Bug#1130449: journalctl.1: Some remarks and a patch with editorial changes for this man page
Bjarni Ingi Gislason
bjarniig at simnet.is
Thu Mar 12 04:10:45 GMT 2026
Package: systemd
Version: 260~rc2-1
Severity: minor
Tags: patch, upstream
Dear Maintainer,
>From "/usr/share/doc/debian/bug-reporting.txt.gz":
Don't file bugs upstream
If you file a bug in Debian, don't send a copy to the upstream software
maintainers yourself, as it is possible that the bug exists only in
Debian. If necessary, the maintainer of the package will forward the
bug upstream.
-.-
I do not send reports upstream if I have to get an account there.
The Debian maintainers have one already.
If I get a negative (or no) response from upstream, I send henceforth
bugs to Debian.
-.-
* 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 ' \\"' <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-nroff -mandoc -t -K utf8 -rF0 -rHY=0 -rCHECKSTYLE=0 -ww -z ":
troff:<stdin>:1511: warning [page 1, line 1069]: cannot break line in l adjust mode; overset by 10n
troff:<stdin>:1531: warning [page 1, line 1081]: cannot break line in l adjust mode; overset by 13n
* 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 6.18.15+deb14-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 systemd depends on:
ii libc6 2.42-13
ii libssl3t64 3.5.5-1
ii libsystemd-shared 260~rc2-1
ii libsystemd0 260~rc2-1
ii mount 2.41.3-4
Versions of packages systemd recommends:
ii dbus [default-dbus-system-bus] 1.16.2-4
ii linux-sysctl-defaults 4.15
ii login 1:4.16.0-2+really2.41.3-4
pn systemd-cryptsetup <none>
pn systemd-timesyncd | time-daemon <none>
Versions of packages systemd suggests:
pn libtss2-tcti-device0 <none>
pn polkitd <none>
pn systemd-boot <none>
pn systemd-container <none>
pn systemd-homed <none>
pn systemd-repart <none>
pn systemd-resolved <none>
pn systemd-userdbd <none>
Versions of packages systemd is related to:
pn dbus-user-session <none>
pn dracut <none>
ii initramfs-tools 0.150
pn libnss-systemd <none>
pn libpam-systemd <none>
ii udev 260~rc2-1
-- no debconf information
-------------- next part --------------
Input file is journalctl.1
Output from "mandoc -T lint journalctl.1": (shortened list)
124 STYLE: input text line longer than 80 bytes:
1 WARNING: missing date, using "": TH
11 WARNING: skipping paragraph macro: PP after SH
-.-.
Output from
test-nroff -mandoc -t -Kutf8 -ww -z journalctl.1: (shortened list)
1 cannot break line in l adjust mode; overset by 10n
1 cannot break line in l adjust mode; overset by 13n
-.-.
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"
[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.
Add "\:" to split the string for the output, "\<newline>" in the source.
[List of affected lines removed.]
Longest line is number 51 with 852 characters
matches for the kernel name of the device and for each of its ancestor devices is added to the query\&. Symbolic links are dereferenced, kernel names are synthesized, and parent devices are identified from the environment at the time of the query\&. In general, a device node is the best proxy for an actual device, as log entries do not usually contain fields that identify an actual device\&. For the resulting log entries to be correct for the actual device, the relevant parts of the environment at the time the entry was logged, in particular the actual device corresponding to the device node, must have been the same as those at the time of the query\&. Because device nodes generally change their corresponding devices across reboots, specifying a device node path causes the resulting entries to be restricted to those from the current boot\&.
-.-.
Remove unnecessary double font change (e.g., \fR\fI) in a row or (better)
use a two-fonts macro.
133:\fB\-D \fR\fB\fIDIR\fR\fR, \fB\-\-directory=\fR\fB\fIDIR\fR\fR
142:\fB\-i \fR\fB\fIGLOB\fR\fR, \fB\-\-file=\fR\fB\fIGLOB\fR\fR
151:\fB\-\-root=\fR\fB\fIROOT\fR\fR
167:\fB\-\-image=\fR\fB\fIIMAGE\fR\fR
179:\fB\-\-image\-policy=\fR\fB\fIpolicy\fR\fR
188:\fB\-\-namespace=\fR\fB\fINAMESPACE\fR\fR
245:\fB\-\-cursor\-file=\fR\fB\fIFILE\fR\fR
258:\fB\-b \fR\fB[[\fIID\fR][\fI\(+-offset\fR]|\fBall\fR]\fR, \fB\-\-boot\fR\fB[=[\fIID\fR][\fI\(+-offset\fR]|\fBall\fR]\fR
303:\fB\-u\fR, \fB\-\-unit=\fR\fB\fIUNIT\fR\fR\fB|\fR\fB\fIPATTERN\fR\fR
342:\fB\-I\fR, \fB\-\-invocation=\fR\fB\fIID\fR\fR\fB[\fI\(+-offset\fR]\fR\fB|\fR\fB\fIoffset\fR\fR
389:\fB\-t\fR, \fB\-\-identifier=\fR\fB\fISYSLOG_IDENTIFIER\fR\fR
399:\fB\-T\fR, \fB\-\-exclude\-identifier=\fR\fB\fISYSLOG_IDENTIFIER\fR\fR
460:\fB\-\-case\-sensitive\fR\fB[=BOOLEAN]\fR
893:\fB\-n/\-\-lines=\fR\fB[+]\fR\fB\fIN\fR\fR
911:\fB\-n/\-\-lines=\fR\fB[+]\fR\fB\fIN\fR\fR
1056:\fB\-\-list\-catalog \fR\fB[\fI128\-bit\-ID\&...\fR]\fR
1066:\fB\-\-dump\-catalog \fR\fB[\fI128\-bit\-ID\&...\fR]\fR
1448:\fBjournalctl \-u \fR\fB\fIname\fR\fR
-.-.
Put a parenthetical sentence, phrase on a separate line,
if not part of a code.
See man-pages(7), item "semantic newline".
journalctl.1:43:may appear as a separate word between other terms on the command line\&. This causes all matches before and after to be combined in a disjunction (i\&.e\&. logical OR)\&.
journalctl.1:55:\fB\-\-unit=\fR, etc\&., to further limit what entries will be shown (logical AND)\&.
journalctl.1:421:"debug"\ \&(7)\&. If a single log level is specified, all messages with this log level or a lower (hence more important) log level are shown\&. If a range is specified, all messages within the range are shown, including both the start and the end value of the range\&. This will add
journalctl.1:548:is very similar, but shows seconds passed since January 1st 1970 UTC instead of wallclock timestamps ("UNIX time")\&. The time is shown with microsecond accuracy\&.
journalctl.1:562:serializes the journal into a binary (but mostly text\-based) stream suitable for backups and network transfer (see
journalctl.1:612:Note that this encoding is reversible (with the exception of the size limit)\&.
journalctl.1:754:family of output modes (see above)\&.
journalctl.1:775:Show all fields in full, even if they include unprintable characters or are very long\&. By default, fields with unprintable characters are abbreviated as "blob data"\&. (Note that the pager may escape unprintable characters again\&.)
journalctl.1:780:Show only the most recent journal entries, and continuously print new entries as they are appended to the journal, until Ctrl\-C is hit (or the tool is otherwise terminated)\&.
journalctl.1:797:Suppresses all informational messages (i\&.e\&. "\-\- Journal begins at \&...", "\-\- Reboot \-\-"), any warning messages regarding inaccessible system journals when run as a normal user\&.
journalctl.1:892:Show a tabular list of boot numbers (relative to the current boot), their IDs, and the timestamps of the first and last message pertaining to the boot\&. When specified with
journalctl.1:895:"+") or the last (without prefix)
journalctl.1:908:\fB\-\-user\-unit=\fR\&. Show a tabular list of invocation numbers (relative to the current or latest invocation), their IDs, and the timestamps of the first and last message pertaining to the invocation\&. When
journalctl.1:913:"+") or the last (without prefix)
journalctl.1:937:suffixes (to the base of 1024)\&.
journalctl.1:971:into one command\&. If so, all active files are rotated first, and the requested vacuuming operation is executed right after\&. The rotation has the effect that all currently active files are archived (and potentially new, empty journal files opened as replacement), and hence the vacuuming operation has the greatest effect as it can take all log data written so far into account\&.
journalctl.1:1112:The maximum log level of emitted messages (messages with a higher log level, i\&.e\&. less important ones, will be suppressed)\&. Takes a comma\-separated list of values\&. A value may be either one of (in order of decreasing importance)
journalctl.1:1429:is used, two expressions may be combined in a logical OR\&. The following will show all messages from the Avahi service process with the PID 28097 plus all messages from the D\-Bus service (from any of its processes):
-.-.
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'".
[List of affected lines removed.]
-.-.
Only one space character is after a possible end of sentence
(after a punctuation, that can end a sentence).
[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.
journalctl.1:2:.TH "JOURNALCTL" "1" "" "systemd 260~rc2" "journalctl"
journalctl.1:22:.SH "NAME"
journalctl.1:24:.SH "SYNOPSIS"
journalctl.1:27:.SH "DESCRIPTION"
journalctl.1:872:.SH "COMMANDS"
journalctl.1:1108:.SH "ENVIRONMENT"
journalctl.1:1376:.SH "EXAMPLES"
journalctl.1:1507:.SH "NOTES"
-.-.
Remove excessive "\&" when it has no functional purpose.
173:\m[blue]\fBUAPI\&.2 Discoverable Partitions Specification\fR\m[]\&\s-2\u[1]\d\s+2\&. For further information on supported disk images, see
507:\m[blue]\fBRFC 3339\fR\m[]\&\s-2\u[2]\d\s+2
563:\m[blue]\fBJournal Export Format\fR\m[]\&\s-2\u[3]\d\s+2
573:\m[blue]\fBJournal JSON Format\fR\m[]\&\s-2\u[4]\d\s+2
627:\m[blue]\fBServer\-Sent Events\fR\m[]\&\s-2\u[5]\d\s+2\&.
635:\m[blue]\fBJavaScript Object Notation (JSON) Text Sequences\fR\m[]\&\s-2\u[6]\d\s+2
738:\m[blue]\fBJournal Message Catalogs\fR\m[]\&\s-2\u[7]\d\s+2\&.
-.-.
Use "\-" instead of "-" in web addresses.
1511:\%https://uapi-group.org/specifications/specs/discoverable_partitions_specification
1521:\%https://systemd.io/JOURNAL_EXPORT_FORMATS#journal-export-format
1526:\%https://systemd.io/JOURNAL_EXPORT_FORMATS#journal-json-format
1531:\%https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Server-sent_events/Using_server-sent_events
-.-.
Put a (long) web address on a new output line to reduce the posibility of
splitting the address between two output lines.
Or inhibit hyphenation with "\%" in front of the name.
1511:\%https://uapi-group.org/specifications/specs/discoverable_partitions_specification
1521:\%https://systemd.io/JOURNAL_EXPORT_FORMATS#journal-export-format
1526:\%https://systemd.io/JOURNAL_EXPORT_FORMATS#journal-json-format
1531:\%https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Server-sent_events/Using_server-sent_events
-.-.
Output from "test-nroff -mandoc -t -K utf8 -rF0 -rHY=0 -rCHECKSTYLE=0 -ww -z ":
troff:<stdin>:1511: warning [page 1, line 1069]: cannot break line in l adjust mode; overset by 10n
troff:<stdin>:1531: warning [page 1, line 1081]: cannot break line in l adjust mode; overset by 13n
-.-
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(, when the table gets wider than the output line).
Table headers, that are wider than any data in the corresponding column,
do not need to be centered, so left adjustment (l, L) is sufficient.
-------------- next part --------------
--- journalctl.1 2026-03-12 03:34:30.340776648 +0000
+++ journalctl.1.new 2026-03-12 04:05:09.534773249 +0000
@@ -840,7 +840,10 @@ command described below:
\fB\-\-interval=\fR
.RS 4
Specifies the change interval for the sealing key when generating an FSS key pair with
-\fB\-\-setup\-keys\fR\&. Shorter intervals increase CPU consumption but shorten the time range of undetectable journal alterations\&. Defaults to 15min\&.
+\fB\-\-setup\-keys\fR.
+Shorter intervals increase CPU consumption but
+shorten the time range of undetectable journal alterations.
+Defaults to 15\ min.
.sp
Note,
\fB\-\-output=json\-sse\fR
@@ -1508,7 +1511,15 @@ journalctl \-f \-u apache
.IP " 1." 4
UAPI.2 Discoverable Partitions Specification
.RS 4
-\%https://uapi-group.org/specifications/specs/discoverable_partitions_specification
+.ie \n(.g \{\
+\%https://uapi\-group.org/\:specifications/\:specs/\:discoverable_partitions_specification
+.\}
+.el \{\
+.nf
+https://uapi\-group.org/specifications/specs/
+discoverable_partitions_specification
+.fi
+.\}
.RE
.IP " 2." 4
RFC 3339
@@ -1518,17 +1529,25 @@ RFC 3339
.IP " 3." 4
Journal Export Format
.RS 4
-\%https://systemd.io/JOURNAL_EXPORT_FORMATS#journal-export-format
+\%https://systemd.io/JOURNAL_EXPORT_FORMATS#journal\-export\-format
.RE
.IP " 4." 4
Journal JSON Format
.RS 4
-\%https://systemd.io/JOURNAL_EXPORT_FORMATS#journal-json-format
+\%https://systemd.io/JOURNAL_EXPORT_FORMATS#journal\-json\-format
.RE
.IP " 5." 4
Server-Sent Events
.RS 4
-\%https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Server-sent_events/Using_server-sent_events
+.ie \n(.g \{\
+\%https://developer.mozilla.org/\:en\-US/\:docs/\:Server\-sent_events/Using_server\-sent_events
+.\}
+.el \{\
+.nf
+\%https://developer.mozilla.org/en\-US/docs/
+\%Server\-sent_events/Using_server\-sent_events
+.fi
+.\}
.RE
.IP " 6." 4
JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) Text Sequences
-------------- 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
-.-
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.
-.-
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:
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-systemd-maintainers
mailing list