GNU bug report logs - #62854
aclocal: Man page “Name” section should be revised to be conformant to the POSIX man specification

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Package: automake;

Reported by: Sebastian Carlos <sebaaa1754 <at> gmail.com>

Date: Sat, 15 Apr 2023 04:05:05 UTC

Severity: normal

Merged with 62853

Done: Karl Berry <karl <at> freefriends.org>

Bug is archived. No further changes may be made.

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Report forwarded to bug-automake <at> gnu.org:
bug#62854; Package automake. (Sat, 15 Apr 2023 04:05:06 GMT) Full text and rfc822 format available.

Acknowledgement sent to Sebastian Carlos <sebaaa1754 <at> gmail.com>:
New bug report received and forwarded. Copy sent to bug-automake <at> gnu.org. (Sat, 15 Apr 2023 04:05:06 GMT) Full text and rfc822 format available.

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

From: Sebastian Carlos <sebaaa1754 <at> gmail.com>
To: bug-automake <at> gnu.org
Subject: aclocal: Man page “Name” section should be revised to be conformant to the POSIX man specification
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2023 17:43:37 +0200
[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]
Hello,

Currently, the "Name" section of the aclocal man page reads "aclocal -
manual page for aclocal 1.16.5" This is problematic for two reasons:

- It is redundant, as there is no need to mention that it is a manual page.
Also, the version is already available in the footer of the man page.
- More importantly, the text is non-conformant to the POSIX man
specification because the "name" sections is used to generate the
"utilities summary database" (used for the "man -k" or the "apropos"
command), which should be a "terse description of the purpose of the
utility". The current text does not describe what aclocal does or how it
can be used.

POSIX specification for the man command:
https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/utilities/man.html

Thanks for your time.
[Message part 2 (text/html, inline)]

Merged 62853 62854. Request was from Karl Berry <karl <at> freefriends.org> to control <at> debbugs.gnu.org. (Mon, 29 May 2023 16:07:02 GMT) Full text and rfc822 format available.

Information forwarded to bug-automake <at> gnu.org:
bug#62854; Package automake. (Tue, 30 May 2023 00:57:02 GMT) Full text and rfc822 format available.

Message #10 received at 62854 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Karl Berry <karl <at> freefriends.org>
To: sebaaa1754 <at> gmail.com
Cc: 62853 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, 62854 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#62853: Man page “Name” section should
 be revised to be conformant to the POSIX man specification
Date: Mon, 29 May 2023 18:56:05 -0600
Hi Sebastian,

    Currently, the "Name" section of the automake man

I just committed a change to set the Name section, as you suggested.
We'll now have (based on the --help message):

aclocal - Generate aclocal.m4 by scanning configure.ac
automake - Generate Makefile.in files for configure from Makefile.am

Thanks again for the report,
Karl




Information forwarded to bug-automake <at> gnu.org:
bug#62854; Package automake. (Tue, 30 May 2023 00:57:03 GMT) Full text and rfc822 format available.

bug archived. Request was from Debbugs Internal Request <help-debbugs <at> gnu.org> to internal_control <at> debbugs.gnu.org. (Tue, 27 Jun 2023 11:24:07 GMT) Full text and rfc822 format available.

This bug report was last modified 275 days ago.

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