Package: grep
Version: upstream
Severity: minor
Following comes from the next version of "groff" (> 1.23.0).
* What led up to the situation?
Checking for defects with
test-[g|n]roff -mandoc -t -K utf8 -rF0 -rHY=0 -ww -b -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: backtrace: file '<stdin>':14
troff:<stdin>:14: error: character '|' is not allowed as a delimiter
troff: backtrace: file '<stdin>':15
troff:<stdin>:15: warning: missing closing delimiter in output comparison
operator; expected a special character, got a newline
troff: backtrace: file '<stdin>':27
troff:<stdin>:27: error: character '|' is not allowed as a delimiter
troff: backtrace: file '<stdin>':27
troff:<stdin>:27: warning: expected numeric expression, got a space
* What outcome did you expect instead?
No output (no warnings).
-.-
General remarks and further material, if a diff-file exist, are in the
attachments.
Input file is grep.in.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 "test-groff -mandoc -t -ww -b -z grep.in.1 ": (shortened list)
2 character '|' is not allowed as a delimiter
1 expected numeric expression, got a space
-.-.
-.-.
Output from "test-groff -mandoc -t -K utf8 -rF0 -rHY=0 -ww -b -z ":
troff: backtrace: file '<stdin>':14
troff:<stdin>:14: error: character '|' is not allowed as a delimiter
troff: backtrace: file '<stdin>':15
troff:<stdin>:15: warning: missing closing delimiter in output comparison
operator; expected a special character, got a newline
troff: backtrace: file '<stdin>':27
troff:<stdin>:27: error: character '|' is not allowed as a delimiter
troff: backtrace: file '<stdin>':27
troff:<stdin>:27: warning: expected numeric expression, got a space
