[Pkg-gmagick-im-team] convert-im7.q16.1: Some remarks and a patch with editorial changes for this man page

Bjarni Ingi Gislason bjarniig at simnet.is
Sun Jul 5 03:45:56 BST 2026


Package: imagemagick-7.q16
Version: 8:7.1.2.25+dfsg1-2
Severity: minor
Tags: upstream

  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 ' \\"' <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-groff  -mandoc  -K utf8 -rF0 -rHY=0 -rCHECKSTYLE=0 -ww -z ":

troff:<stdin>:8: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:145: warning: trailing whitespace [-w trail]
troff:<stdin>:215: warning: trailing whitespace [-w trail]
troff:<stdin>:332: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:334: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:334: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]

   * 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 7.0.13+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 imagemagick-7.q16 depends on:
ii  hicolor-icon-theme      0.18-2
ii  libc6                   2.42-17
ii  libmagickcore-7.q16-10  8:7.1.2.25+dfsg1-2
ii  libmagickwand-7.q16-10  8:7.1.2.25+dfsg1-2

Versions of packages imagemagick-7.q16 recommends:
ii  ghostscript                   10.07.1~dfsg-1
pn  libmagickcore-7.q16-10-extra  <none>
ii  netpbm                        2:11.13.03+ds-2

Versions of packages imagemagick-7.q16 suggests:
pn  autotrace                            <none>
pn  cups-bsd | lpr | lprng               <none>
ii  curl                                 8.20.0-5
pn  enscript                             <none>
pn  ffmpeg                               <none>
pn  gimp                                 <none>
ii  gnuplot                              6.0.3+dfsg1-1
ii  gnuplot-qt [gnuplot]                 6.0.3+dfsg1-1
pn  grads                                <none>
pn  graphviz                             <none>
ii  groff-base                           1.24.1-1
pn  hp2xx                                <none>
pn  html2ps                              <none>
ii  imagemagick-7-doc                    8:7.1.2.25+dfsg1-2
pn  libraw-bin                           <none>
pn  libwmf-bin                           <none>
pn  mplayer                              <none>
pn  povray                               <none>
pn  radiance                             <none>
pn  sane-utils                           <none>
ii  texlive-binaries [texlive-base-bin]  2026.20260303.78225+ds-4
pn  transfig                             <none>
ii  xdg-utils                            1.2.1-2

-- no debconf information
-------------- next part --------------
Input file is convert-im7.q16.1

Output from "mandoc -T lint  convert-im7.q16.1": (shortened list)

      5 STYLE: input text line longer than 80 bytes
      2 STYLE: whitespace at end of input line

Find trailing whitespace with:
grep -n -e ' $' -e ' \\f.$' -e ' \\"' -e ' "$' <man page>

-.-.

Output from
test-groff mandoc -Kutf8 -ww -z convert-im7.q16.1: (shortened list)

    261 2 leading space(s) on input line
     39 23 leading space(s) on input line
      8 24 leading space(s) on input line
      4 end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
      2 trailing whitespace [-w trail]

Find trailing whitespace with:
grep -n -e ' $' -e ' \\f.$' -e ' \\"' -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

2

-.-.

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.

223:                       pixel value less than |epsilon| become epsilon or -epsilon
334:By default, the image format of `file' is determined by its magic number.  To specify a particular image format, precede the filename with an image format name and a colon (i.e. ps:image) or specify the image type as the filename suffix (i.e. image.ps).  Specify 'file' as '-' for standard input or output.

-.-.

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.

10 For more information about the convert command, point your browser to file:///usr/share/doc/imagemagick-7-common/html/www/convert.html (on debian system you may install the imagemagick-7 package) or https://www.imagemagick.org/script/convert.php.
340 \fBCopyright (C) 1999 ImageMagick Studio LLC. Additional copyrights and licenses apply to this software, see file:///usr/share/doc/imagemagick-7-common/html/www/license.html (on debian system you may install the imagemagick-7 package) or https://www.imagemagick.org/script/license.php\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.

48:  \-features distance   analyze image features (e.g. contrast, correlation)
334:By default, the image format of `file' is determined by its magic number.  To specify a particular image format, precede the filename with an image format name and a colon (i.e. ps:image) or specify the image type as the filename suffix (i.e. image.ps).  Specify 'file' as '-' for standard input or output.

-.-.

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"

48:  \-features distance   analyze image features (e.g. contrast, correlation)
332:Use any setting or operator as an \fIoutput-option\fP.  Only a limited number of setting are  \fIinput-option\fP. They include: \-antialias, \-caption, \-density, \-define, \-encoding, \-font, \-pointsize, \-size, and \-texture as well as any of the miscellaneous options.
334:By default, the image format of `file' is determined by its magic number.  To specify a particular image format, precede the filename with an image format name and a colon (i.e. ps:image) or specify the image type as the filename suffix (i.e. image.ps).  Specify 'file' as '-' for standard input or output.
340:\fBCopyright (C) 1999 ImageMagick Studio LLC. Additional copyrights and licenses apply to this software, see file:///usr/share/doc/imagemagick-7-common/html/www/license.html (on debian system you may install the imagemagick-7 package) or https://www.imagemagick.org/script/license.php\fP

-.-.

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 334 with 306 characters
By default, the image format of `file' is determined by its magic number.  To specify a particular image format, precede the filename with an image format name and a colon (i.e. ps:image) or specify the image type as the filename suffix (i.e. image.ps).  Specify 'file' as '-' for standard input or output.

-.-.

Name of a manual is set in bold (or italic), the section in roman.
See man-pages(7).

336:ImageMagick-im7.q16(1)

-.-.

Use the name of units in text; use symbols in tables and
calculations.
The rule is to have a (no-break, \~) space between a number and
its units (see "www.bipm.org/en/publications/si-brochure")

27:  \-clip                clip along the first path from the 8BIM profile
29:  \-clip-path id        clip along a named path from the 8BIM profile
147:  \-clip                clip along the first path from the 8BIM profile
149:  \-clip-path id        clip along a named path from the 8BIM profile

-.-.

point size: the typographical term is 'type size'.  There exist
several point sizes, like 'Didot point', 'big point' (PostScript point),
and 'pica point' (printer's point, English, USA).

77:  \-pointsize value     font point size

-.-.

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.]

-.-.

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.

convert-im7.q16.1:48:  \-features distance   analyze image features (e.g. contrast, correlation)
convert-im7.q16.1:332:Use any setting or operator as an \fIoutput-option\fP.  Only a limited number of setting are  \fIinput-option\fP. They include: \-antialias, \-caption, \-density, \-define, \-encoding, \-font, \-pointsize, \-size, and \-texture as well as any of the miscellaneous options.
convert-im7.q16.1:334:By default, the image format of `file' is determined by its magic number.  To specify a particular image format, precede the filename with an image format name and a colon (i.e. ps:image) or specify the image type as the filename suffix (i.e. image.ps).  Specify 'file' as '-' for standard input or output.
convert-im7.q16.1:340:\fBCopyright (C) 1999 ImageMagick Studio LLC. Additional copyrights and licenses apply to this software, see file:///usr/share/doc/imagemagick-7-common/html/www/license.html (on debian system you may install the imagemagick-7 package) or https://www.imagemagick.org/script/license.php\fP

-.-.

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.

convert-im7.q16.1:1:.TH convert-im7.q16 1 "Date: 2009/01/10 01:00:00" "ImageMagick"

-.-.

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.


10:For more information about the convert command, point your browser to file:///usr/share/doc/imagemagick-7-common/html/www/convert.html (on debian system you may install the imagemagick-7 package) or https://www.imagemagick.org/script/convert.php.
340:\fBCopyright (C) 1999 ImageMagick Studio LLC. Additional copyrights and licenses apply to this software, see file:///usr/share/doc/imagemagick-7-common/html/www/license.html (on debian system you may install the imagemagick-7 package) or https://www.imagemagick.org/script/license.php\fP

-.-.

Output from "test-groff  -mandoc  -K utf8 -rF0 -rHY=0 -rCHECKSTYLE=0 -ww -z ":

troff:<stdin>:8: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:145: warning: trailing whitespace [-w trail]
troff:<stdin>:215: warning: trailing whitespace [-w trail]
troff:<stdin>:332: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:334: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:334: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]

-.-

Generally:

Split (sometimes) lines after a punctuation mark; before a conjunction.

Adjustment and hyphenation are unnecessary (and just waste resources) in
nroff mode for man pages, add

.if n \{\
.  nh
.  nr HY 0
.  ad l
.  ds AD l
.\}

-.-

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 --------------
--- convert-im7.q16.1	2026-07-05 01:42:26.914149589 +0000
+++ convert-im7.q16.1.new	2026-07-05 02:24:25.651145761 +0000
@@ -1,13 +1,23 @@
-.TH convert-im7.q16 1 "Date: 2009/01/10 01:00:00" "ImageMagick"
+.TH convert-im7.q16 1 "Date: 2009/01/10 01:00:00" ImageMagick
 .SH NAME
 convert \- convert between image formats as well as resize an image, blur, crop, despeckle, dither, draw on, flip, join, re-sample, and much more.
 .SH SYNOPSIS
 .TP
 \fBmagick-im7.q16 convert\fP [\fIinput-options\fP] \fIinput-file\fP [\fIoutput-options\fP] \fIoutput-file\fP
 .SH OVERVIEW
-The \fBconvert-im7.q16\fP program is a member of the ImageMagick-ims7.q16(1) suite of tools.  Use it to convert between image formats as well as resize an image, blur, crop, despeckle, dither, draw on, flip, join, re-sample, and much more.
+The \fBconvert-im7.q16\fP program is a member of the ImageMagick-ims7.q16(1) suite of
+tools.
+Use it to convert between image formats as well as resize an image, blur, crop, despeckle, dither, draw on, flip, join, re-sample, and much more.
 
-For more information about the convert command, point your browser to file:///usr/share/doc/imagemagick-7-common/html/www/convert.html (on debian system you may install the imagemagick-7 package) or https://www.imagemagick.org/script/convert.php.
+For more information about the convert command, point your browser to
+.ie \n(.g \{\
+file:///usr/share/doc/\:imagemagick\-7\-common/\:html/\:www/\:convert.html
+.\}
+.el \{\
+file:///usr/share/doc/imagemagick\-7\-common/html/www/convert.html
+.\}
+(on debian system you may install the imagemagick-7 package)
+or https://www.imagemagick.org/script/convert.php.
 .SH DESCRIPTION
 Image Settings:
   \-adjoin              join images into a single multi-image file
@@ -45,7 +55,7 @@ Image Settings:
   \-encoding type       text encoding type
   \-endian type         endianness (MSB or LSB) of the image
   \-family name         render text with this font family
-  \-features distance   analyze image features (e.g. contrast, correlation)
+  \-features distance   analyze image features (e.g.\& contrast, correlation)
   \-fill color          color to use when filling a graphic primitive
   \-filter type         use this filter when resizing an image
   \-flatten             flatten a sequence of images
@@ -74,7 +84,7 @@ Image Settings:
   \-orient type         image orientation
   \-page geometry       size and location of an image canvas (setting)
   \-ping                efficiently determine image attributes
-  \-pointsize value     font point size
+  \-pointsize value     font type size
   \-precision value     maximum number of significant digits to print
   \-preview type        image preview type
   \-quality value       JPEG/MIFF/PNG compression level
@@ -142,7 +152,7 @@ Image Operators:
   \-channel mask        set the image channel mask
   \-charcoal radius     simulate a charcoal drawing
   \-chop geometry       remove pixels from the image interior
-  \-clahe geometry      contrast limited adaptive histogram equalization 
+  \-clahe geometry      contrast limited adaptive histogram equalization
   \-clamp               keep pixel values in range (0-QuantumRange)
   \-clip                clip along the first path from the 8BIM profile
   \-clip-mask filename  associate a clip mask with the image
@@ -212,7 +222,7 @@ Image Operators:
                        apply a morphology method to the image
   \-motion-blur geometry
                        simulate motion blur
-  \-negate              replace each pixel with its complementary color 
+  \-negate              replace each pixel with its complementary color
   \-noise geometry      add or reduce noise in an image
   \-normalize           transform image to span the full range of colors
   \-opaque color        change this color to the fill color
@@ -220,7 +230,7 @@ Image Operators:
                        add a noise pattern to the image with specific amplitudes
   \-paint radius        simulate an oil painting
   \-perceptible epsilon
-                       pixel value less than |epsilon| become epsilon or -epsilon
+                       pixel value less than |epsilon| become epsilon or \-epsilon
   \-polaroid angle      simulate a Polaroid picture
   \-posterize levels    reduce the image to a limited number of color levels
   \-print string        interpret string and print to console
@@ -329,12 +339,26 @@ Miscellaneous Options:
   \-list type           print a list of supported option arguments
   \-version             print version information
 
-Use any setting or operator as an \fIoutput-option\fP.  Only a limited number of setting are  \fIinput-option\fP. They include: \-antialias, \-caption, \-density, \-define, \-encoding, \-font, \-pointsize, \-size, and \-texture as well as any of the miscellaneous options.
+Use any setting or operator as an \fIoutput-option\fP.
+Only a limited number of setting are  \fIinput-option\fP. They include: \-antialias, \-caption, \-density, \-define, \-encoding, \-font, \-pointsize, \-size, and \-texture as well as any of the miscellaneous options.
 
-By default, the image format of `file' is determined by its magic number.  To specify a particular image format, precede the filename with an image format name and a colon (i.e. ps:image) or specify the image type as the filename suffix (i.e. image.ps).  Specify 'file' as '-' for standard input or output.
+By default, the image format of `file' is determined by its magic number.
+To specify a particular image format,
+precede the filename with an image format name and a colon (i.e.\& ps:image)
+or specify the image type as the filename suffix (i.e. image.ps).
+Specify 'file' as '\-' for standard input or output.
 .SH SEE ALSO
-ImageMagick-im7.q16(1)
+.BR ImageMagick-im7.q16 (1)
 
 .SH COPYRIGHT
 
-\fBCopyright (C) 1999 ImageMagick Studio LLC. Additional copyrights and licenses apply to this software, see file:///usr/share/doc/imagemagick-7-common/html/www/license.html (on debian system you may install the imagemagick-7 package) or https://www.imagemagick.org/script/license.php\fP
+\fBCopyright (C) 1999 ImageMagick Studio LLC.
+Additional copyrights and licenses apply to this software,
+.ie \n(.g \{\
+see file:///usr/share/doc/\:imagemagick\-7\-common/\:html/\:www/\:license.html
+.\}
+.el \{\
+see file:///usr/share/doc/imagemagick\-7\-common/html/www/license.html
+.\}
+(on debian system you may install the imagemagick-7 package)
+or https://www.imagemagick.org/script/license.php\fP
-------------- 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.

-.-

  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)

-.-
-------------- next part --------------
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