Re: [PATCH 11/40] locate/locate.1: Improve table formatting.

"G. Branden Robinson" <[email protected]> Thu, 13 Nov 2025 11:07:55 -0600

Newsgroups	gmane.comp.gnu.findutils.bugs
Message-ID	<20251113170755.e6k22j7zm2nm5mk2@illithid>

Whoops--you might want to hold back on this one, or at least part of it.

At 2025-11-13T10:47:05-0600, G. Branden Robinson wrote:
> * Apply tbl(1) 'x' column modifier to right-hand column so that it
>   expands to fit the available line length.

That won't work on legacy troffs _except_ DWB 3.3.

I know of two alternatives:

1.  Just don't use 'x'.
2.  Parameterize or rewrite the man page prior to its installation to
    omit this column modifier.

The latter is not a light lift.  This week I proposed some patches to
ncurses to implement it, because that project badly needs expandable
columns for the tables in the terminfo(5) page.

None of the other changes in this patch are a problem as far as I know
(and as far as my spot-checks with other formatters show).

Learning this fact about 'x' is what prompted me to put my proposed
patches to findutils on the shelf for about 3 weeks, and when I came
back to them I'd forgotten I'd done this.

Regretfully,
Branden

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