutils.1": (shortened list)
1 whitespace at end of input line
-.-.
Output from "test-groff -mandoc -t -ww -z which.debianutils.1": (shortened list)
1 trailing space in the line
-.-.
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
-.-.
Put a parenthetical sentence, phrase on a separate line,
if not part of a code.
See man-pages(7), item "semantic newline".
which.debianutils.1:9:returns the pathnames of the files (or links) which would
be executed
-.-.
Output from "test-groff -mandoc -t -K utf8 -rF0 -rHY=0 -rCHECKSTYLE=10 -ww -z
":
troff:<stdin>:22: warning: trailing space in the line
Additionally:
Add an period (., end of sentence after the last line).
--- which.debianutils.1 2025-01-25 23:16:53.447350738 +0000
+++ which.debianutils.1.new 2025-01-25 23:20:41.605126047 +0000
@@ -6,7 +6,9 @@ which \- locate a command
which [\-as] filename ...
.SH DESCRIPTION
.B which
-returns the pathnames of the files (or links) which would be executed
+returns the pathnames of the files
+(or links)
+which would be executed
in the current environment,
had its arguments been given as commands in a strictly
POSIX-conformant shell.
@@ -19,7 +21,7 @@ It does not canonicalize path names.
print all matching pathnames of each argument
.TP
.B \-s
-silently return 0 if all of the executables were found
+silently return 0 if all of the executables were found
or 1 otherwise
.SH EXIT STATUS
.TP
@@ -30,4 +32,4 @@ if all specified commands are found and
if one or more specified commands is nonexistent or not executable
.TP
.B 2
-if an invalid option is specified
+if an invalid option is specified.
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.
Not beginning each input sentence on a new line.
Line length 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 -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 -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)
-.-
