[DSE-Dev] Bug#1101901: avc_context_to_sid.3: Some remarks and a patch with editorial changes for this man page
Bjarni Ingi Gislason
bjarniig at simnet.is
Wed Apr 2 05:14:44 BST 2025
Package: libselinux1-dev
Version: 3.8.1-1
Severity: minor
Tags: patch
* 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>:4: style: .TH missing fourth argument; consider package/project name and version (e.g., "groff 1.23.0")
troff:<stdin>:37: 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 6.12.20-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 libselinux1-dev depends on:
ii libpcre2-dev 10.45-1
ii libselinux1 3.8.1-1
ii libsepol-dev 3.8.1-1
libselinux1-dev recommends no packages.
libselinux1-dev suggests no packages.
-- no debconf information
-------------- next part --------------
Input file is avc_context_to_sid.3
Output from "mandoc -T lint avc_context_to_sid.3": (shortened list)
1 input text line longer than 80 bytes: As of libselinux ver...
1 input text line longer than 80 bytes: Security ID's (SID's...
1 input text line longer than 80 bytes: avc_context_to_sid, ...
1 input text line longer than 80 bytes: functions, formerly ...
1 whitespace at end of input line
Remove trailing space with: sed -e 's/ *$//'
-.-.
Output from "test-nroff -mandoc -t -ww -z avc_context_to_sid.3": (shortened list)
1 line(s) with a trailing space
Remove trailing space with: sed -e 's/ *$//'
-.-.
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
-.-.
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 6, length 106
avc_context_to_sid, avc_sid_to_context, avc_get_initial_sid \- obtain and manipulate SELinux security ID's
Line 20, length 100
Security ID's (SID's) are opaque representations of security contexts, managed by the userspace AVC.
Line 53, length 150
As of libselinux version 2.0.86, SID's are no longer reference counted. A SID will be valid from the time it is first obtained until the next call to
Line 59, length 86
functions, formerly used to adjust the reference count, are no-ops and are deprecated.
Longest line is number 53 with 150 characters
-.-.
Put a subordinate sentence (after a comma) on a new line.
avc_context_to_sid.3:6:avc_context_to_sid, avc_sid_to_context, avc_get_initial_sid \- obtain and manipulate SELinux security ID's
avc_context_to_sid.3:20:Security ID's (SID's) are opaque representations of security contexts, managed by the userspace AVC.
avc_context_to_sid.3:44:return zero on success. On error, \-1 is returned and
avc_context_to_sid.3:53:As of libselinux version 2.0.86, SID's are no longer reference counted. A SID will be valid from the time it is first obtained until the next call to
avc_context_to_sid.3:59:functions, formerly used to adjust the reference count, are no-ops and are deprecated.
-.-.
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.
avc_context_to_sid.3:4:.TH "avc_context_to_sid" "3" "27 May 2004" "" "SELinux API documentation"
avc_context_to_sid.3:5:.SH "NAME"
avc_context_to_sid.3:8:.SH "SYNOPSIS"
avc_context_to_sid.3:13:.BI "int avc_context_to_sid(const char *" ctx ", security_id_t *" sid ");"
avc_context_to_sid.3:15:.BI "int avc_sid_to_context(security_id_t " sid ", char **" ctx ");"
avc_context_to_sid.3:17:.BI "int avc_get_initial_sid(const char *" name ", security_id_t *" sid ");"
avc_context_to_sid.3:19:.SH "DESCRIPTION"
avc_context_to_sid.3:48:.SH "ERRORS"
avc_context_to_sid.3:52:.SH "NOTES"
avc_context_to_sid.3:61:.SH "AUTHOR"
-.-.
Use ".na" (no adjustment) instead of ".ad l" (and ".ad" to begin the
same adjustment again as before).
65:.ad l
-.-.
Section headings (.SH and .SS) do not need quoting their arguments.
5:.SH "NAME"
8:.SH "SYNOPSIS"
19:.SH "DESCRIPTION"
40:.SH "RETURN VALUE"
48:.SH "ERRORS"
52:.SH "NOTES"
61:.SH "AUTHOR"
64:.SH "SEE ALSO"
-.-.
Output from "test-groff -mandoc -t -K utf8 -rF0 -rHY=0 -rCHECKSTYLE=10 -ww -z ":
an.tmac:<stdin>:4: style: .TH missing fourth argument; consider package/project name and version (e.g., "groff 1.23.0")
troff:<stdin>:37: warning: trailing space in the line
-.-.
Generally:
Split (sometimes) lines after a punctuation mark; before a conjunction.
-------------- next part --------------
--- avc_context_to_sid.3 2025-04-02 04:00:47.532882061 +0000
+++ avc_context_to_sid.3.new 2025-04-02 04:10:16.207338869 +0000
@@ -1,23 +1,26 @@
.\" Hey Emacs! This file is -*- nroff -*- source.
.\"
.\" Author: Eamon Walsh (ewalsh at tycho.nsa.gov) 2004
-.TH "avc_context_to_sid" "3" "27 May 2004" "" "SELinux API documentation"
-.SH "NAME"
+.TH avc_context_to_sid 3 "27 May 2004" "" "SELinux API documentation"
+.SH NAME
avc_context_to_sid, avc_sid_to_context, avc_get_initial_sid \- obtain and manipulate SELinux security ID's
.
-.SH "SYNOPSIS"
+.SH SYNOPSIS
.B #include <selinux/selinux.h>
.br
.B #include <selinux/avc.h>
.sp
-.BI "int avc_context_to_sid(const char *" ctx ", security_id_t *" sid ");"
+.BI "int avc_context_to_sid(const char *" ctx ", security_id_t *" sid );
.sp
-.BI "int avc_sid_to_context(security_id_t " sid ", char **" ctx ");"
+.BI "int avc_sid_to_context(security_id_t " sid ", char **" ctx );
.sp
.BI "int avc_get_initial_sid(const char *" name ", security_id_t *" sid ");"
.
-.SH "DESCRIPTION"
-Security ID's (SID's) are opaque representations of security contexts, managed by the userspace AVC.
+.SH DESCRIPTION
+Security ID's
+(SID's)
+are opaque representations of security contexts,
+managed by the userspace AVC.
.BR avc_context_to_sid ()
returns a SID for the given
@@ -34,10 +37,10 @@ The user must free the copy with
.BR freecon (3).
.BR avc_get_initial_sid ()
-returns a SID for the kernel initial security identifier specified by
+returns a SID for the kernel initial security identifier specified by
.IR name .
.
-.SH "RETURN VALUE"
+.SH RETURN VALUE
.BR avc_context_to_sid ()
and
.BR avc_sid_to_context ()
@@ -45,24 +48,29 @@ return zero on success. On error, \-1 i
.I errno
is set appropriately.
.
-.SH "ERRORS"
+.SH ERRORS
.TP
.B ENOMEM
An attempt to allocate memory failed.
-.SH "NOTES"
-As of libselinux version 2.0.86, SID's are no longer reference counted. A SID will be valid from the time it is first obtained until the next call to
+.SH NOTES
+As of libselinux version 2.0.86,
+SID's are no longer reference counted.
+A SID will be valid from the time it is first obtained
+until the next call to
.BR avc_destroy (3).
The
.BR sidget (3)
and
.BR sidput (3)
-functions, formerly used to adjust the reference count, are no-ops and are deprecated.
+functions,
+formerly used to adjust the reference count,
+are no-ops and are deprecated.
.
-.SH "AUTHOR"
+.SH AUTHOR
Eamon Walsh <ewalsh at tycho.nsa.gov>
.
-.SH "SEE ALSO"
-.ad l
+.SH SEE ALSO
+.na
.nh
.BR avc_init (3),
.BR avc_has_perm (3),
-------------- 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)
-.-
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