gtk4-update-icon-cache.1: Some remarks and a patch with editorial changes for this man page
Bjarni Ingi Gislason
bjarniig at simnet.is
Fri Oct 9 01:22:46 BST 2026
Package: gtk-update-icon-cache
Version: 4.24.0+ds-2
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.
See also Debian bug #1141378 reportbug: Automatic forwarding of upstream
bugs.
-.-
Dear Maintainer,
>From "ftp.debian.org/debian/doc/bug-reporting.txt"
Don't file bugs upstream
If you file a bug in Debian, don't send a copy to the upstream software
maintainers yourself to start with, as it is possible that the bug
exists only in Debian. If necessary, the maintainer of the package will
forward the bug upstream, or ask you to do so after they've checked
that it isn't Debian-specific.
-.-
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-groff -mandoc -K utf8 -rF0 -rHY=0 -ww -z ":
troff:<stdin>:56: warning: register 'an-margin' not defined [-w reg]
Output from "test-nroff -mandoc -K utf8 -rF0 -rHY=0 -ww -z ":
troff:<stdin>:56: warning: register 'an-margin' not defined [-w reg]
* 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 7.2.8+deb14-amd64 (SMP w/2 CPU threads; PREEMPT)
Locale: LANG=is_IS.iso88591, LC_CTYPE=is_IS.iso88591 (charmap=UTF-8) (ignored: LC_ALL set to C.utf8), LANGUAGE not set
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /usr/bin/dash
Init: sysvinit (via /sbin/init)
Versions of packages gtk-update-icon-cache depends on:
ii libc6 2.43-6
ii libgdk-pixbuf-2.0-0 2.44.8+dfsg-1
ii libglib2.0-0t64 2.90.0-1
gtk-update-icon-cache recommends no packages.
gtk-update-icon-cache suggests no packages.
-- no debconf information
-------------- next part --------------
Input file is gtk4-update-icon-cache.1
Output from "mandoc -T lint gtk4-update-icon-cache.1": (shortened list)
2 STYLE: input text line longer than 80 bytes
1 WARNING: missing date, using "": TH
2 WARNING: skipping paragraph macro: sp after SH
-.-.
Show if generated from reStructuredText or rd2
A patch to a generated man page is to show where the generator
failed to make a "clean" man page rendering (that is without warnings) and
sometimes to show a better format for it.
Generated files create bigger and more difficult to read/check patches
when the generator creats long lines, instead of shorter ones or by
postprocesing its output in such a way.
A patch may be applied to a generated man page to fix it before distribution,
until the sources of the defects have been fixed.
1:.\" Man page generated from reStructuredText
2:.\" by the Docutils 0.23 manpage writer.
Latest version: docutils (Docutils 0.23, Python 3.14.8, on linux)
-.-.
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.
44:\fBindex.theme\fP, e.g. \fB/usr/share/icons/hicolor\fP, and writes a
-.-.
Wrong distance (not two spaces, not a new line character (\n)) between
sentences in the input file.
mandoc(1) says: "New sentence, new line."
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"
49:of system call and disk seek overhead when the application starts. Since the
-.-.
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.
Line 41, length 88
\fBgtk4\-update\-icon\-cache\fP creates \fBmmap(2)\fP\-able cache files for icon themes.
Line 48, length 85
GTK can use the cache files created by \fBgtk4\-update\-icon\-cache\fP to avoid a lot
Line 65, length 82
Don\(aqt check for the existence of \fBindex.theme\fP in the icon theme directory.
-.-.
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.
mandoc(1) says "New sentence, new line."
gtk4-update-icon-cache.1:49:of system call and disk seek overhead when the application starts. Since the
-.-.
Output from "test-groff -mandoc -K utf8 -rF0 -rHY=0 -ww -z ":
troff:<stdin>:56: warning: register 'an-margin' not defined [-w reg]
-.-
Additionally:
The register 'an-margin' is an OBOLETE variable in 'groff'.
-.-
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 --------------
--- gtk4-update-icon-cache.1 2026-10-09 00:08:30.266455422 +0000
+++ gtk4-update-icon-cache.1.new 2026-10-09 00:18:07.690583748 +0000
@@ -37,11 +37,10 @@ gtk4-update-icon-cache \- Icon theme cac
.fi
.sp
.SH DESCRIPTION
-.sp
\fBgtk4\-update\-icon\-cache\fP creates \fBmmap(2)\fP\-able cache files for icon themes.
.sp
It expects to be given the \fBPATH\fP to an icon theme directory containing an
-\fBindex.theme\fP, e.g. \fB/usr/share/icons/hicolor\fP, and writes a
+\fBindex.theme\fP, e.g.\& \fB/usr/share/icons/hicolor\fP, and writes a
\fBicon\-theme.cache\fP containing cached information about the icons in the
directory tree below the given directory.
.sp
@@ -51,7 +50,6 @@ format of the cache files allows them to
for instance using the POSIX \fBmmap(2)\fP system call, the overall memory
consumption is reduced as well.
.SH OPTIONS
-.sp
\fB\-f, \-\-force\fP
.INDENT 0.0
.INDENT 3.5
-------------- 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 --------------
#!/usr/bin/bash
# Compare two versions of a man page
# command old{file, directory} new{file, directory}
# command oldfile newfile
# command olddirectory newdirectory
set -eu
option=''
man_option='-mandoc' #-mandoc
Cmd_name=${0##*/}
echo main: parameters are $*
while getopts cd:em:r: opt
do
case $opt in
c) man_option="-rcR=1"
;;
d) man_option="-d$OPTARG"
;;
e) option=exact
;;
m) man_option="-m$OPTARG"
;;
r) man_option="-r$OPTARG"
;;
*) echo cmp.manuals: Error, wrong option \"$*\" >&2
exit
;;
esac
done
shift $((OPTIND - 1))
#echo main: option is $man_option ; exit 1
#echo main: parameters are $*
# Add appropriate options
if test \! -f "$1"
then
echo file $1 does not exist
exit 1
fi
if test \! -f "$2"
then
echo file $2 does not exist
exit 1
fi
case $man_option in
-man) man_option='-man -t -dAD=l -rHY=0'
;;
-mandoc) man_option='-mandoc -t -dAD=l -rHY=0'
;;
-me) man_option='-me'
;;
-ms) man_option='-ms -rpar*adj=0'
;;
-d*|-r*) :
;;
*) echo ${Cmd_name}: Unknown option for the macro packet $man_option
exit 1
;;
esac
tempuniq=$(mktemp --tmpdir $Cmd_name.XXXXXX )
uniqlines () {
uniq -d $inputX | sed -e '/^$/d' > $tempuniq
if test -s $tempuniq ; then
echo $Cmd_name: Equal lines in input from $inputX
cat $tempuniq
return 1
fi
return 0
}
compare () {
#printf 'option is %s\n' $option
inputA=old.${1##*/}
inputB=new.${2##*/}
if test ! $1 -ef /tmp/$inputA ; then
echo copy $1 to /tmp/$inputA
cp $1 /tmp/$inputA
fi
if test ! $2 -ef /tmp/$inputB ; then
echo copy $2 /tmp/$inputB
cp $2 /tmp/$inputB
fi
olddir=$PWD
cd /tmp
#MAN_KEEP_STDERR=yes
#MANOPT='--warnings=w --no-justification --no-hyphenation'
#MANWIDTH=80
#export MAN_KEEP_STDERR MANOPT MANWIDTH
# Have no sentence space (.ss 12 0)
#echo option is \"$option\"; exit 1
# getopt sets opt=? if there is no option
#echo opt is \"$opt\" >&2
if test "$opt" = '?' ; then
sed -e '/^.TH /i \
.ss 12 0\
.nr cR 1\
.kern 0\
.lg 0
s/\. *ad$/.ad l/
s/\. *ad /.ad l /
' $inputA
else
cat $inputA
fi | tee -p $inputA.intermed | \
test-nroff -t -K utf8 $man_option > $inputA.txt 2> /dev/null
#echo test-nroff man_option is $man_option for output inputA.txt >&2
# Check
echo inputA.txt from old version
ls -l $inputA.intermed
ls -l $inputA.txt
if find_cntrl $inputA.txt > /dev/null 2>&1
then
:
else
echo No formatting characters in file $inputA.txt >&2
fi
inputX=$inputA.txt
#if uniqlines ; then
# Remove multible empty lines
# uniq $inputA.txt > $tempuniq
# cp $tempuniq $inputA.txt
#fi
#echo opt is \"$opt\" >&2
if test "$opt" = '?' ; then
#echo opt is \"$opt\" >&2
sed -e '/^.TH /i \
.ss 12 0\
.nr cR 1\
.kern 0\
.lg 0
s/\. *ad$/.ad l/
s/\. *ad /.ad l /
' $inputB
else
cat $inputB
fi | tee -p $inputB.intermed | \
test-nroff -t -K utf8 $man_option > ${inputB}.txt 2> /dev/null
#echo test-nroff man_option is $man_option >&2
#Check
echo inputB from new version
ls -l $inputB.intermed
ls -l $inputB.txt
if find_cntrl ${inputB}.txt > /dev/null 2>&1
then
:
else
echo No formatting characters in file ${inputB}.txt >&2
fi
inputX=${inputB}.txt
#if uniqlines ; then
# Remove multible empty lines
# uniq $inputA.txt > $tempuniq
# cp $tempuniq $inputB.txt
#fi
#echo using diff.loc >&2
diff.loc -d $inputA.txt $inputB.txt > $inputA.txt.diff || :
# Difference in the output of "troff"
if test "$opt" = '?' ; then
sed -e '/^.TH /i \
.ss 12 0\
.nr cR 1\
.kern 0
s/\. *ad$/.ad l/
s/\. *ad /.ad l /
' $inputA
else
cat $inputA
fi | test-groff -t $man_option -K utf8 -Z \
> $inputA.ml 2> /dev/null
#echo test-groff man_option is $man_option >&2
#ls -l $inputA.ml
#stat $inputA.ml
if test \! -s $inputA.ml; then
echo $Cmd_name: intermediate file $inputA.ml is not produced >&2
ls -lt $inputA >&2
exit 1
fi
if test "$opt" = '?' ; then
sed -e '/^.TH /i \
.ss 12 0\
.nr cR 1\
.kern 0
s/\. *ad$/.ad l/
s/\. *ad /.ad l /
' $inputB
else
cat $inputB
fi | tee -p /tmp/input.to.groff | \
test-groff -t $man_option -Z -K utf8\
> $inputB.ml #2> /dev/null
#echo test-groff man_option is $man_option >&2
if test \! -s $inputB.ml; then
echo $Cmd_name: intermediate file $inputB.ml is not produced >&2
ls -l /tmp/input.to.groff >&2
exit 1
fi
#stat $inputB.ml
#ls -l $inputB.ml 1>&2
#printf 'option is = %s\n' "$option"
if test "$option" = 'exact'; then
# echo Using diff.loc >&2
diff.loc -d $inputA.ml $inputB.ml | \
sed -e '/^[-]V[0-9]\+$/d' -e '/^[+]V[0-9]\+$/d' > $inputA.ml.diff
else
echo Not exact diff between A.ml and B.ml >&2
# echo Using diff.loc >&2
diff.loc -d $inputA.ml $inputB.ml | \
sed -e '/^[-]V[0-9]\+$/d' -e '/^[+]V[0-9]\+$/d' > $inputA.ml.diff || :
fi
if test -s $inputA.txt.diff ; then
less -R $inputA.txt.diff
fi
if test -s $inputA.ml.diff ; then
if test "$option" = 'exact' ; then
less $inputA.ml.diff
else
rm.troff.space $inputA.ml.diff | less
fi
fi
cd $olddir
} # End of compare
#set -x
echo first file is $1
echo second file is $2
#echo Are in directory $PWD
if test -f $1 ; then
echo Comparing $1 with $2 >&2
compare $1 $2 |& sed -f $HOME/bin/groff.err.weedout
else
for new_file in $(find $2 -type f) ; do
old_file=$1/$(echo "$new_file" | sed -e 's#'$2'##')
echo oldfile=$old_file new_file=$new_file
compare $old_file $new_file |& sed -f $HOME/bin/groff.err.weedout
done
fi
#echo are in directory $PWD
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