[DRE-maint] Bug#1101419: rd2.1: Some remarks about this man page

[Bjarni Ingi Gislason]

Package: rdtool
Version: 0.6.38-5
Severity: minor
Tags: upstream

   * 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 -e ' $' -e '\\~$' <file>" to find obvious 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?

an.tmac:<stdin>:2: style: .TH missing fourth argument; consider package/project name and version (e.g., "groff 1.23.0")
troff:<stdin>:18: 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 6.12.19-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 rdtool depends on:
ii  ruby     1:3.3+b1
ii  ruby-rd  0.6.38-5

rdtool recommends no packages.

rdtool suggests no packages.

-- no debconf information
-------------- next part --------------
Input file is rd2.1

Output from "mandoc -T lint  rd2.1": (shortened list)

      4 skipping paragraph macro: PP after SH
      1 whitespace at end of input line


Remove trailing space with: sed -e 's/  *$//'

-.-.

Output from "test-nroff -mandoc -t -ww -z rd2.1": (shortened list)

      1 trailing space in the line


Remove trailing space with: sed -e 's/  *$//'

-.-.

Show if generated from rd2

Who is actually generating this man page?  Debian or upstream?

Is the generating software out of date?

1:.\" DO NOT MODIFY THIS FILE! it was generated by rd2

Latest version: docutils (Docutils 0.21.2, Python 3.13.2, on linux)

-.-.

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

1

-.-.

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"

12:rd2 inputs from <file> and outputs into \&\fBSTDOUT\fP. you can
13:choose <visitor> to select output format. For example, use

-.-.

The name of a man page is typeset in bold and the section in roman
(see man-pages(7)).

34:ruby(1)

-.-.

Only one space character after a possible end of sentence
(after a punctuation, that can end a sentence).

rd2.1:12:rd2 inputs from <file> and outputs into \&\fBSTDOUT\fP. you can
rd2.1:13:choose <visitor> to select output format. For example, use

-.-.

Put a subordinate sentence (after a comma) on a new line.

rd2.1:13:choose <visitor> to select output format. For example, use
rd2.1:14:"rd/rd2html\-lib.rb" to translate it into HTML, and "rd/rd2man\-lib.rb"

-.-.

Output from "test-groff  -mandoc -t -K utf8 -rF0 -rHY=0 -rCHECKSTYLE=10 -ww -z ":

an.tmac:<stdin>:2: style: .TH missing fourth argument; consider package/project name and version (e.g., "groff 1.23.0")
troff:<stdin>:18: warning: trailing space in the line

-.-.

Spelling (codespell):

configration ==> configuration
tranlate ==> translate
 
-.-

Generally:

Split (sometimes) lines after a punctuation mark; before a conjunction.

-------------- 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>

  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)

-.-