Bug#1115175: fontforge.1: Some remarks and a patch with editorial changes for this man page
Package: fontforge
Version: 1:20230101~dfsg-5
Severity: minor
Tags: patch
>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.
-.-
* 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-groff -mandoc -t -K utf8 -rF0 -rHY=0 -rCHECKSTYLE=0 -ww -z ":
troff:<stdin>:1: warning: name '"' not defined
an.tmac:<stdin>:11: misuse, warning: .BR is for at least 2 arguments, got 1
Use macro '.B' for one argument or split argument.
troff:<stdin>:187: warning: trailing space in the line
troff:<stdin>:235: warning: trailing space in the line
troff:<stdin>:238: warning: trailing space in the line
troff:<stdin>:240: 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: forky/sid
APT prefers testing
APT policy: (500, 'testing')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
Kernel: Linux 6.16.3+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 fontforge depends on:
ii fontforge-common 1:20230101~dfsg-5
ii libc6 2.41-12
ii libcairo2 1.18.4-1+b1
ii libfontforge4 1:20230101~dfsg-5
ii libglib2.0-0t64 2.84.4-3
ii libgtk-3-0t64 3.24.50-2
ii libpango-1.0-0 1.56.3-2
ii libpangocairo-1.0-0 1.56.3-2
ii libpython3.13 3.13.7-1
fontforge recommends no packages.
Versions of packages fontforge suggests:
pn fontforge-doc <none>
pn fontforge-extras <none>
pn potrace <none>
pn python3-fontforge <none>
-- no debconf information
Input file is fontforge.1
Output from "mandoc -T lint fontforge.1": (shortened list)
6 STYLE: bad comment style
5 STYLE: input text line longer than 80 bytes:
4 STYLE: whitespace at end of input line
Find most trailing spaces with:
grep -n -e ' $' -e ' \\f.$' -e ' \\"' <man page>
-.-.
Output from
test-nroff -mandoc -t -ww -z fontforge.1: (shortened list)
1 Use macro '.B' for one argument or split argument.
1 .BR is for at least 2 arguments, got 1
1 name '"' not defined
4 line(s) with a trailing space
Find most trailing spaces with:
grep -n -e ' $' -e ' \\f.$' -e ' \\"' <man page>
-.-.
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
5
-.-.
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"
61:X display, nor will it process any additional arguments. It will execute the
83:Load all glyphs in the 'glyf' table. of a TrueType collection.
-.-.
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 234, length 112
FontForge is available as a whole under the terms of the GNU GPL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html), version
Line 236, length 201
However, almost all of its parts are available under the "revised BSD license" (http://www.law.yi.org/~sfllaw/talks/bsd.pdf) because FontForge was mostly written by George Williams, using that license.
Line 238, length 117
The Revised BSD License is very permissive, and allows for code to be combined with other code under other licenses.
Line 240, length 139
There are many useful libraries available under copyleft libre licenses, such as the LGPL and GPL, which FontForge started to use in 2012.
Line 244, length 91
Some features added since 2012 are licensed by their individual developers under the GPLv3.
Longest line is number 236 with 201 characters
-.-.
Remove reverse slash (\) in front of a period (.) that is to be printed
as such, and can not come a control character in the first column of a line.
Use "\&" to protect the period to avoid that.
This is a sign, that the man page was transformed from another source
file with a program, whose name is NOT mentioned in a comment.
1:\." Copyright (c) 2000-2007 by George Williams (gww@silcom.com).
2:\." Original manual page by Tom Harvey, subsequently modified by
3:\." George Williams. Heavily rewritten and modified to use standard
4:\." -man (5) macros by R.P.C. Rodgers (rodgers@nlm.nih.gov), 23 October 2002.
5:\." Paul Hardy reconstructed the original man page and added output from
6:\." the latest FontForge release.
-.-.
Put a parenthetical sentence, phrase on a separate line,
if not part of a code.
See man-pages(7), item "semantic newline".
fontforge.1:37:will read PostScript (pfa, pfb, ps, cid), OpenType (otf),
fontforge.1:38:TrueType (ttf, ttc), Macintosh resource fonts (dfont, bin, hqx),
fontforge.1:42:may be compressed with gzip (for example, myfont.pcf.gz).
fontforge.1:46:If the argument list contains a font file name (or several),
fontforge.1:97:\fIdisplay-name\fP (for example: localhost:0).
fontforge.1:129:Use (or not) the cairo library for drawing.
fontforge.1:142:Use Python for scripts (may precede \fB\-script\fP).
fontforge.1:148:Executes \fIscriptfile\fP. Must be the first option (or follow \fB\-lang\fP).
fontforge.1:165:Syntax checks \fIscriptfile\fP (dry run). Must be the first option.
-.-.
Only one space character is after a possible end of sentence
(after a punctuation, that can end a sentence).
fontforge.1:61:X display, nor will it process any additional arguments. It will execute the
fontforge.1:83:Load all glyphs in the 'glyf' table. of a TrueType collection.
-.-.
Output from "test-groff -mandoc -t -K utf8 -rF0 -rHY=0 -rCHECKSTYLE=0 -ww -z ":
troff:<stdin>:1: warning: name '"' not defined
an.tmac:<stdin>:11: misuse, warning: .BR is for at least 2 arguments, got 1
Use macro '.B' for one argument or split argument.
troff:<stdin>:187: warning: trailing space in the line
troff:<stdin>:235: warning: trailing space in the line
troff:<stdin>:238: warning: trailing space in the line
troff:<stdin>:240: warning: trailing space in the line
-.-
Spelling:
revcovery ->
recovery
-.-
Generally:
Split (sometimes) lines after a punctuation mark; before a conjunction.
--- fontforge.1 2025-09-13 23:23:32.250510101 +0000
+++ fontforge.1.new 2025-09-13 23:44:33.538674330 +0000
@@ -1,14 +1,14 @@
-\." Copyright (c) 2000-2007 by George Williams (gww@silcom.com).
-\." Original manual page by Tom Harvey, subsequently modified by
-\." George Williams. Heavily rewritten and modified to use standard
-\." -man (5) macros by R.P.C. Rodgers (rodgers@nlm.nih.gov), 23 October 2002.
-\." Paul Hardy reconstructed the original man page and added output from
-\." the latest FontForge release.
+.\" Copyright (c) 2000-2007 by George Williams (gww@silcom.com).
+.\" Original manual page by Tom Harvey, subsequently modified by
+.\" George Williams. Heavily rewritten and modified to use standard
+.\" -man (5) macros by R.P.C. Rodgers (rodgers@nlm.nih.gov), 23 October 2002.
+.\" Paul Hardy reconstructed the original man page and added output from
+.\" the latest FontForge release.
.TH FONTFORGE 1 "2017 Jun 18"
.SH NAME
fontforge \- create, modify, and view font files
.SH SYNOPSIS
-.BR fontforge
+.B fontforge
[\fB\-allglyphs\fP]
[\fB\-c\fP\ \fIstring\fP]
[\fB\-cmap\fP\ \fImaptype\fP]
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ there is nothing to recover, then \fBFon
an open font dialogue box.
.PP
If a \fIscriptfile\fP is specified then \fBFontForge\fP will not open the
-X display, nor will it process any additional arguments. It will execute the
+X display, nor will it process any additional arguments. It will execute the
\fIscriptfile\fP and give it any remaining arguments
.PP
If the first argument is an executable filename, and that file's first
@@ -73,14 +73,14 @@ Loads the last sfd file closed.
.TP
.B \-recover none\fR|\fPauto\fR|\fPinquire\fR|\fPclean
Control error recovery.
-\fBnone\fP suppresses crash revcovery.
+\fBnone\fP suppresses crash recovery.
\fBauto\fP performs automatic recover if the program crashed
before saving changes; this is the default.
\fBinquire\fP asks what to do with auto-saved crash recovery files.
\fBclean\fP deletes recovery information.
.TP
.B \-allglyphs
-Load all glyphs in the 'glyf' table. of a TrueType collection.
+Load all glyphs in the 'glyf' table of a TrueType collection.
.TP
.B \-nosplash
Suppress display of the splash screen.
@@ -184,7 +184,7 @@ fontforge myfont.ttf &
.SH ENVIRONMENT
.TP
.B BROWSER
-Specifies the name of a browser program for
+Specifies the name of a browser program for
examining online documentation.
.TP
.B AUTOTRACE
@@ -232,12 +232,12 @@ in the FontForge distribution for detail
https://github.com/fontforge/fontforge/blob/master/LICENSE.
.PP
FontForge is available as a whole under the terms of the GNU GPL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html), version
-3 or any later version.
+3 or any later version.
However, almost all of its parts are available under the "revised BSD license" (http://www.law.yi.org/~sfllaw/talks/bsd.pdf) because FontForge was mostly written by George Williams, using that license.
.PP
-The Revised BSD License is very permissive, and allows for code to be combined with other code under other licenses.
+The Revised BSD License is very permissive, and allows for code to be combined with other code under other licenses.
.PP
-There are many useful libraries available under copyleft libre licenses, such as the LGPL and GPL, which FontForge started to use in 2012.
+There are many useful libraries available under copyleft libre licenses, such as the LGPL and GPL, which FontForge started to use in 2012.
.PP
For example, Pango and Cairo are available under the LGPL.
.PP
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.
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)
-.-
Reply to: