Bug#848121: [Pkg-sysvinit-devel] File conflict between manpages and initscripts

[Ian Jackson]

Michael Kerrisk (man-pages) writes ("Re: Bug#848121: [Pkg-sysvinit-devel] File 
conflict between manpages and initscripts"):
> On 14 December 2016 at 16:45, Ian Jackson
> <ijack...@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
> >  - rename the manpage about /etc/default/tmpfs to tmnfs-config(5)
> >(or something, better name welcome).
> 
> FWIW, I think this may be the best option.

I do see that the arguments against changing all the filesystem
manpages are pretty strong.

It's not quite clear to me quite who the maintainers of the sysvinit
package are - ie, who needs to agree.  I have been following the
sysvinit package for a while now but have not had any time to do
anything particularly useful.  The Alioth group lists a number of
people.

(Actually, I should ask to become a member of the team...  done.)

Ian.

-- 
Ian Jackson <ijack...@chiark.greenend.org.uk>   These opinions are my own.

If I emailed you from an address @fyvzl.net or @evade.org.uk, that is
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Bug#848121: [Pkg-sysvinit-devel] File conflict between manpages and initscripts

[Michael Kerrisk (man-pages)]

On 14 December 2016 at 16:45, Ian Jackson
<ijack...@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
> Axel Beckert writes ("Bug#848121: [Pkg-sysvinit-devel] File conflict between 
> manpages and initscripts"):
>> I must admit that I never was aware that filesystems are in the same
>> manual section as file formats (5). I would have expected them in
>> section 7 or so, but there's probably a not that small intersection
>> between things that fit into section 5 and things that fit in section
>> 7.
>
> I agree.

So, as I've commented elsewhere, various people have some to the same
idea: filesystem pages go into section 5. (I do see the argument for
7, but it's not what various projects have done.)

Also, Linux is not the only one to do this. On FreeBSD we have the
following in Section 5:

$ ls -1 *fs.5
autofs.5
devfs.5
ext2fs.5
fdescfs.5
fs.5
linprocfs.5
linsysfs.5
mqueuefs.5
msdosfs.5
nandfs.5
nullfs.5
procfs.5
tmpfs.5

Note the last!

>> But then again initscripts' tmpfs.5 is IMHO clearly section 5 (file
>> format) and not section 7. While I would put information about the
>> tmpfs file system into section 7 with good conscience, it clearly
>> doesn't make sense since all other file system man pages are in
>> section 5.

(Yes.)

>>
>> Difficult …
>
> I think the only sensible options are:
>
>  - rename all the filesystem manpages to put them in section 7

I doubt that will happen. They come from multiple upstream projects.
And there's no compelling reason for those upstreams to change.

>  - rename the manpage about /etc/default/tmpfs to tmnfs-config(5)
>(or something, better name welcome).

FWIW, I think this may be the best option.

Cheers,

Michael

Bug#848121: [Pkg-sysvinit-devel] File conflict between manpages and initscripts

[Ian Jackson]

Axel Beckert writes ("Bug#848121: [Pkg-sysvinit-devel] File conflict between 
manpages and initscripts"):
> I must admit that I never was aware that filesystems are in the same
> manual section as file formats (5). I would have expected them in
> section 7 or so, but there's probably a not that small intersection
> between things that fit into section 5 and things that fit in section
> 7.

I agree.

> But then again initscripts' tmpfs.5 is IMHO clearly section 5 (file
> format) and not section 7. While I would put information about the
> tmpfs file system into section 7 with good conscience, it clearly
> doesn't make sense since all other file system man pages are in
> section 5.
> 
> Difficult …

I think the only sensible options are:

 - rename all the filesystem manpages to put them in section 7
 - rename the manpage about /etc/default/tmpfs to tmnfs-config(5)
   (or something, better name welcome).

Ian.

-- 
Ian Jackson <ijack...@chiark.greenend.org.uk>   These opinions are my own.

If I emailed you from an address @fyvzl.net or @evade.org.uk, that is
a private address which bypasses my fierce spamfilter.

Bug#848121: [Pkg-sysvinit-devel] File conflict between manpages and initscripts

[Axel Beckert]

Hi Michael,

On Wed, Dec 14, 2016 at 03:27:42PM +0100, Michael Kerrisk (man-pages) wrote:
> On 14 December 2016 at 14:52, Axel Beckert  wrote:
> > I don't know the difference, but I could imagine that the manpages'
> > tmpfs.5 has some more systemd-specific information. So if the
> > sysvinit-specific parts in tmpfs.5 are not gone (or soon to be
> > removed), then we could switch to the version from manpages.
> 
> The pages cover different topics
> 
> The Debian page describes a Debian config file, /etc/default/tmpfs,
> used for configuring various tmpfs filesystems.
> 
> The upstream man-pages page describes the basics of the tmpfs
> filesystem. (Systemd does not figure in there.) This follows a pattern
> for other filesystems where we have pages such as xfs(5), btrfs(5),
> nfs(5), ext4(5), ...

thanks for the explanation.

I must admit that I never was aware that filesystems are in the same
manual section as file formats (5). I would have expected them in
section 7 or so, but there's probably a not that small intersection
between things that fit into section 5 and things that fit in section
7.

But then again initscripts' tmpfs.5 is IMHO clearly section 5 (file
format) and not section 7. While I would put information about the
tmpfs file system into section 7 with good conscience, it clearly
doesn't make sense since all other file system man pages are in
section 5.

Difficult …

Kind regards, Axel
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