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Groups > linux.debian.user > #180266 > unrolled thread

Debian man pages - mechanics of creation/publication?

Started byRichard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net>
First post2017-04-19 13:50 +0200
Last post2017-04-20 01:10 +0200
Articles 8 — 6 participants

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  Debian man pages - mechanics of creation/publication? Richard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net> - 2017-04-19 13:50 +0200
    Re: Debian man pages - mechanics of creation/publication? Peter Ludikovsky <peter@ludikovsky.name> - 2017-04-19 14:10 +0200
      Re: Debian man pages - mechanics of creation/publication? Richard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net> - 2017-04-19 15:30 +0200
        Re: Debian man pages - mechanics of creation/publication? David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2017-04-19 15:50 +0200
        Re: Debian man pages - mechanics of creation/publication? rhkramer@gmail.com - 2017-04-20 14:50 +0200
    Re: Debian man pages - mechanics of creation/publication? songbird <songbird@anthive.com> - 2017-04-19 15:50 +0200
    Re: Debian man pages - mechanics of creation/publication? songbird <songbird@anthive.com> - 2017-04-19 17:10 +0200
    Re: Debian man pages - mechanics of creation/publication? Ben Finney <bignose@debian.org> - 2017-04-20 01:10 +0200

#180266 — Debian man pages - mechanics of creation/publication?

FromRichard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net>
Date2017-04-19 13:50 +0200
SubjectDebian man pages - mechanics of creation/publication?
Message-ID<txWhr-2Xi-15@gated-at.bofh.it>
I've an idea for something to be added to some man pages.
It has not risen even the "wishlist bug" stage yet.
To rise that far I have to convince myself that the modification of so 
many existing man pages could be automated.

A web search turned up very low level details but not the need overview.
Suggestions?
TIA

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#180267

FromPeter Ludikovsky <peter@ludikovsky.name>
Date2017-04-19 14:10 +0200
Message-ID<txWAN-3iG-13@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#180266

[Multipart message — attachments visible in raw view] — view raw

On 04/19/2017 01:40 PM, Richard Owlett wrote:
> I've an idea for something to be added to some man pages.
> It has not risen even the "wishlist bug" stage yet.
> To rise that far I have to convince myself that the modification of so
> many existing man pages could be automated.
> 
> A web search turned up very low level details but not the need overview.
> Suggestions?
> TIA

1) What do you want to do? I'm asking this because it decides whether
this change could be interesting for others or not.
2) Does it affect only Debian-specific man pages, or man pages in
general? This answer decides if the change is a relatively small one (1
or 2 packages), or if you'll have to contact every upstream project to
get the changes included.
3) For any change you want to do & submit an patch for you should read
up on groff/troff, as that syntax is the base for man.

Regards
/peter

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#180270

FromRichard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net>
Date2017-04-19 15:30 +0200
Message-ID<txXQd-3X1-9@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#180267
On 04/19/2017 06:59 AM, Peter Ludikovsky wrote:
> On 04/19/2017 01:40 PM, Richard Owlett wrote:
>> I've an idea for something to be added to some man pages.
>> It has not risen even the "wishlist bug" stage yet.
>> To rise that far I have to convince myself that the modification of so
>> many existing man pages could be automated.
>>
>> A web search turned up very low level details but not the need overview.
>> Suggestions?
>> TIA
>
> 1) What do you want to do? I'm asking this because it decides whether
> this change could be interesting for others or not.

I debated mentioning the items that triggered my question. I'm not 
personally convinced that a man page would be the optimal place for the 
specific items. I phrased the subject line as I did because I have a 
long term felling that man pages aren't perfect ;/ But maybe the 
imperfection is more in me for not seeing that information really does 
not belong in a man page.

I think it 'should' be of interest to others. But considering answers 
I've gotten on other topics, I may be representative of a small minority.

> 2) Does it affect only Debian-specific man pages, or man pages in
> general? This answer decides if the change is a relatively small
> one (1 or 2 packages), or if you'll have to contact every upstream
> project to get the changes included.

For want of a better term, they might be considered to be "Debian 
specific footnotes

> 3) For any change you want to do & submit an patch for you should read
> up on groff/troff, as that syntax is the base for man.

That was one of the specifics that triggered mention of "very low level 
details".

>
> Regards
> /peter
>

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#180271

FromDavid Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk>
Date2017-04-19 15:50 +0200
Message-ID<txY9A-43H-43@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#180270
On Wed 19 Apr 2017 at 08:25:31 (-0500), Richard Owlett wrote:
> On 04/19/2017 06:59 AM, Peter Ludikovsky wrote:
> >On 04/19/2017 01:40 PM, Richard Owlett wrote:
> >>I've an idea for something to be added to some man pages.
> >>It has not risen even the "wishlist bug" stage yet.
> >>To rise that far I have to convince myself that the modification of so
> >>many existing man pages could be automated.
> >>
> >>A web search turned up very low level details but not the need overview.
> >>Suggestions?
> >>TIA
> >
> >1) What do you want to do? I'm asking this because it decides whether
> >this change could be interesting for others or not.
> 
> I debated mentioning the items that triggered my question. I'm not
> personally convinced that a man page would be the optimal place for
> the specific items.

Then forget it. If you can't even convince yourself, you're hardly
likely to convince others. So how are you going to drive this through?

> I phrased the subject line as I did because I
> have a long term felling that man pages aren't perfect ;/

You kicked off _that_ debate last November.

> But maybe
> the imperfection is more in me for not seeing that information
> really does not belong in a man page.
> 
> I think it 'should' be of interest to others. But considering
> answers I've gotten on other topics, I may be representative of a
> small minority.

On the face of it, that seems very likely. Most posts you make here
appear to be so bound by preconditions that they hardly have general
applicability.

> >2) Does it affect only Debian-specific man pages, or man pages in
> >general? This answer decides if the change is a relatively small
> >one (1 or 2 packages), or if you'll have to contact every upstream
> >project to get the changes included.
> 
> For want of a better term, they might be considered to be "Debian
> specific footnotes
> 
> >3) For any change you want to do & submit an patch for you should read
> >up on groff/troff, as that syntax is the base for man.
> 
> That was one of the specifics that triggered mention of "very low
> level details".

I've no idea what that means.


Keep those cards close to your chest...

Cheers,
David.

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#180327

Fromrhkramer@gmail.com
Date2017-04-20 14:50 +0200
Message-ID<tyjH4-ye-11@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#180270
On Wednesday, April 19, 2017 09:25:31 AM Richard Owlett wrote:
> For want of a better term, they might be considered to be "Debian
> specific footnotes

Well, an alternate that would not require upstream participation (at least in 
most cases, assuming no copyright issues) would be to create a new set of man 
pages, containing the original text and Debian specific footnotes and consider 
giving them a new name, e.g., Debian Annotated Manpages, or maybe debman for 
short...

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#180272

Fromsongbird <songbird@anthive.com>
Date2017-04-19 15:50 +0200
Message-ID<txY9B-43H-51@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#180266
Richard Owlett wrote:
> I've an idea for something to be added to some man pages.
> It has not risen even the "wishlist bug" stage yet.
> To rise that far I have to convince myself that the modification of so 
> many existing man pages could be automated.
>
> A web search turned up very low level details but not the need overview.
> Suggestions?

  talk to the debian doc team or the man package
maintainer(s)/team...


  songbird

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#180279

Fromsongbird <songbird@anthive.com>
Date2017-04-19 17:10 +0200
Message-ID<txZp0-4Zt-25@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#180266
Richard Owlett wrote:
> I've an idea for something to be added to some man pages.
> It has not risen even the "wishlist bug" stage yet.
> To rise that far I have to convince myself that the modification of so 
> many existing man pages could be automated.
>
> A web search turned up very low level details but not the need overview.
> Suggestions?

  does:

     https://manpages.debian.org

  help?


  songbird

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#180298

FromBen Finney <bignose@debian.org>
Date2017-04-20 01:10 +0200
Message-ID<ty6Tw-17J-3@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#180266
Richard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net> writes:

> I've an idea for something to be added to some man pages.
> It has not risen even the "wishlist bug" stage yet.

With such vague description, answers can only be very vague and won't
address specifics of what you hope to do.

> To rise that far I have to convince myself that the modification of so
> many existing man pages could be automated.

Manual pages are produced by a multitude of different processes, from
documents in lots of different source formats. Automation of changes is
going to be very variable in how feasible it would be across the range
of those documents.

If you can be more specific about exactly what it is you want to do,
our answers can engage more specifically.

-- 
 \           “I was in a bar the other night, hopping from barstool to |
  `\     barstool, trying to get lucky, but there wasn't any gum under |
_o__)                                       any of them.” —Emo Philips |
Ben Finney

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