Package: lintian
Version: 2.122.0
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
grep -n -e ' $' -e '\\~$' -e ' \\f.$' -e ' \\"' <file>
to find (most) 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?
an.tmac:<stdin>:83: style: use of deprecated macro: .PD
an.tmac:<stdin>:90: style: use of deprecated macro: .PD
troff:<stdin>:110: warning: trailing space in the line
an.tmac:<stdin>:122: style: use of deprecated macro: .PD
an.tmac:<stdin>:125: style: use of deprecated macro: .PD
an.tmac:<stdin>:150: style: use of deprecated macro: .PD
an.tmac:<stdin>:155: style: use of deprecated macro: .PD
* 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 6.12.21-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 lintian depends on:
ii appstream 1.0.4-1
ii binutils 2.44-3
ii bzip2 1.0.8-6
ii diffstat 1.67-1
ii dpkg 1.22.18
ii dpkg-dev 1.22.18
ii file 1:5.45-3+b1
ii gettext 0.23.1-1
ii gpg 2.2.46-6
ii intltool-debian 0.35.0+20060710.6
ii iso-codes 4.17.0-1
ii libapt-pkg-perl 0.1.41
ii libarchive-zip-perl 1.68-1
ii libberkeleydb-perl 0.66-1
ii libcapture-tiny-perl 0.50-1
ii libclass-xsaccessor-perl 1.19-4+b5
ii libclone-perl 0.47-1+b1
ii libconfig-tiny-perl 2.30-1
ii libconst-fast-perl 0.014-2
ii libcpanel-json-xs-perl 4.39-1
ii libdata-dpath-perl 0.60-1
ii libdata-validate-domain-perl 0.15-1
ii libdata-validate-uri-perl 0.07-3
ii libdevel-size-perl 0.84-1+b1
pn libdigest-sha-perl <none>
ii libdpkg-perl 1.22.18
ii libemail-address-xs-perl 1.05-1+b4
pn libencode-perl <none>
ii libfile-basedir-perl 0.09-2
ii libfile-find-rule-perl 0.34-3
ii libfont-ttf-perl 1.06-2
ii libhtml-html5-entities-perl 0.004-3
ii libhtml-tokeparser-simple-perl 3.16-4
ii libio-interactive-perl 1.026-1
ii libipc-run3-perl 0.049-1
ii libjson-maybexs-perl 1.004008-1
ii liblist-compare-perl 0.55-2
ii liblist-someutils-perl 0.59-1
ii liblist-utilsby-perl 0.12-2
ii libmldbm-perl 2.05-4
ii libmoo-perl 2.005005-1
ii libmoox-aliases-perl 0.001006-2
ii libnamespace-clean-perl 0.27-2
ii libpath-tiny-perl 0.146-1
ii libperlio-gzip-perl 0.20-1+b4
ii libperlio-utf8-strict-perl 0.010-1+b3
ii libproc-processtable-perl 0.636-1+b3
ii libregexp-wildcards-perl 1.05-3
ii libsereal-decoder-perl 5.004+ds-1+b3
ii libsereal-encoder-perl 5.004+ds-1+b3
ii libsort-versions-perl 1.62-3
ii libsyntax-keyword-try-perl 0.30-1+b1
ii libterm-readkey-perl 2.38-2+b4
ii libtext-levenshteinxs-perl 0.03-5+b4
ii libtext-markdown-discount-perl 0.18-1
ii libtext-xslate-perl 3.5.9-2+b1
ii libtime-duration-perl 1.21-2
ii libtime-moment-perl 0.44-2+b4
ii libtimedate-perl 2.3300-2
ii libunicode-utf8-perl 0.62-2+b3
ii liburi-perl 5.30-1
ii libwww-mechanize-perl 2.19-1
ii libwww-perl 6.78-1
ii libxml-libxml-perl 2.0207+dfsg+really+2.0134-5+b2
ii libyaml-libyaml-perl 0.903.0+ds-1
ii lzip [lzip-decompressor] 1.25-3
ii lzop 1.04-2
ii man-db 2.13.0-1
ii patchutils 0.4.2-1
ii perl [libversion-perl] 5.40.1-2
ii t1utils 1.41-4
ii unzip 6.0-29
ii xz-utils 5.6.4-1
lintian recommends no packages.
Versions of packages lintian suggests:
pn binutils-multiarch <none>
pn libtext-template-perl <none>
-- no debconf information
Input file is Lintian::Deb822.3
Output from "mandoc -T lint Lintian::Deb822.3": (shortened list)
1 : Lintian::Deb822.3:267:2: WARNING: empty block: RS
-.-.
Output from
test-nroff -mandoc -t -ww -z Lintian::Deb822.3: (shortened list)
1 line(s) with a trailing space
Find trailing space with:
grep -n -e ' $' -e ' \\f.$' -e ' \\"' <man page>
-.-.
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
-.-.
Add a "\&" (or a comma (Oxford comma)) after an abbreviation
or use English words
(man-pages(7)).
Abbreviation points should be marked as such and protected against being
interpreted as an end of sentence, if they are not, and that independent
of the current place on the line.
164:If the file is empty (i.e. it contains no paragraphs), the method will
185:CODE is expected to be a callable reference (e.g. a sub) and will be
223:period is missing to denote an "empty line" in (e.g.) the long
244:A valid PGP header appears (e.g. "BEGIN PUBLIC KEY BLOCK").
-.-.
Wrong distance (not two spaces) 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"
164:If the file is empty (i.e. it contains no paragraphs), the method will
185:CODE is expected to be a callable reference (e.g. a sub) and will be
223:period is missing to denote an "empty line" in (e.g.) the long
244:A valid PGP header appears (e.g. "BEGIN PUBLIC KEY BLOCK").
-.-.
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 215, length 84
.ie n .IP "Continuation line outside a paragraph (maybe line %d should be ""
."")" 4
Line 216, length 90
.el .IP "Continuation line outside a paragraph (maybe line \f(CW%d\fR should be
"" ."")" 4
Line 217, length 81
.IX Item "Continuation line outside a paragraph (maybe line %d should be ""
."")"
Longest line is number 216 with 90 characters
-.-.
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".
Lintian::Deb822.3:102:with paths to files (rather than open handles). The
first argument
Lintian::Deb822.3:128:maps (lower cased) field names to their values.
Lintian::Deb822.3:130:FLAGS (if given) is a bitmask of the \fIDCTRL_*\fR
constants. Please
Lintian::Deb822.3:160:FLAGS (if given) is a bitmask of the \fIDCTRL_*\fR
constants. Please
Lintian::Deb822.3:164:If the file is empty (i.e. it contains no paragraphs),
the method will
Lintian::Deb822.3:185:CODE is expected to be a callable reference (e.g. a sub)
and will be
Lintian::Deb822.3:198:If the CODE invokes die (or similar) the error is
propagated to the
Lintian::Deb822.3:244:A valid PGP header appears (e.g. "BEGIN PUBLIC KEY
BLOCK").
-.-.
Use a character "\(->" instead of plain "->" or "\->".
188:.IP "CODE\->(PARA, LINE_NUMBERS)" 4
189:.IX Item "CODE->(PARA, LINE_NUMBERS)"
-.-.
Only one space character is after a possible end of sentence
(after a punctuation, that can end a sentence).
Lintian::Deb822.3:164:If the file is empty (i.e. it contains no paragraphs),
the method will
Lintian::Deb822.3:185:CODE is expected to be a callable reference (e.g. a sub)
and will be
Lintian::Deb822.3:244:A valid PGP header appears (e.g. "BEGIN PUBLIC KEY
BLOCK").
-.-.
Put a subordinate sentence (after a comma) on a new line.
[List of affected lines removed.]
-.-.
Remove quotes when there is a printable
but no space character between them
and the quotes are not for emphasis (markup),
for example as an argument to a macro.
Lintian::Deb822.3:66:.IX Header "SYNOPSIS"
Lintian::Deb822.3:71:.IX Header "DESCRIPTION"
Lintian::Deb822.3:86:.IX Header "FUNCTIONS"
Lintian::Deb822.3:243:.IX Header "AUTHOR"
-.-.
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.
73:.SH "INSTANCE METHODS"
93:.SS "Debian control parsers"
274:.SH "SEE ALSO"
-.-.
.\" Define a fallback for font CW with
.if t \{\
. ie \n(.g .ds fC \f(CR
. el .ds fC \f(CW
.\}
.
.if n \{\
. ds fC \fR
.\}
Change \f(CW to \*(fC
210:Where \f(CW%d\fR is the line number of the issue and \f(CW%s\fR is one of:
212:.el .IP "Duplicate field \f(CW%s\fR" 4
216:.el .IP "Continuation line outside a paragraph (maybe line \f(CW%d\fR
should be "" ."")" 4
228:parser. Note that all non-printables in \f(CW%s\fR will be replaced by
238:.el .IP "Two PGP signatures (first one at line \f(CW%d\fR)" 4
242:.el .IP "Unexpected \f(CW%s\fR header" 4
249:.el .IP "Expected at most one signed message (previous at line \f(CW%d\fR)"
4
-.-.
Output from "test-groff -mandoc -t -K utf8 -rF0 -rHY=0 -rCHECKSTYLE=10 -ww -z
":
an.tmac:<stdin>:83: style: use of deprecated macro: .PD
an.tmac:<stdin>:90: style: use of deprecated macro: .PD
troff:<stdin>:110: warning: trailing space in the line
an.tmac:<stdin>:122: style: use of deprecated macro: .PD
an.tmac:<stdin>:125: style: use of deprecated macro: .PD
an.tmac:<stdin>:150: style: use of deprecated macro: .PD
an.tmac:<stdin>:155: style: use of deprecated macro: .PD
-.-.
Generally:
Split (sometimes) lines after a punctuation mark; before a conjunction.
--- Lintian::Deb822.3 2025-04-07 07:59:08.863332715 +0000
+++ Lintian::Deb822.3.new 2025-04-07 08:07:43.177129648 +0000
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ Otherwise, this behaves like:
.Sp
.Vb 1
\& use autodie;
-\&
+\&
\& open(my $fd, \*(Aq<:encoding(UTF\-8)\*(Aq, FILE); # or \*(Aq<\*(Aq
\& my @p = parse_dpkg_control($fd, FLAGS, LINES);
\& close($fd);
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>
To find trailing space use
grep -n -e ' $' -e ' \\f.$' -e ' \\"' <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)
-.-
