[pkg-gnupg-maint] Bug#1103219: gnupg.7: Some remarks and a patch with editorial changes for this man page
Bjarni Ingi Gislason
bjarniig at simnet.is
Tue Apr 15 01:26:58 BST 2025
Package: gnupg
Version: 2.2.46-6
Severity: minor
Tags: patch
* 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=10 -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?
troff:<stdin>:16: warning: trailing space in the line
troff:<stdin>:17: warning: trailing space in the line
troff:<stdin>:18: warning: trailing space in the line
troff:<stdin>:19: warning: trailing space in the line
troff:<stdin>:20: warning: trailing space in the line
troff:<stdin>:21: warning: trailing space in the line
* 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: trixie/sid
APT prefers testing
APT policy: (500, 'testing')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
Kernel: Linux 6.12.21-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 gnupg depends on:
ii dirmngr 2.2.46-6
ii gnupg-l10n 2.2.46-6
ii gpg 2.2.46-6
ii gpg-agent 2.2.46-6
ii gpgsm 2.2.46-6
Versions of packages gnupg recommends:
ii gnupg-utils 2.2.46-6
ii gpg-wks-client 2.2.46-6
ii gpgv 2.2.46-6
Versions of packages gnupg suggests:
ii gpg-wks-server 2.2.46-6
pn parcimonie <none>
ii xloadimage 4.1-26
-- no debconf information
-------------- next part --------------
Input file is gnupg.7
Output from "mandoc -T lint gnupg.7": (shortened list)
6 whitespace at end of input line
Find trailing space with:
grep -n -e ' $' -e ' \\f.$' -e ' \\"' <man page>
-.-.
Output from
test-nroff -mandoc -t -ww -z gnupg.7: (shortened list)
6 line(s) with a trailing space
Find trailing space 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".
Number of lines affected is
6
-.-.
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"
13:\fBgpg2\fP. \fBgpg\-agent\fP is a passphrase and private key
-.-.
Put a parenthetical sentence, phrase on a separate line,
if not part of a code.
See man-pages(7), item "semantic newline".
gnupg.7:12:the X.509/CMS (for S/MIME) counterpart of
-.-.
Only one space character is after a possible end of sentence
(after a punctuation, that can end a sentence).
gnupg.7:13:\fBgpg2\fP. \fBgpg\-agent\fP is a passphrase and private key
-.-.
Output from "test-groff -mandoc -t -K utf8 -rF0 -rHY=0 -rCHECKSTYLE=10 -ww -z ":
troff:<stdin>:16: warning: trailing space in the line
troff:<stdin>:17: warning: trailing space in the line
troff:<stdin>:18: warning: trailing space in the line
troff:<stdin>:19: warning: trailing space in the line
troff:<stdin>:20: warning: trailing space in the line
troff:<stdin>:21: warning: trailing space in the line
-.-.
Additionally:
Add a space character in the string
\fBgpgv\fPis
-.-
Generally:
Split (sometimes) lines after a punctuation mark; before a conjunction.
-------------- next part --------------
--- gnupg.7 2025-04-15 00:12:25.792765796 +0000
+++ gnupg.7.new 2025-04-15 00:19:48.336196822 +0000
@@ -6,19 +6,19 @@
.SH DESCRIPTION
GnuPG is a set of programs for public key encryption and digital
signatures. The program most users will want to use is the OpenPGP
-command line tool, named \fBgpg2\fP. \fBgpgv\fPis a stripped
+command line tool, named \fBgpg2\fP. \fBgpgv\fP is a stripped
down version of \fBgpg2\fP with no encryption functionality, used
only to verify signatures against a trusted keyring. \fBgpgsm\fP is
the X.509/CMS (for S/MIME) counterpart of
\fBgpg2\fP. \fBgpg\-agent\fP is a passphrase and private key
daemon which may also emulate the \fBssh\-agent\fP.
.SH SEE ALSO
-\fBgpg\fP(1),
-\fBgpg2\fP(1),
-\fBgpgv\fP(1),
-\fBgpgsm\fP(1),
-\fBgpg\-agent\fP(1),
-\fBdirmngr\fP(8),
+\fBgpg\fP(1),
+\fBgpg2\fP(1),
+\fBgpgv\fP(1),
+\fBgpgsm\fP(1),
+\fBgpg\-agent\fP(1),
+\fBdirmngr\fP(8),
\fBscdaemon\fP(1)
The full documentation for this tool is maintained as a Texinfo manual.
-------------- 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
-.-
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.
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)
-.-
More information about the pkg-gnupg-maint
mailing list