[Pkg-shadow-devel] useradd.8: Some remarks and a patch with editorial changes for this man page

Bjarni Ingi Gislason bjarniig at simnet.is
Fri Oct 9 23:58:51 BST 2026


Package: passwd
Version: 1:4.20.2-2
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  -t":

an.tmac:<useradd.8>:798: style: unbalanced .RE
troff:<useradd.8>:802: warning: trailing whitespace [-w trail]
an.tmac:<useradd.8>:989: style: unbalanced .RE
troff:<useradd.8>:993: warning: trailing whitespace [-w trail]

   * 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 7.2.8+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 passwd depends on:
ii  base-passwd     3.6.8
ii  libacl1         2.4.0-1
ii  libaudit1       1:4.1.2-1+b2
ii  libbsd0         0.12.2-3
ii  libc6           2.43-6
ii  libcrypt1       1:4.5.2+20251210-1
ii  libpam-modules  1.7.0-8
ii  libpam0g        1.7.0-8
ii  libselinux1     3.11-2.1
ii  libsemanage2    3.11-1+b1
ii  login.defs      1:4.20.2-2

Versions of packages passwd recommends:
ii  sensible-utils  0.0.26

passwd suggests no packages.

-- no debconf information
-------------- next part --------------
Input file is useradd.8

Output from "mandoc -T lint  useradd.8": (shortened list)

      2 ERROR: skipping end of block that is not open: RE
     66 STYLE: input text line longer than 80 bytes
      8 WARNING: skipping paragraph macro: PP after SH
      1 WARNING: skipping paragraph macro: PP after SS

-.-.

Show if docman-to-man created this.

  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.

4:.\" Generator: DocBook XSL Stylesheets vsnapshot <http://docbook.sf.net/>

-.-.

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".

See more information in the attachment "trailing.whitespace.txt".

Number of lines affected is

6

-.-.

Find a repeated word

! 722 --> lB
! 731 --> l
! 731 --> l
! 732 --> l
! 732 --> l
! 732 --> l
! 733 --> l
! 733 --> l
! 733 --> l
! 734 --> l
! 734 --> l
! 913 --> lB
! 922 --> l
! 922 --> l
! 923 --> l
! 923 --> l
! 923 --> l
! 924 --> l
! 924 --> l
! 924 --> l
! 925 --> l
! 925 --> 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"

[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.

[List of affected lines removed.]

Longest line is number 543 with 381 characters
Usernames may contain only lower and upper case letters, digits, underscores, dashes, or dots\&. They can end with a dollar sign\&. Dashes are not allowed at the beginning of the username\&. Fully numeric usernames and usernames \&. or \&.\&. are also disallowed\&. It is not recommended to use usernames beginning with \&. character as their home directories will be hidden in the

-.-.

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.]

-.-.

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 = 210
210 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 from an argument to a macro, when there is a printable
but no space character between them.  Such quotes provide no information.

10:.TH "USERADD" "8" "09/28/2026" "shadow\-utils 4\&.20\&.2" "System Management Commands"
30:.SH "NAME"
32:.SH "SYNOPSIS"
39:.SH "DESCRIPTION"
59:.SH "OPTIONS"
528:.SH "NOTES"
535:.SH "CAVEATS"
548:.SH "CONFIGURATION"
1090:.SH "FILES"

-.-.

Change comment lines of type '.\" ====', '.\" ---', and an empty
'.\"' line) to a single period, as they contain no information and waste
work each time they are processed.

9:.\"
11:.\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
13:.\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
14:.\" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
17:.\" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
20:.\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
22:.\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
27:.\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
29:.\" -----------------------------------------------------------------

-.-.

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

an.tmac:<useradd.8>:798: style: unbalanced .RE
troff:<useradd.8>:802: warning: trailing whitespace [-w trail]
an.tmac:<useradd.8>:989: style: unbalanced .RE
troff:<useradd.8>:993: warning: trailing whitespace [-w trail]


-.-

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.
-------------- next part --------------
--- useradd.8	2026-10-09 19:47:48.889454871 +0000
+++ useradd.8.new	2026-10-09 20:12:55.555520355 +0000
@@ -6,38 +6,37 @@
 .\"    Manual: System Management Commands
 .\"    Source: shadow-utils 4.20.2
 .\"  Language: English
-.\"
-.TH "USERADD" "8" "09/28/2026" "shadow\-utils 4\&.20\&.2" "System Management Commands"
-.\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
+.
+.TH USERADD 8 09/28/2026 "shadow\-utils 4.20.2" "System Management Commands"
+.
 .\" * Define some portability stuff
-.\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
-.\" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+.
+.
 .\" http://bugs.debian.org/507673
 .\" http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/groff/2009-02/msg00013.html
-.\" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+.
 .ie \n(.g .ds Aq \(aq
 .el       .ds Aq '
-.\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
+.
 .\" * set default formatting
-.\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
+.
 .\" disable hyphenation
 .nh
 .\" disable justification (adjust text to left margin only)
 .ad l
-.\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
+.
 .\" * MAIN CONTENT STARTS HERE *
-.\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
-.SH "NAME"
+.
+.SH NAME
 useradd \- create a new user or update default new user information
-.SH "SYNOPSIS"
+.SH SYNOPSIS
 .HP \w'\fBuseradd\fR\ 'u
 \fBuseradd\fR [\fIoptions\fR] \fILOGIN\fR
 .HP \w'\fBuseradd\fR\ 'u
 \fBuseradd\fR \-D
 .HP \w'\fBuseradd\fR\ 'u
 \fBuseradd\fR \-D [\fIoptions\fR]
-.SH "DESCRIPTION"
-.PP
+.SH DESCRIPTION
 \fBuseradd\fR
 is a low level utility for adding users\&. On Debian, administrators should usually use
 \fBadduser\fR(8)
@@ -56,8 +55,7 @@ By default, a group will also be created
 \fB\-N\fR,
 \fB\-U\fR, and
 \fBUSERGROUPS_ENAB\fR)\&.
-.SH "OPTIONS"
-.PP
+.SH OPTIONS
 The options which apply to the
 \fBuseradd\fR
 command are:
@@ -461,7 +459,6 @@ This option is only valid if the
 \fB\-\-selinux\-user\fR) option is specified\&.
 .RE
 .SS "Changing the default values"
-.PP
 When invoked with only the
 \fB\-D\fR
 option,
@@ -525,15 +522,13 @@ This option sets the
 variable in
 /etc/default/useradd\&.
 .RE
-.SH "NOTES"
-.PP
+.SH NOTES
 The system administrator is responsible for placing the default user files in the
 /etc/skel/
 directory (or any other skeleton directory specified in
 /etc/default/useradd
 or on the command line)\&.
-.SH "CAVEATS"
-.PP
+.SH CAVEATS
 You may not add a user to a NIS or LDAP group\&. This must be performed on the corresponding server\&.
 .PP
 Similarly, if the username already exists in an external user database such as NIS or LDAP,
@@ -545,8 +540,7 @@ Usernames may contain only lower and upp
 output\&.
 .PP
 Usernames may only be up to 256 characters long\&.
-.SH "CONFIGURATION"
-.PP
+.SH CONFIGURATION
 The following configuration variables in
 /etc/login\&.defs
 change the behavior of this tool:
@@ -728,37 +722,34 @@ T}:T{
 Subordinate GID Range
 T}
 .T&
-l l l
-l l l
-l l l
 l l l.
 T{
 1000
 T}:T{
 100000 + ((1000\-1000) * 65536)
 T}:T{
-100000\-165535
+100000\(en165535
 T}
 T{
 1001
 T}:T{
 100000 + ((1001\-1000) * 65536)
 T}:T{
-165536\-231071
+165536\(en231071
 T}
 T{
 1002
 T}:T{
 100000 + ((1002\-1000) * 65536)
 T}:T{
-231072\-296607
+231072\(en296607
 T}
 T{
 1100
 T}:T{
 100000 + ((1100\-1000) * 65536)
 T}:T{
-6653600\-6719135
+6653600\(en6719135
 T}
 .TE
 .sp 1
@@ -794,11 +785,10 @@ For high\-density environments with many
 .\}
 .sp
 This gives: (10000000 \- 100000) / 4096 ??? 2417 users\&.
-.RE
 .PP
 \fBUNSAFE_SUB_GID_DETERMINISTIC_WRAP\fR (boolean)
 .RS 4
-\fB WARNING: SECURITY RISK \- MAY CAUSE RANGE OVERLAPS AND PRIVILEGE ESCALATION! \fR
+\fB WARNING: SECURITY RISK \- MAY CAUSE RANGE OVERLAPS AND PRIVILEGE ESCALATION!\fR
 .sp
 Only effective when
 \fBSUB_GID_DETERMINISTIC\fR
@@ -919,37 +909,34 @@ T}:T{
 Subordinate UID Range
 T}
 .T&
-l l l
-l l l
-l l l
 l l l.
 T{
 1000
 T}:T{
 100000 + ((1000\-1000) * 65536)
 T}:T{
-100000\-165535
+100000\(en165535
 T}
 T{
 1001
 T}:T{
 100000 + ((1001\-1000) * 65536)
 T}:T{
-165536\-231071
+165536\(en231071
 T}
 T{
 1002
 T}:T{
 100000 + ((1002\-1000) * 65536)
 T}:T{
-231072\-296607
+231072\(en296607
 T}
 T{
 1100
 T}:T{
 100000 + ((1100\-1000) * 65536)
 T}:T{
-6653600\-6719135
+6653600\(en6719135
 T}
 .TE
 .sp 1
@@ -985,11 +972,10 @@ For high\-density environments with many
 .\}
 .sp
 This gives: (10000000 \- 100000) / 4096 ??? 2417 users\&.
-.RE
 .PP
 \fBUNSAFE_SUB_UID_DETERMINISTIC_WRAP\fR (boolean)
 .RS 4
-\fB WARNING: SECURITY RISK \- MAY CAUSE RANGE OVERLAPS AND PRIVILEGE ESCALATION! \fR
+\fB WARNING: SECURITY RISK \- MAY CAUSE RANGE OVERLAPS AND PRIVILEGE ESCALATION!\fR
 .sp
 Only effective when
 \fBSUB_UID_DETERMINISTIC\fR
@@ -1087,8 +1073,7 @@ will remove the user\*(Aqs group if it c
 \fBuseradd\fR
 will create by default a group with the name of the user\&.
 .RE
-.SH "FILES"
-.PP
+.SH FILES
 /etc/passwd
 .RS 4
 User account information\&.
@@ -1148,7 +1133,6 @@ Per user subordinate user IDs\&.
 Shadow password suite configuration\&.
 .RE
 .SH "EXIT VALUES"
-.PP
 The
 \fBuseradd\fR
 command exits with the following values:
@@ -1209,7 +1193,6 @@ can\*(Aqt update SELinux user mapping
 invalid user or group name
 .RE
 .SH "SEE ALSO"
-.PP
 \fBchfn\fR(1),
 \fBchsh\fR(1),
 \fBpasswd\fR(1),
-------------- 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
-------------- next part --------------
  Trailing whitespace is so unnecessary, that its presence may be removed
before files containing it are distributed.

  Some programs have a tool to point out its presence, like

gcc

  with option "-Wtrailing-whitespace"

git
  with option "apply --whitespace=..."

  and in ".git/config"

[core]
	whitespace=...

grep

  with option -e '[[:blank:]]$'

less

  with command "/ $"

mandoc -T lint

  default action

###
 
For man pages

1) find most trailing spaces

#!/bin/sh
/bin/grep -n \
-e ' $' \
-e ' \\f.$' \
-e ' \\"' \
-e ' "$' -- $1

2) remove most trailing spaces

#!/usr/bin/sh
# remove "trailing space" in man pages.
# With option '-i', replace in place.
option=''

if test $# -eq 2; then
  if test $1 = '-i'; then
    option=$1
  else
    echo Only option = '-i' is usable
    exit 1
  fi
  shift
fi

sed -E $option -e 's/  *$//' -e 's/ \\f(.)$/\\f\1/' -e 's/ \\"/\\"/' \
-e 's/ "$/"/' $1
# Use the shell script "cmp.manuals <old.man> <new.man>" to check the
# outcome. 


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