[Pkg-kbd-devel] openvt.1: Some remarks and a patch with editorial changes for this man page
Bjarni Ingi Gislason
bjarniig at simnet.is
Wed Oct 14 02:50:05 BST 2026
Package: kbd
Version: 2.10.0-1+b1
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>:33: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
an.tmac:<stdin>:80: style: .BR expects at least 2 arguments, got 1
* 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 7.2.9+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 kbd depends on:
ii libc6 2.43-7
ii libxkbcommon0 1.13.1-1
Versions of packages kbd recommends:
ii console-setup 1.249
kbd suggests no packages.
-- no debconf information
-------------- next part --------------
Input file is openvt.1
Output from "mandoc -T lint openvt.1": (shortened list)
2 WARNING: skipping blank line in line scope
-.-.
Change two HYPHEN-MINUSES (code 0x2D) to an em-dash (\(em),
if one is intended.
" \(em " creates a too big gap in the text (in "troff").
An en-dash is usually surrounded by a space,
while an em-dash is used without spaces.
"man" (1 byte characters in input) transforms an en-dash (\(en) to one
HYPHEN-MINUS,
and an em-dash to two HYPHEN-MINUSES without considering the space
around it.
If "--" are two single "-"
(begin of an option or end of options)
then use "\-\-".
openvt.1:98:.I "openvt -- ls -l"
-.-.
Use the correct macro for the font change of a single argument or
split the argument into two.
80:.BR "login -f"
-.-.
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.
80:.BR "login -f"
93:.I "openvt -l bash"
98:.I "openvt -- ls -l"
-.-.
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' $1
to split lines after a sentence period.
Check result with the difference between the formatted outputs.
See also the attachment "general.bugs"
15:standard input, output and error are directed to that terminal. The current
16:search path ($PATH) is used to find the requested command. If no command is
21:Use the given VT number and not the first available. Note you
40:Switch to the new VT when starting the command. The VT of the new command
45:Suitable to be called by init. Shouldn't be used with \fI\-c\fR or \fI\-l\fR.
50:Make the command a login shell. A \- is prepended to the name of the command
57:wait for command to complete. If \-w and \-s are used together then
-.-.
Split a punctuation from a single argument, if a two-font macro is meant.
14:.B "command options",
-.-.
Remove quotes from an argument to a macro, when there is a printable
but no space character between them. Such quotes provide no information.
openvt.1:3:.TH OPENVT 1 "24 October 2024" "kbd"
-.-.
Additionally:
Size/bytes:
3186 openvt.1
3189 openvt.1.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 --------------
--- openvt.1 2026-10-14 01:33:47.234964137 +0000
+++ openvt.1.new 2026-10-14 01:40:06.631940946 +0000
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
.\" Copyright 1994-95 Jon Tombs (jon at gtex02.us.es, jon at robots.ox.ac.uk)
.\" May be distributed under the GNU General Public License
-.TH OPENVT 1 "24 October 2024" "kbd"
+.TH OPENVT 1 "24 October 2024" kbd
.SH NAME
openvt \- start a program on a new virtual terminal (VT).
.SH SYNOPSIS
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ openvt \- start a program on a new virtu
will find the first available VT, and run on it the given
.B command
with the given
-.B "command options",
+.BR "command options" ,
standard input, output and error are directed to that terminal. The current
search path ($PATH) is used to find the requested command. If no command is
specified then the environment variable $SHELL is used.
@@ -30,7 +30,8 @@ This option is meant for use in
.IR /etc/inittab .
If you want to use this feature in another context, be aware that
.B openvt
-has to be a session leader in order for \-e to work. See
+has to be a session leader in order for \-e to work.
+See
.BR setsid (2)
or
.BR setsid (1)
@@ -77,7 +78,7 @@ the end of options \-\- flag before the
The
.B \-u
option uses
-.BR "login -f"
+.B "login \-f"
and therefore bypasses normal password authentication for the detected user.
It is intended only for controlled init or keyboard-request configurations.
Use a normal authenticated login command when authentication is required.
@@ -90,12 +91,12 @@ can be used to start a shell on the next
To start the shell as a login shell, use:
.TP
-.I "openvt -l bash"
+.I "openvt \-l bash"
.TP
To get a long listing you must supply the \-\- separator:
.TP
-.I "openvt -- ls -l"
+.I "openvt \-\- ls \-l"
.SH HISTORY
Earlier,
.B openvt
-------------- 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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