GNU bug report logs - #13280
od 8.19: inappropriate formatting of the man pages

Previous Next

To add a comment to this bug, you must first unarchive it, by sending
a message to control AT debbugs.gnu.org, with unarchive 13280 in the body.
You can then email your comments to 13280 AT debbugs.gnu.org in the normal way.

Toggle the display of automated, internal messages from the tracker.

Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Akim Demaille <akim <at> lrde.epita.fr>
To: bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org
Subject: od 8.19: inappropriate formatting of the man pages
Date: Wed, 26 Dec 2012 08:43:23 +0100

(Wow, I had never realized that applying --program-prefix=g on
od results in invoking god).

You might consider this a bug, or not.  Sorry for the noise if
you don't.

"man od" (well, in my case, yet another interesting command to
type, with deep philosophical meaning) includes a section-like
(in bold) title for:

   Traditional format specifications may be intermixed; they accumulate:

but it does not for:

       TYPE is made up of one or more of these specifications:

(also the next paragraph, "RADIX is d for…" seems to belong
to the "TYPE" section, but it does not.  So maybe another section-like
separation would be nice).

in roff-tongue:

…
\fB\-\-version\fR
output version information and exit
.SS "Traditional format specifications may be intermixed; they accumulate:"
.TP
…
.TP
\fB\-x\fR
same as \fB\-t\fR x2, select hexadecimal 2\-byte units
.PP
If first and second call formats both apply, the second format is assumed
if the last operand begins with + or (if there are 2 operands) a digit.
An OFFSET operand means \fB\-j\fR OFFSET.  LABEL is the pseudo\-address
at first byte printed, incremented when dump is progressing.
For OFFSET and LABEL, a 0x or 0X prefix indicates hexadecimal;
suffixes may be . for octal and b for multiply by 512.
.PP
TYPE is made up of one or more of these specifications:
.TP
a
named character, ignoring high\-order bit
.TP
c

Cheers!

Message #10 received at 13280-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Pádraig Brady <P <at> draigBrady.com>
To: Akim Demaille <akim <at> lrde.epita.fr>
Cc: 13280-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#13280: od 8.19: inappropriate formatting of the man pages
Date: Thu, 27 Dec 2012 11:42:15 +0000

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

On 12/26/2012 07:43 AM, Akim Demaille wrote:
> (Wow, I had never realized that applying --program-prefix=g on
> od results in invoking god).
>
> You might consider this a bug, or not.  Sorry for the noise if
> you don't.
>
> "man od" (well, in my case, yet another interesting command to
> type, with deep philosophical meaning) includes a section-like
> (in bold) title for:
>
>     Traditional format specifications may be intermixed; they accumulate:
>
> but it does not for:
>
>         TYPE is made up of one or more of these specifications:
>
> (also the next paragraph, "RADIX is d for…" seems to belong
> to the "TYPE" section, but it does not.  So maybe another section-like
> separation would be nice).

Yes the grouping of that info wasn't optimum.
I've adjusted things a bit in the attached patch,
and the result can be seen in the attached pdf generated with:
  man -t man/od.1 | ps2pdf - > od.pdf
Note since people like examples, as part of this I've added
an EXAMPLES section, that shows how to output a hexdump with od.

thanks,
Pádraig.

[od-help.diff (text/x-patch, attachment)]

[od.pdf (application/pdf, attachment)]

Message #13 received at 13280-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Bernhard Voelker <mail <at> bernhard-voelker.de>
To: Akim Demaille <akim <at> lrde.epita.fr>, 
	"Pádraig Brady" <P <at> draigBrady.com>
Cc: 13280-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#13280: od 8.19: inappropriate formatting of the man pages
Date: Thu, 27 Dec 2012 13:49:49 +0100 (CET)

On December 27, 2012 at 12:42 PM "Pádraig Brady" <P <at> draigBrady.com> wrote:
> On 12/26/2012 07:43 AM, Akim Demaille wrote:
> I've adjusted things a bit in the attached patch,

Looks good. As it was reported as a bug, shouldn't
we mention it in the commit message:

  - Reported by Akim Demaille.
  + Reported by Akim Demaille in http://bugs.gnu.org/13280.

and (maybe even) in NEWS?

For NEWS, the change may be too marginal, but at least
a reference in Git would be great IMO.

Have a nice day,
Berny

Message #16 received at 13280-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Akim Demaille <akim <at> lrde.epita.fr>
To: Pádraig Brady <P <at> draigBrady.com>
Cc: 13280-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#13280: od 8.19: inappropriate formatting of the man pages
Date: Thu, 27 Dec 2012 13:53:27 +0100

Le 27 déc. 2012 à 12:42, Pádraig Brady <P <at> draigBrady.com> a écrit :

> Yes the grouping of that info wasn't optimum.
> I've adjusted things a bit in the attached patch,
> and the result can be seen in the attached pdf generated with:
>  man -t man/od.1 | ps2pdf - > od.pdf
> Note since people like examples, as part of this I've added
> an EXAMPLES section, that shows how to output a hexdump with od.


Very nice!

I notice that instead of the usual:

 Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.

there is:

 All arguments to long options are mandatory for short options.

which is not right since:

−w[BYTES], −−width[=BYTES]
  output BYTES bytes per output line. 32 is implied when BYTES is not specified

Message #19 received at 13280 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Pádraig Brady <P <at> draigBrady.com>
To: Bernhard Voelker <mail <at> bernhard-voelker.de>
Cc: Akim Demaille <akim <at> lrde.epita.fr>, 13280 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#13280: od 8.19: inappropriate formatting of the man pages
Date: Thu, 27 Dec 2012 13:44:23 +0000

On 12/27/2012 12:49 PM, Bernhard Voelker wrote:
> On December 27, 2012 at 12:42 PM "Pádraig Brady" <P <at> draigBrady.com> wrote:
>> On 12/26/2012 07:43 AM, Akim Demaille wrote:
>> I've adjusted things a bit in the attached patch,
>
> Looks good. As it was reported as a bug, shouldn't
> we mention it in the commit message:
>
>    - Reported by Akim Demaille.
>    + Reported by Akim Demaille in http://bugs.gnu.org/13280.

Good point.

>
> and (maybe even) in NEWS?

No need for NEWS I think.

>
> For NEWS, the change may be too marginal, but at least
> a reference in Git would be great IMO.

thanks for the review!
Pádraig.

Message #22 received at 13280 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Pádraig Brady <P <at> draigBrady.com>
To: Akim Demaille <akim <at> lrde.epita.fr>
Cc: 13280 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#13280: od 8.19: inappropriate formatting of the man pages
Date: Thu, 27 Dec 2012 13:45:11 +0000

On 12/27/2012 12:53 PM, Akim Demaille wrote:
>
> Le 27 déc. 2012 à 12:42, Pádraig Brady <P <at> draigBrady.com> a écrit :
>
>> Yes the grouping of that info wasn't optimum.
>> I've adjusted things a bit in the attached patch,
>> and the result can be seen in the attached pdf generated with:
>>   man -t man/od.1 | ps2pdf - > od.pdf
>> Note since people like examples, as part of this I've added
>> an EXAMPLES section, that shows how to output a hexdump with od.
>
>
> Very nice!
>
> I notice that instead of the usual:
>
>   Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.
>
> there is:
>
>   All arguments to long options are mandatory for short options.
>
> which is not right since:
>
> −w[BYTES], −−width[=BYTES]
>    output BYTES bytes per output line. 32 is implied when BYTES is not specified

Wow good catch.
OK pushed with that change and Bernhard's bug reference suggestion.

thanks,
Pádraig.

Previous Next

GNU bug tracking system
Copyright (C) 1999 Darren O. Benham, 1997,2003 nCipher Corporation Ltd, 1994-97 Ian Jackson.