luaotfload.conf.5: Some remarks and a patch with editorial changes for this man page

Input file is luaotfload.conf.5

Output from "mandoc -T lint  luaotfload.conf.5": (shortened list)

      4 STYLE: input text line longer than 80 bytes
      7 WARNING: skipping paragraph macro: sp after SH
      1 WARNING: skipping paragraph macro: sp after SS
      6 WARNING: unknown font, skipping request: ft C

-.-.

Output from
test-groff mandoc -Kutf8 -ww -z luaotfload.conf.5: (shortened list)

      1 register 'an-margin' not defined [-w reg]
      1 tbl preprocessor failed, or it or soelim was not run; table(s) likely not rendered (TE macro called with TW register undefined)

-.-.

Show if generated from reStructuredText or rd2

  A patch to a generated man page is to show where the generator
failed to make a "clean" man page rendering (that is without warnings) and
sometimes to show a better format for it.
  Generated files create bigger and more difficult to read/check patches
when the generator creats long lines, instead of shorter ones or by
postprocesing its output in such a way.

  A patch may be applied to a generated man page to fix the distributed
file until the sources of the defects have been fixed.


1:.\" Man page generated from reStructuredText.
677:.\" Generated by docutils manpage writer.

Latest version: docutils (Docutils 0.22.4, Python 3.13.14, on linux)

-.-.

Check for the font name "C" as that is not standard in "groff"

Add

.if \n(.g \{\
. ie t .ftr C CR
. el .ftr C R
.\}

before ".TH"



54:.ft C
84:.ft C
97:.ft C
122:.ft C
136:.ft C
341:.ft C

-.-.

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.

666 \fI\%http://standards.freedesktop.org/basedir\-spec/basedir\-spec\-latest.html\fP\&.

-.-.

Wrong distance (not two spaces, not a new line character (\n)) between
sentences in the input file.

  Separate the sentences and subordinate clauses; each begins on a new
line.  See man-pages(7) ("Conventions for source file layout") and
"info groff" ("Input Conventions").

  The best procedure is to always start a new sentence on a new line,
at least, if you are typing on a computer.

Remember coding: Only one command ("sentence") on each (logical) line.

E-mail: Easier to quote exactly the relevant lines.

Generally: Easier to edit the sentence.

Patches: Less unaffected text.

Search for two adjacent words is easier, when they belong to the same line,
and the same phrase.

  The amount of space between sentences in the output can then be
controlled with the ".ss" request.

Mark a final abbreviation point as such by suffixing it with "\&".

Some sentences (etc.) do not begin on a new line.

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

  Lines with only one (or two) space(s) between sentences could be split,
so latter sentences begin on a new line.

Use

#!/usr/bin/sh

sed -e '/^\./n' \
-e 's/\([[:alpha:]]\)\.  */\1.\n/g' $1

to split lines after a sentence period.
Check result with the difference between the formatted outputs.
See also the attachment "general.bugs"

[List of affected lines removed.]

-.-.

Split lines longer than 80 characters (fill completely
an A4 sized page line on a terminal)
into two or more lines.
Appropriate break points are the end of a sentence and a subordinate
clause; after punctuation marks.

Line 179, length 87

type, \fBn\fP for \fInumber\fP, \fBb\fP for \fIboolean\fP\&. A value of \fBnil\fP means

Line 666, length 84

\fI\%http://standards.freedesktop.org/basedir\-spec/basedir\-spec\-latest.html\fP\&.

Longest line is number 179 with 87 characters

-.-.

No need for '\&' to be in front of a period (.),
if there is a character in front of it.

Remove with "sed -e 's/\(.\)\\&\./\1./g'".


 17 lines are with such a use.

-.-.

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

[List of affected lines removed.]

-.-.

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.

luaotfload.conf.5:30:.TH "LUAOTFLOAD.CONF" 5 "2024-12-03" "3.29" "text processing"

-.-.


Add "\&" after an ellipsis, when it does not end a sentence.

124:\&... section content ...

-.-.

The first line of the man page should only contain information about the
preprocessing of tables, see man(1), chapter "DEFAULTS".

1: .\" Man page generated from reStructuredText.

-.-.

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

troff:<stdin>:34: warning: register 'an-margin' not defined [-w reg]
an.tmac:<stdin>:266: warning: tbl preprocessor failed, or it or soelim was not run; table(s) likely not rendered (TE macro called with TW register undefined)

-.-

  The register 'an-margin' is an OUTDATED INTERNAL variable in groff's tmac file 'an.tmac'.

-.-

Generally:

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

Adjustment to both margins and hyphenation are unnecessary (and just waste
resources) in nroff mode for man pages; add

.if n \{\
.  nh
.  nr HY 0
.  ad l
.  ds AD l
.\}

-.-

Tables:

  Use the preprocessor 'tbl' to make tables.

  Put data, that are wider than the header in the (centered) last column,
in a "T{...\nT}" block(, when the table gets wider than the output line).

  Table headings, that are wider than any data in the corresponding
column, do not need to be centered, so left adjustment (l, L) is
sufficient.  There is thereby no change in the standard output.

--- luaotfload.conf.5	2026-08-05 00:17:09.377298681 +0000
+++ luaotfload.conf.5.new	2026-08-05 00:59:14.573502300 +0000
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+'\" t
 .\" Man page generated from reStructuredText.
 .
 .
@@ -27,7 +28,7 @@ level margin: \\n[rst2man-indent\\n[rst2
 .\" new: \\n[rst2man-indent\\n[rst2man-indent-level]]
 .in \\n[rst2man-indent\\n[rst2man-indent-level]]u
 ..
-.TH "LUAOTFLOAD.CONF" 5 "2024-12-03" "3.29" "text processing"
+.TH LUAOTFLOAD.CONF 5 2024-12-03 3.29 "text processing"
 .SH NAME
 luaotfload.conf \- Luaotfload configuration file
 .SH SYNOPSIS
@@ -40,11 +41,9 @@ luaotfload.conf \- Luaotfload configurat
 \fB~/.luaotfloadrc\fP
 .UNINDENT
 .SH DESCRIPTION
-.sp
 The file \fBluaotfload.conf\fP contains configuration options for
 \fILuaotfload\fP, a font loading and font management component for LuaTeX.
 .SH EXAMPLE
-.sp
 A small Luaotfload configuration file with few customizations could
 look as follows:
 .INDENT 0.0
@@ -103,7 +102,6 @@ luaotfload\-tool \-\-dumpconf > luaotflo
 .sp
 The result can itself be used as a configuration file.
 .SH SYNTAX
-.sp
 The configuration file syntax follows the common INI format. For a more
 detailed description please refer to the section “CONFIGURATION FILE”
 of \fBgit\-config\fP(1). A brief list of rules is given below:
@@ -121,7 +119,7 @@ by specifying the section title in brack
 .nf
 .ft C
 [some\-section]
-\&... section content ...
+\&...\& section content ...
 .ft P
 .fi
 .UNINDENT
@@ -149,7 +147,6 @@ letters as well as dashes (\fB\-\fP).
 .UNINDENT
 .UNINDENT
 .SH VARIABLES
-.sp
 Variables in belong into a configuration section and their values must
 be of a certain type. Some of them have further constraints. For
 example, the “color callback” must be a string of one of the values
@@ -327,7 +324,6 @@ cannot find a requested font. Those who
 \fBluaotfload\-tool\fP should unset this flag. This option does not affect
 rebuilds due to version mismatch.
 .SS Section \fBdefault\-features\fP
-.sp
 By default Luaotfload enables \fBnode\fP mode and picks the default font
 features that are prescribed in the OpenType standard. This behavior
 may be overridden in the \fBdefault\-features\fP section. Global defaults
@@ -623,7 +619,6 @@ No one should rely on the mapping betwee
 in this mode unless they tightly control all involved versions and are deeply
 familiar with the implementation.
 .SH FILES
-.sp
 Luaotfload only processes the first configuration file it encounters at
 one of the search locations. The file name may be either
 \fBluaotfload.conf\fP or \fBluaotfloadrc\fP, except for the dotfile in the
@@ -644,7 +639,6 @@ The dotfile.
 The \fITEXMF\fP (using kpathsea).
 .UNINDENT
 .SH SEE ALSO
-.sp
 \fBluaotfload\-tool\fP(1), \fBluatex\fP(1), \fBlua\fP(1)
 .INDENT 0.0
 .IP \(bu 2
@@ -663,10 +657,14 @@ Luaotfload on CTAN     \fI\%http://ctan.
 .INDENT 0.0
 .IP \(bu 2
 The XDG base specification
-\fI\%http://standards.freedesktop.org/basedir\-spec/basedir\-spec\-latest.html\fP\&.
+.ie \n(.g \{\
+\fIhttp://standards.freedesktop.org/\:basedir\-spec/basedir\-spec\-latest.html\fP.
+.\}
+.el \{\
+\fI\%http://standards.freedesktop.org/basedir\-spec/basedir\-spec\-latest.html\fP.
+.\}
 .UNINDENT
 .SH AUTHORS
-.sp
 \fILuaotfload\fP was developed by the LuaLaTeX dev team
 (\fI\%https://github.com/lualatex/\fP). It is currently maintained by the
 LaTeX Project Team at \fI\%https://github.com/latex3/luaotfload\fP

  Check the output from "lintian" in the Debian distribution.

  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 most trailing spaces use

grep -n -e ' $' -e ' \\f.$' -e ' \\"' -e ' "$' <man page>

  The same goes for man pages that are used as an input.

-.-

  For a style guide use

  mandoc -T lint

-.-

  For general input conventions consult the man page "nroff(7)" (item
"Input conventions") or the Texinfo manual about the same item.

-.-

  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 when that has been fixed.

  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)

-.-