Category: user Synopsis: ci(1) manpage: clarify accepted formats for -d, document 06:00 default, and explain -z limitation
Environment: OpenBSD 7.8 GENERIC.MP#32 amd64 Description: The manual page of ci(1) does not accurately describe the accepted formats for the -d option and its interaction with time zones. Observed issues: -d accepts only specific formats. ISO 8601 with +HH:MM fails, but +HHMM works. This is not documented. If only a date is given (e.g. -d '2025-09-15'), the time defaults to 06:00:00. This is surprising and undocumented. The manual states that -z zone specifies the zone for keyword substitution, but does not clarify that it has no effect on how -d parses dates. In practice, -d always requires an explicit numeric offset. How to reproduce: $ ci -d '2025-09-15T13:13:13' -mTEST file # stored date is 06:13:13 UTC (interpreted as PDT, undocumented) $ ci -d '2025-09-15 13:13:13 +0200' -mTEST file # stored date is 11:13:13 UTC (as expected) $ ci -d '2025-09-15 13:13:13 +02:00' -mTEST file ci: invalid date # not documented $ ci -d '2025-09-15' -mTEST file # stored date is 2025/09/15 06:00:00 UTC Expected behavior: The manual should clearly state which formats are accepted, what the default time is if none is given, and that -z does not affect -d parsing. Fix: The attached diff updates ci.1 accordingly. Patch: --- ci.1.orig Fri Sep 13 12:00:00 2025 +++ ci.1 Wed Sep 17 18:00:00 2025 @@ -224,10 +224,25 @@ .It Fl d Ns Ar date Uses .Ar date -for the check-in date and time. -If -.Ar date -is not specified, use the working file's last modification time. +for the check-in date and time. +If +.Ar date +is not specified, the working file's last modification time is used. +. +The accepted formats are limited; portable usage is: +.Bd -literal -offset indent +YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS +ZZZZ +.Ed +where +.Ar +ZZZZ +is a numeric time zone offset (for example, +0200). +The colon form +.Ar +HH:MM +is not accepted. +If only a calendar date is given without a time, +.Nm +defaults to +06:00:00. +This historical default should not be relied on without specifying time explicitly. .It Fl f Forces a deposit; the new revision is deposited even if it is not different from the preceding one. @@ -304,7 +319,10 @@ .It Fl z Ns Ar zone Specify the .Ar zone -to use for keyword substitution. +to use for keyword substitution. +This does not affect parsing of dates supplied with +.Fl d . +The check-in date parsing always requires an explicit offset as described above. .El
