Package: ncurses-doc
Version: 6.5+20250216-2
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 -rCHECKSTYLE=10 -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?
troff:<stdin>:226: 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 6.12.20-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)
-- no debconf information
Input file is terminfo_variables.3ncurses
Output from "mandoc -T lint terminfo_variables.3ncurses": (shortened list)
-.-.
Output from
test-nroff -mandoc -t -ww -z terminfo_variables.3ncurses: (shortened list)
1 line(s) with a trailing space
Find trailing space with:
grep -n -e ' $' -e ' \\f.$' -e ' \\"' <man page>
-.-.
Put a parenthetical sentence, phrase on a separate line,
if not part of a code.
See man-pages(7), item "semantic newline".
terminfo_variables.3ncurses:180:separated by \*(``|\*('' (vertical bars).
-.-.
Use a character "\(->" instead of plain "->" or "\->".
201:#define CUR ((TERMTYPE *)(cur_term))\->
-.-.
Remove quotes when there is a printable
but no space character between them
and the quotes are not for emphasis (markup),
for example as an argument to a macro.
terminfo_variables.3ncurses:119:.IR \%curses.h "."
terminfo_variables.3ncurses:159:.BR \%boolfnames ","
terminfo_variables.3ncurses:160:.BR \%numfnames ","
terminfo_variables.3ncurses:162:.BR \%strfnames "."
terminfo_variables.3ncurses:165:.BR \%boolnames ","
terminfo_variables.3ncurses:166:.BR \%numnames ","
terminfo_variables.3ncurses:168:.BR \%strnames "."
terminfo_variables.3ncurses:172:.BR \%boolcodes ","
terminfo_variables.3ncurses:173:.BR \%numcodes ","
terminfo_variables.3ncurses:175:.BR \%strcodes "."
terminfo_variables.3ncurses:187:.BR ttytype "."
terminfo_variables.3ncurses:196:.BR CUR ","
terminfo_variables.3ncurses:220:.IR \%ncurses ","
terminfo_variables.3ncurses:222:.B tigetstr("key_dc")
terminfo_variables.3ncurses:250:.IR \%cur_term "."
-.-.
Section headings (.SH and .SS) do not need quoting their arguments.
104:.SS "Alternate Character Set Mapping"
123:.SS "Current Terminal Data"
141:.SS "\fIterminfo\fP Lookup Tables"
178:.SS "Terminal Type"
189:.SS "\fIterminfo\fP Names"
229:.SS "\fIterminfo\fP and \fIcurses"
-.-.
Output from "test-groff -mandoc -t -K utf8 -rF0 -rHY=0 -rCHECKSTYLE=10 -ww -z
":
troff:<stdin>:226: warning: trailing space in the line
-.-.
Generally:
Split (sometimes) lines after a punctuation mark; before a conjunction.
--- terminfo_variables.3ncurses 2025-04-04 23:42:55.440721695 +0000
+++ terminfo_variables.3ncurses.new 2025-04-04 23:48:47.763586245 +0000
@@ -223,7 +223,7 @@ the expressions
and
\*(``\c \" `` string not reliable in a macro call on DWB/Heirloom nroffs
.B "CUR Strings[59]\c"
-\*('' \" '' string not reliable in a macro call on DWB/Heirloom nroffs
+\*(''\" '' string not reliable in a macro call on DWB/Heirloom nroffs
are equivalent.
.\"
.SS "\fIterminfo\fP and \fIcurses"
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
-.-
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)
-.-
