Bug#1089856: developers-reference.1: Some remarks and a patch for editorial changes for this man page
Package: developers-reference
Version: 13.15
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 -ww -z < "man page"
[Use "groff -e ' $' <file>" to find 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?
troff:<stdin>:17: 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 6.11.10-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)
developers-reference depends on no packages.
Versions of packages developers-reference recommends:
ii debian-policy 4.7.0.1
ii libjs-jquery 3.6.1+dfsg+~3.5.14-1
ii libjs-sphinxdoc 7.4.7-4
ii sensible-utils 0.0.24
ii sphinx-rtd-theme-common 3.0.2+dfsg-1
Versions of packages developers-reference suggests:
ii doc-base 0.11.2
ii firefox-esr [www-browser] 128.5.0esr-1
ii lynx [www-browser] 2.9.2-1
ii w3m [www-browser] 0.5.3+git20230121-2+b3
-- no debconf information
Input file is developers-reference.1
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
-.-
So any 'generator' should check its products with the above mentioned
'groff', 'mandoc', and additionally with 'nroff ...'.
This is just a simple quality control measure.
The 'generator' may have to be corrected to get a better man page,
the source file may, and any additional file may.
Common defects:
Input text line longer than 80 bytes.
Not removing trailing spaces (in in- and output).
The reason for these trailing spaces should be found and eliminated.
Not beginning each input sentence on a new line.
Lines should thus be shorter.
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 -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 of 'diff -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)
-.-.
Output from "mandoc -T lint developers-reference.1": (shortened list)
1 skipping paragraph macro
1 whitespace at end of input line
-.-.
Output from "test-groff -mandoc -t -ww -z developers-reference.1": (shortened list)
1 trailing space in the line
-.-.
Output from "mandoc -T lint developers-reference.1":
mandoc: developers-reference.1:5:2: WARNING: skipping paragraph macro: br after SH
mandoc: developers-reference.1:17:31: STYLE: whitespace at end of input line
-.-.
Remove space characters at the end of lines.
Use "git apply ... --whitespace=fix" to fix extra space issues, or use
global configuration "core.whitespace".
17:Osamu Aoki (osamu@debian.org).
-.-.
Output from "test-groff -mandoc -t -K utf8 -rF0 -rHY=0 -rCHECKSTYLE=10 -ww -z ":
troff:<stdin>:17: warning: trailing space in the line
-.-
Additional:
Add enougth place for the "BROWSER" item.
--- developers-reference.1 2024-12-14 06:44:24.221677419 +0000
+++ developers-reference.1.new 2024-12-14 07:01:56.872612965 +0000
@@ -2,19 +2,20 @@
.SH NAME
developers-reference \- guidelines and information for Debian developers
.SH SYNOPSIS
-.br
.B developers-reference
.SH DESCRIPTION
-This is a small script that starts your favorite browser and displays
-the index page
+This is a small script
+that starts your favorite browser
+and displays the index page
.I file:///usr/share/developers-reference/index.html
of the developers-reference package.
.SH ENVIRONMENT
-.IP BROWSER
+.nr width \w'BROWSER '
+.IP BROWSER \n[width]u
The browser used to display the HTML files.
.SH AUTHOR
-Osamu Aoki (osamu@debian.org).
+Osamu Aoki (osamu@debian.org).
.PP
This document may be used under the terms of the GNU General Public
License version 2 or higher.
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