pdftoppm.1: Some remarks and a patch with editorial changes for this man page
Bjarni Ingi Gislason
bjarniig at simnet.is
Thu Jun 11 01:41:08 BST 2026
Package: poppler-utils
Version: 26.01.0-5
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.
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?
-mandoc -K utf8 -rF0 -rHY=0 -rCHECKSTYLE=0 -ww -z
* 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 7.0.10+deb14-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 poppler-utils depends on:
ii libc6 2.42-16
ii libcairo2 1.18.4-3+b1
ii libfreetype6 2.14.3+dfsg-1
ii liblcms2-2 2.19.1-1
ii libpoppler156 26.01.0-5
ii libstdc++6 16.1.0-1
poppler-utils recommends no packages.
poppler-utils suggests no packages.
-- no debconf information
-------------- next part --------------
Input file is pdftoppm.1
Output from "mandoc -T lint pdftoppm.1": (shortened list)
6 STYLE: input text line longer than 80 bytes
2 STYLE: input text line longer than 80 bytes:
4 STYLE: whitespace at end of input line
Find trailing whitespace with:
grep -n -e ' $' -e ' \\f.$' -e ' \\"' <man page>
-.-.
Output from
test-mandoc -Kutf8 -ww -z pdftoppm.1: (shortened list)
4 trailing whitespace [-w trail]
Find trailing whitespace with:
grep -n -e ' $' -e ' \\f.$' -e ' \\"' <man page>
-.-.
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".
See more information in the attachment "trailing whitespace".
Number of lines affected is
4
-.-.
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.
'-' is rendered as a hyphen (u2010) in UTF-8 encoding.
pdftoppm.1:217:The pdftoppm software and documentation are copyright 1996-2011 Glyph
-.-.
Change - to \- if it shall be printed as a minus sign.
pdftoppm.1:59:scale-to-y is set to -1, the vertical size will determined by the
pdftoppm.1:64:is set to -1, the horizontal size will determined by the aspect ratio
-.-.
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.
25:is \'-', it reads the PDF file from stdin.
59:scale-to-y is set to -1, the vertical size will determined by the
64:is set to -1, the horizontal size will determined by the aspect ratio
169:Specify single character separator between name and page number, default - .
-.-.
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"
54:for portrait pages) to fit in scale-to pixels. The size of the short
58:Scales each page horizontally to fit in scale-to-x pixels. If
63:Scales each page vertically to fit in scale-to-y pixels. If scale-to-x
120:When used with \-jpeg, takes a list of options to control the jpeg compression. See
135:Specifies the thin line mode. This defaults to "none".
202:It takes a string of the form "<opt>=<val>[,<opt>=<val>]". Currently the available options are:
205:Selects the JPEG quality value. The value must be an integer between 0 and 100.
208:Select progressive JPEG output. The possible values are "y", "n",
213:will create smaller files but make an extra pass over the data. The value must
-.-.
Split lines longer than 80 characters (fill completely
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.
[List of affected lines removed.]
Longest line is number 201 with 107 characters
When JPEG output is specified, the \-jpegopt option can be used to control the JPEG compression parameters.
-.-.
Use \(en (en-dash) for a dash at the beginning (end) of a line,
or between space characters,
not a minus (\-) or a hyphen (-), except in the NAME section.
pdftoppm.1:169:Specify single character separator between name and page number, default - .
-.-.
Put a parenthetical sentence, phrase on a separate line,
if not part of a code.
See man-pages(7), item "semantic newline".
pdftoppm.1:5:converter (version 3.03)
pdftoppm.1:77:Specifies the width of crop area in pixels (default is 0)
pdftoppm.1:80:Specifies the height of crop area in pixels (default is 0)
pdftoppm.1:83:Specifies the size of crop square in pixels (sets W and H)
pdftoppm.1:92:Generate a monochrome PBM file (instead of a color PPM file).
pdftoppm.1:95:Generate a grayscale PGM file (instead of a color PPM file).
pdftoppm.1:131:Enable or disable FreeType (a TrueType / Type 1 font rasterizer).
-.-.
Only one space character is after a possible end of sentence
(after a punctuation, that can end a sentence).
pdftoppm.1:54:for portrait pages) to fit in scale-to pixels. The size of the short
pdftoppm.1:58:Scales each page horizontally to fit in scale-to-x pixels. If
pdftoppm.1:63:Scales each page vertically to fit in scale-to-y pixels. If scale-to-x
pdftoppm.1:120:When used with \-jpeg, takes a list of options to control the jpeg compression. See
pdftoppm.1:135:Specifies the thin line mode. This defaults to "none".
pdftoppm.1:202:It takes a string of the form "<opt>=<val>[,<opt>=<val>]". Currently the available options are:
pdftoppm.1:205:Selects the JPEG quality value. The value must be an integer between 0 and 100.
pdftoppm.1:208:Select progressive JPEG output. The possible values are "y", "n",
pdftoppm.1:213:will create smaller files but make an extra pass over the data. The value must
-.-.
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(, when the table gets wider than the output line).
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.
-------------- next part --------------
--- pdftoppm.1 2026-06-11 00:14:10.896328024 +0000
+++ pdftoppm.1.new 2026-06-11 00:30:29.850056851 +0000
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ where
.I number
is the page number. If
.I PDF-file
-is \'-', it reads the PDF file from stdin.
+is \'\-', it reads the PDF file from stdin.
.SH OPTIONS
.TP
.BI \-f " number"
@@ -56,12 +56,12 @@ side will be determined by the aspect ra
.TP
.BI \-scale-to-x " number"
Scales each page horizontally to fit in scale-to-x pixels. If
-scale-to-y is set to -1, the vertical size will determined by the
+scale-to-y is set to \-1, the vertical size will determined by the
aspect ratio of the page.
.TP
.BI \-scale-to-y " number"
Scales each page vertically to fit in scale-to-y pixels. If scale-to-x
-is set to -1, the horizontal size will determined by the aspect ratio
+is set to \-1, the horizontal size will determined by the aspect ratio
of the page.
.TP
.B \-scale-dimension-before-rotation
@@ -134,12 +134,12 @@ This defaults to "yes".
.BI \-thinlinemode " none | solid | shape"
Specifies the thin line mode. This defaults to "none".
.TP
-"solid":
-adjust lines with a width less than one pixel to pixel boundary
+"solid":
+adjust lines with a width less than one pixel to pixel boundary
and paint it with a width of one pixel.
.TP
-"shape":
-adjust lines with a width less than one pixel to pixel boundary
+"shape":
+adjust lines with a width less than one pixel to pixel boundary
and paint it with a width of one pixel but with a shape in proportion
to its width.
.TP
@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ of the last page that will be generated,
written to.
.TP
.BI \-sep " char"
-Specify single character separator between name and page number, default - .
+Specify single character separator between name and page number, default \(en .
.TP
.B \-forcenum
Force page number even if there is only one page.
@@ -214,7 +214,7 @@ will create smaller files but make an ex
be "y" or "n", with "y" performing optimization, otherwise the default Huffman
tables are used.
.SH AUTHOR
-The pdftoppm software and documentation are copyright 1996-2011 Glyph
+The pdftoppm software and documentation are copyright 1996\(en2011 Glyph
& Cog, LLC.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.BR pdfdetach (1),
-------------- 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 ' \\"' <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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