Bug#1102260: CGI::Carp.3pm: Some remarks and a patch with editorial changes for this man page
Bjarni Ingi Gislason
bjarniig at simnet.is
Sun Apr 6 20:22:27 BST 2025
Package: libcgi-pm-perl
Version: 4.67-1
Severity: minor
Tags: patch
N.B.
I do not do any pull request and do not subscribe to a new mail account
for a bug report. Forwarding this mail is a possibility.
-.-
* 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>:72: warning: trailing space in the line
troff:<stdin>:228: warning: trailing space in the line
troff:<stdin>:229: warning: trailing space in the line
troff:<stdin>:254: warning: trailing space in the line
troff:<stdin>:255: warning: trailing space in the line
troff:<stdin>:259: warning: trailing space in the line
troff:<stdin>:260: warning: trailing space in the line
troff:<stdin>:261: 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 libcgi-pm-perl depends on:
ii libhtml-parser-perl 3.83-1+b2
ii liburi-perl 5.30-1
ii perl 5.40.1-2
Versions of packages libcgi-pm-perl recommends:
pn libcgi-fast-perl <none>
libcgi-pm-perl suggests no packages.
-- no debconf information
-------------- next part --------------
Input file is CGI::Carp.3pm
Output from "mandoc -T lint CGI::Carp.3pm": (shortened list)
1 : CGI::Carp.3pm:228:68: STYLE: whitespace at end of input line
1 : CGI::Carp.3pm:229:64: STYLE: whitespace at end of input line
1 : CGI::Carp.3pm:254:72: STYLE: whitespace at end of input line
1 : CGI::Carp.3pm:255:67: STYLE: whitespace at end of input line
1 : CGI::Carp.3pm:259:67: STYLE: whitespace at end of input line
1 : CGI::Carp.3pm:260:68: STYLE: whitespace at end of input line
1 : CGI::Carp.3pm:261:63: STYLE: whitespace at end of input line
1 : CGI::Carp.3pm:266:81: STYLE: input text line longer than 80 bytes: when a \f(CWdie()\fR...
1 : CGI::Carp.3pm:380:99: STYLE: input text line longer than 80 bytes: The original bug tra...
1 : CGI::Carp.3pm:99:93: STYLE: input text line longer than 80 bytes: The standard \fBwarn...
Find trailing space with:
grep -n -e ' $' -e ' \\f.$' -e ' \\"' <man page>
-.-.
Output from
test-nroff -mandoc -t -ww -z CGI::Carp.3pm: (shortened list)
8 line(s) with a trailing space
Find trailing space with:
grep -n -e ' $' -e ' \\f.$' -e ' \\"' <man page>
-.-.
Show if Pod::Man generated this.
Who is actually creating this man page? Debian or upstream?
Is the generating software out of date?
2:.\" Automatically generated by Pod::Man 5.0102 (Pod::Simple 3.45)
-.-.
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
8
-.-.
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.
CGI::Carp.3pm:374:The CGI.pm distribution is copyright 1995\-2007, Lincoln D. Stein. It is
-.-.
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"
168:\& ... and so on
259:and there is only one SIG{_\|_DIE_\|_}. This means that if you are
358:you may not need CGI::Carp to add its own. You can disable timestamping
374:The CGI.pm distribution is copyright 1995\-2007, Lincoln D. Stein. It is
375:distributed under the Artistic License 2.0. It is currently
-.-.
Split lines longer than 80 characters into two or more lines.
Appropriate break points are the end of a sentence and a subordinate
clause; after punctuation marks.
Add "\:" to split the string for the output, "\<newline>" in the source.
Line 58, length 81
.TH CGI::Carp 3pm 2025-01-11 "perl v5.40.0" "User Contributed Perl Documentation"
Line 99, length 93
The standard \fBwarn()\fR, die (), \fBcroak()\fR, \fBconfess()\fR and \fBcarp()\fR calls will
Line 107, length 81
\& [Fri Nov 17 21:40:43 1995] test.pl: Got an error message: Permission denied.
Line 266, length 81
when a \f(CWdie()\fR is done inside an \f(CW\*(C`eval\*(C'\fR body or expression.
Line 275, length 99
\&\f(CW\*(C`set_die_handler\*(C'\fR. You can localize this effect to inside \f(CW\*(C`eval\*(C'\fR
Line 380, length 99
The original bug tracker can be found at: https://rt.cpan.org/Public/Dist/Display.html?Queue=CGI.pm
Longest line is number 275 with 99 characters
-.-.
The name of a man page is typeset in bold and the section in roman
(see man-pages(7)).
298:\& warningsToBrowser(1);
306:\& warningsToBrowser(0); # disable warnings
310:\& warningsToBrowser(1); # re\-enable warnings
-.-.
Add a zero (0) in front of a decimal fraction that begins with a period
(.)
7:.if t .sp .5v
-.-.
Put a parenthetical sentence, phrase on a separate line,
if not part of a code.
See man-pages(7), item "semantic newline".
CGI::Carp.3pm:64:CGI::Carp \- CGI routines for writing to the HTTPD (or other) error log
CGI::Carp.3pm:134:\& open(LOG, ">>/usr/local/cgi\-logs/mycgi\-log") or
CGI::Carp.3pm:135:\& die("Unable to open mycgi\-log: $!\en");
CGI::Carp.3pm:179:If you want to send fatal (die, confess) errors to the browser, import
CGI::Carp.3pm:204:\& use CGI::Carp qw(fatalsToBrowser set_message);
CGI::Carp.3pm:205:\& set_message("It\*(Aqs not a bug, it\*(Aqs a feature!");
CGI::Carp.3pm:213:\& use CGI::Carp qw(fatalsToBrowser set_message);
CGI::Carp.3pm:258:Using \fBset_die_handler()\fR sets SIG{_\|_DIE_\|_} (as does fatalsToBrowser),
CGI::Carp.3pm:295:\& use CGI::Carp qw(fatalsToBrowser warningsToBrowser);
-.-.
Use a character "\(->" instead of plain "->" or "\->".
232:with a line like "undef\->\fBexplode()\fR;".
309:\& print "//\-\-></script>\en";
-.-.
Only one space character is after a possible end of sentence
(after a punctuation, that can end a sentence).
CGI::Carp.3pm:168:\& ... and so on
CGI::Carp.3pm:259:and there is only one SIG{_\|_DIE_\|_}. This means that if you are
CGI::Carp.3pm:358:you may not need CGI::Carp to add its own. You can disable timestamping
CGI::Carp.3pm:374:The CGI.pm distribution is copyright 1995\-2007, Lincoln D. Stein. It is
CGI::Carp.3pm:375:distributed under the Artistic License 2.0. It is currently
-.-.
Put a subordinate sentence (after a comma) on a 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.
CGI::Carp.3pm:66:.IX Header "SYNOPSIS"
CGI::Carp.3pm:83:.IX Header "DESCRIPTION"
-.-.
Use ".na" (no adjustment) instead of ".ad l" (and ".ad" to begin the
same adjustment again as before).
61:.if n .ad l
-.-.
Add lines to use the CR font for groff instead of CW.
.if t \{\
. ie \\n(.g .ft CR
. el .ft CW
.\}
11:.ft CW
-.-.
Section headings (.SH and .SS) do not need quoting their arguments.
110:.SH "REDIRECTING ERROR MESSAGES"
177:.SH "MAKING PERL ERRORS APPEAR IN THE BROWSER WINDOW"
195:.SS "Changing the default message"
263:.SH "SUPPRESSING PERL ERRORS APPEARING IN THE BROWSER WINDOW"
285:.SH "MAKING WARNINGS APPEAR AS HTML COMMENTS"
315:.SH "OVERRIDING THE NAME OF THE PROGRAM"
355:.SH "TURNING OFF TIMESTAMPS IN MESSAGES"
369:.SH "GETTING THE FULL PATH OF THE SCRIPT IN MESSAGES"
372:.SH "AUTHOR INFORMATION"
386:.SH "SEE ALSO"
-.-.
.\" Define a fallback for font CW with
.if t \{\
. ie \n(.g .ds fC \f(CR
. el .ds fC \f(CW
.\}
.
.if n \{\
. ds fC \fR
.\}
Change \f(CW to \*(fC
118:The \f(CWcarpout()\fR function is provided for this purpose. Since
127:filehandle for writing errors. It should be called in a \f(CW\*(C`BEGIN\*(C'\fR
266:when a \f(CWdie()\fR is done inside an \f(CW\*(C`eval\*(C'\fR body or expression.
273:By setting \f(CW$CGI::Carp::TO_BROWSER\fR to 0 you can suppress printing
274:the \f(CW\*(C`die\*(C'\fR messages but without all of the complexity of using
275:\&\f(CW\*(C`set_die_handler\*(C'\fR. You can localize this effect to inside \f(CW\*(C`eval\*(C'\fR
332:you can use the \f(CWset_progname()\fR function instead. It is not
365:Alternatively you can set \f(CW$CGI::Carp::NO_TIMESTAMP\fR to 1.
371:Set \f(CW$CGI::Carp::FULL_PATH\fR to 1.
-.-.
Put a (long) web address on a new line to reduce the posibility of
splitting the address between two output lines.
Or inhibit hyphenation with "\%" in front of the name.
378:Address bug reports and comments to: https://github.com/leejo/CGI.pm/issues
380:The original bug tracker can be found at: https://rt.cpan.org/Public/Dist/Display.html?Queue=CGI.pm
-.-.
Add "\&" after an ellipsis, when it does not end a sentence
168:\& ... and so on
245:\& #etc....
-.-.
Output from "test-groff -mandoc -t -K utf8 -rF0 -rHY=0 -rCHECKSTYLE=10 -ww -z ":
troff:<stdin>:72: warning: trailing space in the line
troff:<stdin>:228: warning: trailing space in the line
troff:<stdin>:229: warning: trailing space in the line
troff:<stdin>:254: warning: trailing space in the line
troff:<stdin>:255: warning: trailing space in the line
troff:<stdin>:259: warning: trailing space in the line
troff:<stdin>:260: warning: trailing space in the line
troff:<stdin>:261: warning: trailing space in the line
-.-.
Generally:
Split (sometimes) lines after a punctuation mark; before a conjunction.
-------------- next part --------------
--- CGI::Carp.3pm 2025-04-06 19:19:02.858287530 +0000
+++ CGI::Carp.3pm.new 2025-04-06 19:18:58.858326105 +0000
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ CGI::Carp \- CGI routines for writing to
\&
\& croak "We\*(Aqre outta here!";
\& confess "It was my fault: $!";
-\& carp "It was your fault!";
+\& carp "It was your fault!";
\& warn "I\*(Aqm confused";
\& die "I\*(Aqm dying.\en";
\&
@@ -225,8 +225,8 @@ In order to correctly intercept compile-
\&\fBset_message()\fR from within a BEGIN{} block.
.SH "DOING MORE THAN PRINTING A MESSAGE IN THE EVENT OF PERL ERRORS"
.IX Header "DOING MORE THAN PRINTING A MESSAGE IN THE EVENT OF PERL ERRORS"
-If fatalsToBrowser in conjunction with set_message does not provide
-you with all of the functionality you need, you can go one step
+If fatalsToBrowser in conjunction with set_message does not provide
+you with all of the functionality you need, you can go one step
further by specifying a function to be executed any time a script
calls "die", has a syntax error, or dies unexpectedly at runtime
with a line like "undef\->\fBexplode()\fR;".
@@ -251,14 +251,14 @@ with a line like "undef\->\fBexplode()\f
Notice that if you use \fBset_die_handler()\fR, you must handle sending
HTML headers to the browser yourself if you are printing a message.
.PP
-If you use \fBset_die_handler()\fR, you will most likely interfere with
-the behavior of fatalsToBrowser, so you must use this or that, not
+If you use \fBset_die_handler()\fR, you will most likely interfere with
+the behavior of fatalsToBrowser, so you must use this or that, not
both.
.PP
Using \fBset_die_handler()\fR sets SIG{_\|_DIE_\|_} (as does fatalsToBrowser),
-and there is only one SIG{_\|_DIE_\|_}. This means that if you are
-attempting to set SIG{_\|_DIE_\|_} yourself, you may interfere with
-this module's functionality, or this module may interfere with
+and there is only one SIG{_\|_DIE_\|_}. This means that if you are
+attempting to set SIG{_\|_DIE_\|_} yourself, you may interfere with
+this module's functionality, or this module may interfere with
your module's functionality.
.SH "SUPPRESSING PERL ERRORS APPEARING IN THE BROWSER WINDOW"
.IX Header "SUPPRESSING PERL ERRORS APPEARING IN THE BROWSER WINDOW"
-------------- 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-perl-maintainers
mailing list