exim4-config_files.5: Some remarks and a patch with editorial changes for this man page
Bjarni Ingi Gislason
bjarniig at simnet.is
Mon Aug 31 20:56:29 BST 2026
Package: exim4-config
Version: 4.100-1
Severity: minor
Tags: patch
Additional remarks.
Mails from me to "submit at bugs.debian.org" are no longer acknowledged. A
Debian maintainer told me, that he would contact the mail administrator
about me not wanting to send bugs upstream.
-.-
Dear Maintainer,
>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.
-.-
For forwarding bug reports to upstream see:
https://www.debian.org/Bugs/Developer#forward
-.-
"Handling bug reports" in
http://people.debian.org/~enrico/dcg/ch03s02.html
-.-
I do not send reports upstream if I have to get an account there.
The Debian maintainers have one already.
-.-
* 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.$' -e ' \\"' -e ' "$' <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 -K utf8 -rF0 -rHY=0 -ww -z ":
troff:<stdin>:259: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:279: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:280: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:286: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:331: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:385: warning [page 1, line 279]: cannot adjust (align) with both margins ; underset by 17n [-w break]
* 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 7.1.8+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-config depends on:
ii debconf [debconf-2.0] 1.5.92
ii systemd [systemd-sysusers] 261.2-1
Versions of packages exim4-config recommends:
ii ca-certificates 20260601
exim4-config suggests no packages.
-- Configuration Files:
/etc/email-addresses changed [not included]
/etc/exim4/passwd.client [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/etc/exim4/passwd.client'
-- debconf information excluded
-------------- next part --------------
Input file is exim4-config_files.5
Output from "mandoc -T lint exim4-config_files.5": (shortened list)
1 STYLE: normalizing date format to: TH January 4, 2015
-.-.
Output from
test-groff mandoc -Kutf8 -ww -z exim4-config_files.5: (shortened list)
1 cannot adjust (align) with both margins ; underset by 11n [-w break]
5 end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
-.-.
Wrong distance (not two spaces, not a new line character (\n)) 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.]
-.-.
Put a parenthetical sentence, phrase on a separate line,
if not part of a code.
See man-pages(7), item "semantic newline".
exim4-config_files.5:214:internal.mail.example (IP address derived from A record only), and
exim4-config_files.5:260:the mail server to send to (this is determined in Debconf), but only
exim4-config_files.5:274:CNAME (a DNS alias), or the reverse lookup does not fit the forward one.
exim4-config_files.5:355:in local_host_blacklist returns a temporary error (DNS timeout) exim
exim4-config_files.5:363:host list (the record was removed from DNS) exim behaves as if the host
-.-.
Only one space character is after a possible end of sentence
(after a punctuation, that can end a sentence).
Start a new sentence on a new line.
[List of affected lines removed.]
-.-.
Change comment lines of type '.\" ====', '.\" ---', and an empty
'.\"' line) to a single period, as they contain no information and waste
work each time they are processed.
7:.\"
-.-.
Additionally:
Line 279: Use only a left adjusted line (long URL line).
-.-
".sp n" inserts n empy lines (.sp means the same as .sp 1).
.na means "no adjustment" (similar effect on the output as 'ad l')
.ad means "restore previous adjustment" (used after '.na'). There is a
bug in the troff implementations, so it always selects the '.ad b'
adjustment.
-.-
Size/bytes:
13431 exim4-config_files.5
13435 exim4-config_files.5.new
-.-
Generally:
Split (sometimes) lines after a punctuation mark; before a conjunction.
-.-
Tables:
Use the preprocessor 'tbl' to make tables.
Put data, that are wider than the header in the (centered) last column,
in a "T{...\nT}" block.
Table headings, that are wider than any data in the corresponding
column, do not need to be centered, so left adjustment (l, L) is
sufficient. There is thereby no change in the standard output.
-------------- next part --------------
--- exim4-config_files.5 2026-08-31 19:20:40.040339793 +0000
+++ exim4-config_files.5.new 2026-08-31 19:39:21.199282688 +0000
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
.\" other parameters are allowed: see man(7), man(1)
.TH EXIM4-CONFIG_FILES 5 "Jan 4, 2015" EXIM4
.\" Please adjust this date whenever revising the manpage.
-.\"
+.
.\" Some roff macros, for reference:
.\" .nh disable hyphenation
.\" .hy enable hyphenation
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
.\" .nf disable filling
.\" .fi enable filling
.\" .br insert line break
-.\" .sp <n> insert n+1 empty lines
+.\" .sp <n> insert n empty lines
.\" for manpage-specific macros, see man(7)
.\" \(oqthis text is enclosed in single quotes\(cq
.\" \(lqthis text is enclosed in double quotes\(rq
@@ -382,7 +382,9 @@ See Exim specification Chapter
.I Domain, host, address, and local part lists
, section
.I Behaviour when an IP address or name cannot be found.
+.na
<http://www.exim.org/exim\-html\-current/\:doc/\:html/\:spec_html/\:ch\-domain_host_address_and_local_part_lists.html>
+.ad
.
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR exim (8),
-------------- next part --------------
Check the output from "lintian" in the Debian distribution.
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 most trailing spaces use
grep -n -e ' $' -e ' \\f.$' -e ' \\"' -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.
Debian can fix simple bugs in the used generators and distribute them,
and does not need to wait for upstream to do that and distribute them.
-.-
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 a script "cmp.manuals" in the attachment.
Or
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)
-.-
-------------- next part --------------
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