Bug#1102892: deb-control.5: Some remarks and a patch with editorial changes for this man page

Input file is deb-control.5

Output from "mandoc -T lint  deb-control.5": (shortened list)

      1 empty block: RS
      1 input text line longer than 80 bytes: The known priorities...

-.-.

Output from
test-nroff -mandoc -t -ww -z deb-control.5: (shortened list)

      1 cannot break line; overset by 23n

-.-.

Show if Pod::Man generated this.

Who is actually creating this man page?  Debian or upstream?

Is the generating software out of date?

2:.\" Automatically generated by Pod::Man 5.0102 (Pod::Simple 3.45)

-.-.

Strings longer than 3/4 of a standard line length (80).

Use "\:" to split the string at the end of an output line, for example a
long URL (web address).
This is a groff extension.

240 <https://salsa.debian.org/installer\-team/debian\-installer/\-/raw/master/doc/devel/modules.txt>.

-.-.

Split lines longer than 80 characters into two or more lines.
Appropriate break points are the end of a sentence and a subordinate
clause; after punctuation marks.
Add "\:" to split the string for the output, "\<newline>" in the source.  

Line 137, length 89

The known priorities are \fBrequired\fR, \fBimportant\fR, \fBstandard\fR, \fBoptional\fR,

Line 150, length 81

\&\fBdpkg\fR\|(1) or any other installation tool will not allow a \fBProtected\fR

Line 160, length 82

\&\fBdpkg\fR\|(1) or any other installation tool will not allow an \fBEssential\fR

Line 240, length 97

<https://salsa.debian.org/installer\-team/debian\-installer/\-/raw/master/doc/devel/modules.txt>.

Longest line is number 240 with 97 characters

-.-.

Remove unnecessary double font change (e.g., \fR\fI) in a row or (better)
use a two-fonts macro.

184:used format is \fIbts-type\fR\fB://\fR\fIbts-address\fR, like
222:.IP "\fBSource:\fR \fIsource-name\fR [\fB(\fR\fIsource-version\fR\fB)\fR]" 4

-.-.

Add a zero (0) in front of a decimal fraction that begins with a period
(.)

7:.if t .sp .5v

-.-.

Put a parenthetical sentence, phrase on a separate line,
if not part of a code.
See man-pages(7), item "semantic newline".

deb-control.5:105:It may also include a Debian revision number (for non-native packages).
deb-control.5:121:first line (after the \fBDescription\fR field).
deb-control.5:151:package to be removed (at least not without using one of the force options).
deb-control.5:161:package to be removed (at least not without using one of the force options).
deb-control.5:248:field aren't installed (at least not without using the force options).
deb-control.5:284:of packages separated by vertical bar (or \(lqpipe\(rq) symbols,
deb-control.5:294:(since dpkg 1.16.5) or \fBany\fR (since dpkg 1.16.2).
deb-control.5:341:is a list of package names, separated by commas (and optional whitespace).
deb-control.5:376:is a list of package names, separated by commas (and optional whitespace).
deb-control.5:380:An optional exact (equal to) version can also be given with the same
deb-control.5:381:syntax as above (honored since dpkg 1.17.11).
deb-control.5:410:this binary packages was built with (since dpkg 1.17.2 until 1.18.18).
deb-control.5:438:\& Pre\-Depends: libc6 (>= 2.0.105)

-.-.

Only one space character is after a possible end of sentence
(after a punctuation, that can end a sentence).

deb-control.5:447:\&  look at every character. The result is typically many times faster
deb-control.5:448:\&  than Unix grep or egrep. (Regular expressions containing backreferencing

-.-.

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.

deb-control.5:66:.IX Header "SYNOPSIS"
deb-control.5:69:.IX Header "DESCRIPTION"
deb-control.5:90:.IX Header "FIELDS"
deb-control.5:389:.IX Header "EXAMPLE"
deb-control.5:412:.IX Header "BUGS"

-.-.

Use ".na" (no adjustment) instead of ".ad l" (and ".ad" to begin the
same adjustment again as before).

61:.if n .ad l

-.-.

Add lines to use the CR font for groff instead of CW.

.if t \{\
.  ie \\n(.g .ft CR
.  el .ft CW
.\}


11:.ft CW

-.-.

Section headings (.SH and .SS) do not need quoting their arguments.

456:.SH "SEE ALSO"

-.-.

Put a (long) web address on a new line to reduce the posibility of
splitting the address between two output lines.
Or inhibit hyphenation with "\%" in front of the name.


240:<https://salsa.debian.org/installer\-team/debian\-installer/\-/raw/master/doc/devel/modules.txt>.

-.-.

Output from "test-groff  -mandoc -t -K utf8 -rF0 -rHY=0 -rCHECKSTYLE=10 -ww -z ":

an.tmac:<stdin>:116: style: use of deprecated macro: .PD
an.tmac:<stdin>:119: style: use of deprecated macro: .PD
an.tmac:<stdin>:232: style: use of deprecated macro: .PD
an.tmac:<stdin>:237: style: use of deprecated macro: .PD

Output from "test-nroff  -mandoc -t -K utf8 -rF0 -rHY=0 -rCHECKSTYLE=10 -ww -z ":

an.tmac:<stdin>:116: style: use of deprecated macro: .PD
an.tmac:<stdin>:119: style: use of deprecated macro: .PD
an.tmac:<stdin>:232: style: use of deprecated macro: .PD
an.tmac:<stdin>:237: style: use of deprecated macro: .PD
troff:<stdin>:240: warning [page 3, line 11]: cannot break line; overset by 23n

-.-.

Generally:

Split (sometimes) lines after a punctuation mark; before a conjunction.

--- deb-control.5	2025-04-13 01:28:59.602396612 +0000
+++ deb-control.5.new	2025-04-13 01:59:31.627618624 +0000
@@ -237,7 +237,16 @@ setting a different binary version via \
 .PD
 These fields are used by the debian-installer and are usually not needed.
 For more details about them, see
-<https://salsa.debian.org/installer\-team/debian\-installer/\-/raw/master/doc/devel/modules.txt>.
+.br
+.ie \n(.g \{\
+<https://salsa.debian.org/\:installer\-team/\:debian\-installer/\:\-/\:raw/\:master/\:doc/\:devel/\:modules.txt>.
+.\}
+.el \{\
+.nf
+<https://salsa.debian.org/installer\-team/debian\-installer/\-/raw/master
+/doc/devel/modules.txt>.
+.fi
+.\}
 .IP "\fBDepends:\fR \fIpackage-list\fR" 4
 .IX Item "Depends: package-list"
 List of packages that are required for this package to provide a

  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)

-.-