Bug#1120827: exim.8: Some remarks and a patch with editorial changes for this man page
Bjarni Ingi Gislason
bjarniig at simnet.is
Mon Nov 17 02:38:57 GMT 2025
Package: exim4-base
Version: 4.99-4
Severity: minor
Tags: patch
>From "/usr/share/doc/debian/bug-reporting.txt.gz":
Don't file bugs upstream
If you file a bug in Debian, don't send a copy to the upstream software
maintainers yourself, as it is possible that the bug exists only in
Debian. If necessary, the maintainer of the package will forward the
bug upstream.
-.-
I do not send reports upstream if I have to get an account there.
The Debian maintainers have one already.
If I get a negative (or no) response from upstream, I send henceforth
bugs to Debian.
-.-
* 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=0 -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?
Output from "test-nroff -mandoc -t -K utf8 -rF0 -rHY=0 -rCHECKSTYLE=0 -ww -z ":
troff:<stdin>:1057: warning [page 1, line 1055]: cannot break line in l adjust mode; overset by 1n
* 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: forky/sid
APT prefers testing
APT policy: (500, 'testing')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
Kernel: Linux 6.16.12+deb14+1-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 exim4-base depends on:
ii adduser 3.153
ii anacron 2.3-45
ii cron [cron-daemon] 3.0pl1-200
ii debconf [debconf-2.0] 1.5.91
ii exim4-config [exim4-config-2] 4.99-4
ii libc6 2.41-12
ii libfile-fcntllock-perl 0.22-4+b4
ii libsqlite3-0 3.46.1-8
ii netbase 6.5
ii perl 5.40.1-6
Versions of packages exim4-base recommends:
pn bsd-mailx | mailx <none>
ii psmisc 23.7-2
Versions of packages exim4-base suggests:
pn exim4-doc-html | exim4-doc-info <none>
pn eximon4 <none>
ii file 1:5.46-5
ii mutt [mail-reader] 2.2.13-1
ii neomutt [mail-reader] 20250905+dfsg-1
ii openssl 3.5.4-1
pn spf-tools-perl <none>
pn swaks <none>
-- debconf information excluded
-------------- next part --------------
Input file is exim.8
Output from "mandoc -T lint exim.8": (shortened list)
103 STYLE: input text line longer than 80 bytes:
1 WARNING: missing date, using "": TH
3 WARNING: skipping paragraph macro: sp after SH
-.-.
Output from
test-nroff -mandoc -t -ww -z exim.8: (shortened list)
1 cannot break line in l adjust mode; overset by 1n
-.-.
Change (or include a "FIXME" paragraph about) misused SI (metric)
numeric prefixes (or names) to the binary ones, like Ki (kibi), Mi
(mebi), Gi (gibi), or Ti (tebi), if indicated.
If the metric prefixes are correct, add the definitions or an
explanation to avoid misunderstanding.
513:(in this case 25 minutes), the size of the message (2.9K), the unique local
960:The default is 16kB.
-.-.
Add a (no-break, "\ " or "\~") space between a number and a unit,
as these are not one entity.
513:(in this case 25 minutes), the size of the message (2.9K), the unique local
960:The default is 16kB.
-.-
Change a HYPHEN-MINUS (code 0x2D) to a minus(-dash) (\-),
if it
is in front of a name for an option,
is a symbol for standard input,
is a single character used to indicate an option,
or is in the NAME section (man-pages(7)).
N.B. - (0x2D), processed as a UTF-8 file, is changed to a hyphen
(0x2010, groff \[u2010] or \[hy]) in the output.
38:However, if there is at least one command line argument, \fB-bm\fR (accept a
43: /usr/sbin/exim4 -i <recipient-address(es)>
47:The \fB-i\fP option prevents a line containing just a dot from terminating
-.-.
Strings longer than 3/4 of a standard line length (80).
Use "\:" to split the string at the end of an output line, for example a
long URL (web address).
This is a groff extension.
1057 (\fBhttps://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19457\-01/801\-6680\-1M/801\-6680\-1M.pdf\fP,
1282 (\fBhttps://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19457\-01/801\-6680\-1M/801\-6680\-1M.pdf\fP
-.-.
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.
1477:option sets the message reference, e.g. message\-id, and is logged during
1806:Sendmail, as described in man pages on a number of operating systems (e.g.
-.-.
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"
[List of affected lines removed.]
-.-.
Split lines longer than 80 characters (fill completly
an A4 sized page line on a terminal)
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.
[List of affected lines removed.]
Longest line is number 1094 with 128 characters
\fB\fB\-MC\fP\fP <\fItransport\fP> <\fIhostname\fP> <\fIhost IP\fP> <\fIhost port\fP> <\fIsequence number\fP> <\fImessage id\fP>
-.-.
Remove unnecessary double font change (e.g., \fR\fI) in a row or (better)
use a two-fonts macro.
1094:\fB\fB\-MC\fP\fP <\fItransport\fP> <\fIhostname\fP> <\fIhost IP\fP> <\fIhost port\fP> <\fIsequence number\fP> <\fImessage id\fP>
-.-.
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 a hyphen between a number and the unit (name) "bit",
see "man-pages(7)", item "Terms to avoid".
112:This is a Sendmail option for selecting 7 or 8 bit processing. Exim is 8\-bit
-.-.
Only one space character is after a possible end of sentence
(after a punctuation, that can end a sentence).
[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.
exim.8:86:.SH "OPTIONS"
-.-.
Put a (long) web address on a new output line to reduce the posibility of
splitting the address between two output lines.
Or inhibit hyphenation with "\%" in front of the name.
292:(RFC 1413 [\fBhttps://www.rfc\-editor.org/rfc/rfc2487\fP])
315:swaks [\fBhttps://www.jetmore.org/john/code/swaks/\fP].
352:(RFC 5804 [\fBhttps://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc5804.html\fP])
363:RFC 2822 [\fBhttps://www.rfc\-editor.org/rfc/rfc2822\fP] addresses.
381:RFC 2822 [\fBhttps://www.rfc\-editor.org/rfc/rfc2822\fP],
1057:(\fBhttps://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19457\-01/801\-6680\-1M/801\-6680\-1M.pdf\fP,
1269:RFC 2822 [\fBhttps://www.rfc\-editor.org/rfc/rfc2822\fP]
1282:(\fBhttps://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19457\-01/801\-6680\-1M/801\-6680\-1M.pdf\fP
1819:RFC 2822 [\fBhttps://www.rfc\-editor.org/rfc/rfc2822\fP]
-.-.
Output from "test-nroff -mandoc -t -K utf8 -rF0 -rHY=0 -rCHECKSTYLE=0 -ww -z ":
troff:<stdin>:1057: warning [page 1, line 1055]: cannot break line in l adjust mode; overset by 1n
-.-
Generally:
Split (sometimes) lines after a punctuation mark; before a conjunction.
-------------- next part --------------
--- exim.8 2025-11-17 01:19:13.969211865 +0000
+++ exim.8.new 2025-11-17 02:32:09.692204372 +0000
@@ -12,8 +12,6 @@ exim4 \- a Mail Transfer Agent
.fi
.
.SH DESCRIPTION
-.rs
-.sp
Exim is a mail transfer agent (MTA) developed at the University of Cambridge.
It is a large program with very many facilities. For a full specification, see
the reference manual. This man page contains only a description of the command
@@ -28,29 +26,25 @@ boot scripts to start the Exim daemon. M
compatible with Sendmail so that it can act as a drop-in replacement.
.
.SH "DEFAULT ACTION"
-.rs
-.sp
If no options are present that require a specific action (such as starting the
daemon or a queue runner, testing an address, receiving a message in a specific
format, or listing the queue), and there are no arguments on the command line,
Exim outputs a brief message about itself and exits.
.sp
-However, if there is at least one command line argument, \fB-bm\fR (accept a
+However, if there is at least one command line argument, \fB\-bm\fR (accept a
local message on the standard input, with the arguments specifying the
recipients) is assumed. Thus, for example, if Exim is installed in
\fI/usr/sbin\fP, you can send a message from the command line like this:
.sp
- /usr/sbin/exim4 -i <recipient-address(es)>
+ /usr/sbin/exim4 \-i <recipient-address(es)>
<message content, including all the header lines>
CTRL-D
.sp
-The \fB-i\fP option prevents a line containing just a dot from terminating
+The \fB\-i\fP option prevents a line containing just a dot from terminating
the message. Only an end-of-file (generated by typing CTRL-D if the input is
from a terminal) does so.
.
.SH "SETTING OPTIONS BY PROGRAM NAME"
-.rs
-.sp
If an Exim binary is called using one of the names listed in this section
(typically via a symbolic link), certain options are assumed.
.TP
@@ -83,8 +77,7 @@ for compatibility with Sendmail. This op
alias file. Exim does not have the concept of a single alias file, but can be
configured to run a specified command if called with the \fB\-bi\fP option.
.
-.SH "OPTIONS"
-.rs
+.SH OPTIONS
.TP 10
\fB\-\-\fP \-\-
This is a pseudo\-option whose only purpose is to terminate the options and
@@ -109,7 +102,7 @@ ignored by Exim.
This option requests an ODMR customer connection.
.TP 10
\fB\-B\fP <\fItype\fP>
-This is a Sendmail option for selecting 7 or 8 bit processing. Exim is 8\-bit
+This is a Sendmail option for selecting 7- or 8-bit processing. Exim is 8\-bit
clean; it ignores this option.
.TP 10
\fB\-bd\fP
@@ -510,7 +503,7 @@ Each message in the queue is displayed a
<other addresses>
.sp
The first line contains the length of time the message has been in the queue
-(in this case 25 minutes), the size of the message (2.9K), the unique local
+(in this case 25 minutes), the size of the message (2.9\~KB), the unique local
identifier for the message, and the message sender, as contained in the
envelope. For bounce messages, the sender address is empty, and appears as
"<>". If the message was submitted locally by an untrusted user who overrode
@@ -571,7 +564,7 @@ and to write it to the standard output.
exim4 \-brt bach.comp.mus.example
Retry rule: *.comp.mus.example F,2h,15m; F,4d,30m;
.sp
- The first
+The first
argument, which is required, can be a complete address in the form
\fIlocal_part at domain\fP, or it can be just a domain name. If the second argument
contains a dot, it is interpreted as an optional second domain name; if no
@@ -957,7 +950,7 @@ behaviour of the daemon without creating
.TP 10
\fB\-dp\fP<\fIsize\fP>
This option sets up a debug pretrigger buffer with given size (in bytes).
-The default is 16kB.
+The default is 16\~kB.
.TP 10
\fB\-dt\fP=<\fIvalue\fP>
This option sets additional reasons for debug to trigger, over ACL\-initiated
@@ -1055,7 +1048,7 @@ This option, which has the same effect a
line by itself should not terminate an incoming, non\-SMTP message.
Solaris 2.4 (SunOS 5.4) Sendmail has a similar \fB\-i\fP processing option
(\fBhttps://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19457\-01/801\-6680\-1M/801\-6680\-1M.pdf\fP,
-p. 1M\-529), and therefore a \fB\-oi\fP command line option, which both are used
+p.\& 1M\-529), and therefore a \fB\-oi\fP command line option, which both are used
by its \fImailx\fP command.
.TP 10
\fB\-L\fP <\fItag\fP>
@@ -1091,12 +1084,12 @@ message ("ar" for "add recipients"). The
id, and the remaining ones must be email addresses. However, if the message is
active (in the middle of a delivery attempt), it is not altered. This option
can be used only by an admin user.
-\fB\fB\-MC\fP\fP <\fItransport\fP> <\fIhostname\fP> <\fIhost IP\fP> <\fIhost port\fP> <\fIsequence number\fP> <\fImessage id\fP>
+\fB\-MC\fP <\fItransport\fP> <\fIhostname\fP> <\fIhost IP\fP> <\fIhost port\fP> <\fIsequence number\fP> <\fImessage id\fP>
.sp
-This option is not intended for use by external callers. It is used internally
+\fBThis option is not intended for use by external callers. It is used internally
by Exim to invoke another instance of itself to deliver a waiting message using
an existing SMTP connection, which is passed as the standard input. This must be the final option, and the caller
-must be root or the Exim user in order to use it.
+must be root or the Exim user in order to use it.\fR
.TP 10
\fB\-MCA\fP
This option is not intended for use by external callers. It is used internally
@@ -1280,7 +1273,7 @@ the standard output. This option can be
\fB\-m\fP
This is a synonym for \fB\-om\fP that is accepted by Sendmail
(\fBhttps://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19457\-01/801\-6680\-1M/801\-6680\-1M.pdf\fP
-p. 1M\-258), so Exim treats it that way too.
+p.\& 1M\-258), so Exim treats it that way too.
.TP 10
\fB\-N\fP
This is a debugging option that inhibits delivery of a message at the transport
@@ -1474,7 +1467,7 @@ using the same syntax as for \fB\-oMa\fP
.TP 10
\fB\-oMm\fP <\fImessage reference\fP>
See \fB\-oMa\fP above for general remarks about the \fB\-oM\fP options. The \fB\-oMm\fP
-option sets the message reference, e.g. message\-id, and is logged during
+option sets the message reference, e.g.\& message\-id, and is logged during
delivery. This is useful when some kind of audit trail is required to tie
messages together. The format of the message reference is checked and will
abort if the format is invalid. The option will only be accepted if exim is
@@ -1803,7 +1796,7 @@ If the command has any arguments, they s
is \fInot\fP to be delivered. That is, the argument addresses are removed from
the recipients list obtained from the headers. This is compatible with Smail 3
and in accordance with the documented behaviour of several versions of
-Sendmail, as described in man pages on a number of operating systems (e.g.
+Sendmail, as described in man pages on a number of operating systems (e.g.\&
Solaris 8, IRIX 6.5, HP\-UX 11). However, some versions of Sendmail \fIadd\fP
argument addresses to those obtained from the headers, and the O'Reilly
Sendmail book documents it that way. Exim can be made to add argument addresses
@@ -1885,7 +1878,6 @@ under most shells.
.BR update\-exim4defaults (8),
/usr/share/doc/exim4\-base/,
/usr/share/doc/exim4\-base/README.Debian.[gz|html].
-.rs
.sp
The full Exim specification, the Exim book, and the Exim wiki.
-------------- next part --------------
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
-.-
For general input conventions consult the man page "nroff(7)" (item
"Input conventions") or the Texinfo manual about the same item.
-.-
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 when that has been fixed.
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)
-.-
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