Bug#1102943: deb-src-control.5: Some remarks and a patch with editorial changes for this man page

Input file is deb-src-control.5

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

      1 empty block: RS
      1 input text line longer than 80 bytes: Each Debian source p...
      1 input text line longer than 80 bytes: The known priorities...
      1 input text line longer than 80 bytes: architecture specifi...

-.-.

Output from
test-nroff -mandoc -t -ww -z deb-src-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Is the generating software out of date?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)

-.-.

Change '-' (\-) to '\(en' (en-dash) for a (numeric) range.

GNU gnulib has recently (2023-06-18) updated its
"build_aux/update-copyright" to recognize "\(en" in man pages.

deb-src-control.5:101:name must consist only of lowercase letters (a\-z), digits (0\-9), plus (+) and
deb-src-control.5:104:long and must start with a lowercase alphanumeric character (a\-z0\-9).
deb-src-control.5:533:\&  libselinux1\-dev (>= 1.28\-4) [!linux\-any],
deb-src-control.5:544:\&  cpio (>= 2.4.2\-2),
deb-src-control.5:550:\&  patch (>= 2.2\-1),
deb-src-control.5:563:\&  manpages\-pl (<= 20051117\-1),

-.-.

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.

483 <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 70, length 84

Each Debian source package contains the \(Fo\fBdebian/control\fR\(Fc template source

Line 148, length 84

.IP "\fBRules-Requires-Root:\fR \fBno\fR|\fBbinary-targets\fR|\fIimpl-keywords\fR" 4

Line 245, length 89

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

Line 314, length 82

architecture specification in square brackets \(oq\fB[\fR\(cq and \(oq\fB]\fR\(cq,

Line 483, length 97

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

Longest line is number 483 with 97 characters

-.-.

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

138:used format is \fIbts-type\fR\fB://\fR\fIbts-address\fR, like

-.-.

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-src-control.5:126:first line (after the \fBDescription\fR field).
deb-src-control.5:303:Each group is a list of packages separated by vertical bar (or \(lqpipe\(rq)
deb-src-control.5:307:for \fBdeb\-control\fR\|(5) (since dpkg 1.10.14).
deb-src-control.5:313:\(oq\fB(\fR\(cq and \(oq\fB)\fR\(cq, an
deb-src-control.5:335:(since dpkg 1.16.5), \fBany\fR (since dpkg 1.16.2) or \fBnative\fR
deb-src-control.5:347:revision (separated by a hyphen).
deb-src-control.5:412:\&\fBBuild-Depends\fR field is used (including the angle brackets).
deb-src-control.5:415:means that it builds with all build profiles (including none at all).
deb-src-control.5:469:a trailing comma (since dpkg 1.10.14), have architecture specifications and
deb-src-control.5:565:\&  This package provides the development tools (including dpkg\-source)

-.-.

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.

94:.SH "SOURCE FIELDS"
371:.SH "BINARY FIELDS"
484:.SH "USER-DEFINED FIELDS"
571:.SH "SEE ALSO"

-.-.

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


483:<https://salsa.debian.org/installer\-team/debian\-installer/\-/raw/master/doc/devel/modules.txt>.
525:\& Homepage: https://wiki.debian.org/Teams/Dpkg
526:\& Vcs\-Browser: https://git.dpkg.org/cgit/dpkg/dpkg.git
527:\& Vcs\-Git: https://git.dpkg.org/git/dpkg/dpkg.git

-.-.

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

an.tmac:<stdin>:121: style: use of deprecated macro: .PD
an.tmac:<stdin>:124: style: use of deprecated macro: .PD
an.tmac:<stdin>:188: style: use of deprecated macro: .PD
an.tmac:<stdin>:191: style: use of deprecated macro: .PD
an.tmac:<stdin>:198: style: use of deprecated macro: .PD
an.tmac:<stdin>:213: style: use of deprecated macro: .PD
an.tmac:<stdin>:423: style: use of deprecated macro: .PD
an.tmac:<stdin>:434: style: use of deprecated macro: .PD
an.tmac:<stdin>:441: style: use of deprecated macro: .PD
an.tmac:<stdin>:462: style: use of deprecated macro: .PD
an.tmac:<stdin>:474: style: use of deprecated macro: .PD
an.tmac:<stdin>:479: style: use of deprecated macro: .PD

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

an.tmac:<stdin>:121: style: use of deprecated macro: .PD
an.tmac:<stdin>:124: style: use of deprecated macro: .PD
an.tmac:<stdin>:188: style: use of deprecated macro: .PD
an.tmac:<stdin>:191: style: use of deprecated macro: .PD
an.tmac:<stdin>:198: style: use of deprecated macro: .PD
an.tmac:<stdin>:213: style: use of deprecated macro: .PD
an.tmac:<stdin>:423: style: use of deprecated macro: .PD
an.tmac:<stdin>:434: style: use of deprecated macro: .PD
an.tmac:<stdin>:441: style: use of deprecated macro: .PD
an.tmac:<stdin>:462: style: use of deprecated macro: .PD
an.tmac:<stdin>:474: style: use of deprecated macro: .PD
an.tmac:<stdin>:479: style: use of deprecated macro: .PD
troff:<stdin>:483: warning [page 5, line 25]: cannot break line; overset by 23n

-.-.

Generally:

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

--- deb-src-control.5	2025-04-13 11:07:48.406717904 +0000
+++ deb-src-control.5.new	2025-04-13 11:19:49.079629054 +0000
@@ -480,7 +480,13 @@ for \fBdeb\-control\fR\|(5).
 These fields are used by the debian-installer in \fBudeb\fRs and are
 usually not needed.
 For more details about them, see
+.br
+.ie \n(.g \{\
+<https://salsa.debian.org/\:installer\-team/\:debian\-installer/\:\-/\:raw/\:master/\:doc/\:devel/\:modules.txt>.
+.\}
+.el \{\
 <https://salsa.debian.org/installer\-team/debian\-installer/\-/raw/master/doc/devel/modules.txt>.
+.\}
 .SH "USER-DEFINED FIELDS"
 .IX Header "USER-DEFINED FIELDS"
 It is allowed to add additional user-defined fields to the control file.

  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)

-.-