clang-21.1: Some remarks and a patch with editorial changes for this man page
Bjarni Ingi Gislason
bjarniig at simnet.is
Mon Sep 28 02:41:09 BST 2026
Package: clang-21
Version: 1:21.1.8-13
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>:42: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:43: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:45: warning: register 'an-margin' not defined [-w reg]
troff:<stdin>:55: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:61: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:69: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:91: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:92: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:551: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:628: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:703: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:704: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:716: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:743: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:743: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:765: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:1038: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
Output from "test-nroff -mandoc -K utf8 -rF0 -rHY=0 -ww -z ":
troff:<stdin>:42: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:43: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:45: warning: register 'an-margin' not defined [-w reg]
troff:<stdin>:55: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:61: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:69: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:91: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:92: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:551: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:628: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:703: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:704: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:716: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:743: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:743: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:765: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:1038: 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 7.2.6+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 clang-21 depends on:
ii binutils 2.47-6
ii libc6 2.43-6
ii libc6-dev 2.43-6
ii libclang-common-21-dev 1:21.1.8-13
ii libclang-cpp21 1:21.1.8-13
ii libclang1-21 1:21.1.8-13
ii libgcc-16-dev 16.2.0-3
ii libgcc-s1 16.2.0-3
ii libllvm21 1:21.1.8-13
ii libobjc-16-dev 16.2.0-3
ii libstdc++-16-dev 16.2.0-3
ii libstdc++6 16.2.0-3
ii llvm-21-linker-tools 1:21.1.8-13
Versions of packages clang-21 recommends:
ii clang-tools-21 1:21.1.8-13
pn llvm-21-dev <none>
ii python3 3.14.7-3
Versions of packages clang-21 suggests:
ii clang-21-doc 1:21.1.8-13
pn wasi-libc <none>
-- no debconf information
-------------- next part --------------
Input file is clang-21.1
Output from "mandoc -T lint clang-21.1": (shortened list)
14 STYLE: input text line longer than 80 bytes
1 STYLE: normalizing date format to: TH September 18, 2026
4 WARNING: skipping paragraph macro: sp after SH
1 WARNING: skipping paragraph macro: sp after SS
-.-.
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 3.14.7, on linux)
-.-.
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.
clang-21.1:1047:2007-2026, The Clang Team
-.-.
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"
[List of affected lines removed.]
-.-.
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 56, length 81
output of this stage is typically called a ???.i??? (for C), ???.ii??? (for C++),
Line 71, length 84
The output of this stage is typically called a ???.s??? file or ???assembly??? file.
Line 92, length 89
the same driver. Please see <\%<https://\:clang-analyzer\:.llvm\:.org>> for more details
Line 115, length 83
Run all of the above, plus the assembler, generating a target ???.o??? object file.
Line 556, length 99
.B \-flax\-vector\-conversions, \-flax\-vector\-conversions=<kind>, \-fno\-lax\-vector\-conversions
Line 611, length 84
through \fB\-\-target=<architecture>\fP or \fB\-arch\fP \fB<architecture>\fP). If no
Line 636, length 87
combination of \fI???target\fP, \fI\-march\fP, and \fI\-mcpu\fP values. Currently, this
Line 671, length 98
that \fB\-O3\fP in combination with \fB\-ffast\-math\fP \%<#\:cmdoption-ffast-math> should be used
Line 785, length 92
???initial\-exec??? and ???local\-exec???. The default is ???global\-dynamic???. The default
Line 808, length 82
\fB\-Wl,\-object_path_lto,<lto\-filename>.o\fP at the linking step to instruct the
Line 812, length 88
the executable as well as generating the \fB\&.dSYM\fP bundle using \fBdsymutil(1)\fP\&.
Line 940, length 257
.B \-fshow\-column, \-fshow\-source\-location, \-fcaret\-diagnostics, \-fdiagnostics\-fixit\-info, \-fdiagnostics\-parseable\-fixits, \-fdiagnostics\-print\-source\-range\-info, \-fprint\-source\-range\-info, \-fdiagnostics\-show\-option, \-fmessage\-length
Line 942, length 81
(errors and warnings). Please see the Clang User???s Manual for more information.
Line 1038, length 115
To report bugs, please visit <\%<https://\:github\:.com/\:llvm/\:llvm-project/\:issues/>>. Most bug reports should
Longest line is number 940 with 257 characters
.B \-fshow\-column, \-fshow\-source\-location, \-fcaret\-diagnostics, \-fdiagnostics\-fixit\-info, \-fdiagnostics\-parseable\-fixits, \-fdiagnostics\-print\-source\-range\-info, \-fprint\-source\-range\-info, \-fdiagnostics\-show\-option, \-fmessage\-length
-.-.
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.]
clang-21.1:56:output of this stage is typically called a ???.i??? (for C), ???.ii??? (for C++),
clang-21.1:57:???.mi??? (for Objective\-C), or ???.mii??? (for Objective\-C++) file.
clang-21.1:581:???fragile??? ABI), 2 (non\-fragile ABI 1), and 3 (non\-fragile ABI 2).
clang-21.1:605:Specify the architecture to build for (all platforms).
clang-21.1:680:\fB\-Oz\fP Like \fB\-Os\fP (and thus \fB\-O2\fP), but reduces code
clang-21.1:820:Print (but do not run) the commands to run for this compilation.
clang-21.1:1005:headers (for example, \fB_XOPEN_SOURCE\fP) the operation of \fB\-E\fP will
clang-21.1:1039:include preprocessed source files (use the \fB\-E\fP option) and the full
-.-.
No need for '\&' to be in front of a period (.),
if there is a character in front of it.
Remove with "sed -e 's/\(.\)\\&\./\1./g'".
use_of_case = 19
19 lines are with such a use.
-.-.
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."
[List of affected lines removed.]
-.-.
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.
31:.TH "CLANG" "1" "Sep 18, 2026" "15" "Clang"
-.-.
Use "\-" instead of "-" (rendered as a hyphen (u2010) in UTF-8 encoding)
in web addresses.
92:the same driver. Please see <\%<https://\:clang-analyzer\:.llvm\:.org>> for more details
1038:To report bugs, please visit <\%<https://\:github\:.com/\:llvm/\:llvm-project/\:issues/>>. Most bug reports should
-.-.
Output from "test-groff -mandoc -K utf8 -rF0 -rHY=0 -ww -z ":
troff:<stdin>:42: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:43: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:45: warning: register 'an-margin' not defined [-w reg]
troff:<stdin>:55: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:61: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:69: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:91: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:92: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:551: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:628: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:703: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:704: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:716: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:743: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:743: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:765: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
troff:<stdin>:1038: warning: end of sentence detected before end of text line [-w style]
-.-
Additionally:
Size/bytes:
-.-
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.
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-------------- 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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