Bug#1039987: systemd-gpt-auto-generator(8) - wrong instruction how to disable

[Michael Biebl]

On Fri, 30 Jun 2023 19:04:59 +0200 Christoph Brinkhaus 
<c.brinkhaus at t-online.de> wrote:
> Package: systemd
> Version: 252.6-1
> Severity: wishlist
> 
> Dear Maintainer,
> 
> I tried to disable systemd-gpt-auto-generator because I do not need it.
> man 8 systemd-gpt-auto-generator documents the necessary kernel
> parameter in the section "KERNEL COMMAND LINE" which is at the bottom of
> the man page.
> 
> Incorrect is the original:
> Those options take an optional boolean argument, and default to yes. 
> The generator is enabled by default, and a negative value may
> be used to disable it.
> 
> That did not work. Correct is
> Those options take an optional boolean argument, and default to yes. 
> The generator is enabled by default, "no" may
> be used to disable it.

systemd-gpt-auto-generator uses the parse_boolean() function, which 
interprets the following values as false [1]:


                            "0",
                            "no",
                            "n",
                            "false",
                            "f",
                            "off"


With "negative value", any of those strings is meant.
So changing the documentation as per your suggestion would be incomplete.

I suppose, with "negative value", you understood a negative *integer* 
value, like say -1?

I do not have a better suggestion how to phrase it and in any case, this 
should be addressed upstream.
I kindly ask you to raise this at 
https://github.com/systemd/systemd/issues (maybe you have an idea how 
the documentation can be improved).

Running a
# grep boolean man/ -R

shows that the documentation is not really consistent in that regard. 
Sometimes it uses, true, yes, false, no, etc.

Regards,
Michael

[1] For completeness sake, the corresponding positive values are

                            "1",
                            "yes",
                            "y",
                            "true",
                            "t",
                            "on"
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