Your message dated Sun, 26 Aug 2007 16:07:16 +0100
with message-id <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
and subject line Bug#211497: /usr/bin/apropos: so many "(unknown subject)"
has caused the attached Bug report to be marked as done.
This means that you claim that the problem has been dealt with.
If this is not the case it is now your responsibility to reopen the
Bug report if necessary, and/or fix the problem forthwith.
(NB: If you are a system administrator and have no idea what I am
talking about this indicates a serious mail system misconfiguration
somewhere. Please contact me immediately.)
Debian bug tracking system administrator
(administrator, Debian Bugs database)
--- Begin Message ---
Package: man-db
Version: 2.4.1-13
Severity: wishlist
File: /usr/bin/apropos
Please try
$ apropos . |fgrep '(unknown subject)'|wc -l
92
on your system
Some pages indeed have not much in the NAME field, like man yorick.
So perhaps bugs should be filed against all of them.
However others like man wwwoffle have fine NAME sections. So who knows
what is to blame?
-- System Information:
Debian Release: testing/unstable
Architecture: i386
Kernel: Linux jidanni.org 2.4.21-4-k7 #1 Sun Aug 3 02:34:06 EST 2003 i686
Locale: LANG=zh_TW.Big5, LC_CTYPE=zh_TW.Big5
Versions of packages man-db depends on:
ii bsdmainutils 5.20030320-1 collection of more utilities from
ii debconf 1.3.12 Debian configuration management sy
ii dpkg 1.10.10 Package maintenance system for Deb
ii groff 1.18.1-10 GNU troff text-formatting system
ii groff-base 1.18.1-10 GNU troff text-formatting system (
ii libc6 2.3.2-4 GNU C Library: Shared libraries an
ii libdb3 3.2.9-19 Berkeley v3 Database Libraries [ru
-- debconf information:
man-db/build-database: false
* man-db/rebuild-database: true
* man-db/install-setuid: false
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
On Sat, Sep 20, 2003 at 03:43:24AM +0800, Dan Jacobson wrote:
> >> $ apropos . |fgrep '(unknown subject)'|wc -l
>
> C> Please quote what it is on your system without 'wc -l': much more
> C> useful.
>
> I assumed you could do this for all the debian packages better than me
> on my little modemed fraction of debian, but here goes
I'm afraid that I have much better things to do. Much though your
repeated bug reports on the subject might indicate that you wish
otherwise, my responsibility as man-db maintainer does not include the
Sisyphean task of ensuring that every single package is using it
correctly; that kind of checking falls to the QA team, generally via
tools like Lintian. I only care when evidence is presented that man-db
is parsing manual pages incorrectly.
> $ apropos .|sed -n 's/[ ]\+- (unknown subject)//p'
> add_wchnstr (3ncurses)
Apparently no longer in libncurses5-dev, and not in my database.
> arguments and signals (3pm) [Gtk::objects]
Current upstream lexgrog just altogether fails to parse this, correctly.
Manual page bug (missing name and separator).
> bg5sgml2html (1)
> bg5sgml2latex (1)
> bg5sgml2lyx (1)
> bg5sgml2txt (1)
> bg5sgmlcheck (1)
I can't find these in Debian.
> bkgrndset (3ncurses)
Apparently fixed:
bkgrndset (3ncurses) - curses window complex background manipulation routines
> box_set (3ncurses)
Apparently fixed:
box_set (3ncurses) - create curses borders or lines using complex
characters and renditions
> convert (1)
Apparently fixed:
convert (1) - convert between image formats as well as resize an
image, blur, crop, despeckle, dither, draw on, flip, join, re-sample, and much
more.
> Devel::PPPort (3perl)
Apparently fixed:
Devel::PPPort (3perl) - Perl/Pollution/Portability
> display (1)
Apparently fixed:
display (1) - displays an image or image sequence on any X server.
> Finance::Quote::AEX (3pm)
> Finance::Quote::AEX Obtain quotes from Amsterdam Euronext eXchange (3pm)
> [Finance::Quote::AEX]
> Finance::Quote::BMONesbittBurns (3pm)
> Finance::Quote::BMONesbittBurns Obtain quotes from the BMO NesbittBurns site
> (3pm) [Finance::Quote::BMONesbittBurns]
Current upstream lexgrog just altogether fails to parse these,
correctly. Manual page bugs (missing separator).
> flags (3pm) [Gtk::objects]
See above.
> Font::TTF::AAT::Kern::CompactClassArray (3pm)
> [Font::TTF::Kern::CompactClassArray]
> Font::TTF::AATKern (3pm)
> Font::TTF::Kern::ClassArray (3pm)
> Font::TTF::Kern::CompactClassArray (3pm)
> Font::TTF::Kern::OrderedList (3pm)
> Font::TTF::Kern::StateTable (3pm)
> Font::TTF::Kern::Subtable (3pm)
> Font::TTF::Mort::Chain (3pm)
> Font::TTF::Mort::Contextual (3pm)
> Font::TTF::Mort::Insertion (3pm)
> Font::TTF::Mort::Ligature (3pm)
> Font::TTF::Mort::Noncontextual (3pm)
> Font::TTF::Mort::Rearrangement (3pm)
> Font::TTF::Mort::Subtable (3pm)
Manual page bugs (missing separator and description).
> gbsgml2html (1)
> gbsgml2latex (1)
> gbsgml2lyx (1)
> gbsgml2txt (1)
> gbsgmlcheck (1)
I can't find these in Debian.
> getbkgrnd (3ncurses)
Apparently fixed:
getbkgrnd (3ncurses) - curses window complex background manipulation routines
> Gnome::reference (3pm)
Apparently fixed:
Gnome::reference (3pm) - Reference documentation for the Gnome module
> grconvert (1)
Manual page bug (missing separator and description).
> Gtk enums (3pm) [Gtk::objects]
See above.
> Gtk::Gdk::ImlibImage::reference (3pm)
Apparently fixed:
GdkImlib::reference (3pm) - Reference documentation for the GdkImlib module
> Gtk::GladeXML::reference (3pm)
Apparently fixed:
Glade::reference (3pm) - Reference documentation for the Glade module
> Gtk::objects (3pm)
See above.
> Gtk::reference (3pm)
Apparently fixed:
Gtk::reference (3pm) - Reference documentation for the Gtk module
> hline_set (3ncurses)
Apparently fixed:
hline_set (3ncurses) - create curses borders or lines using complex
characters and renditions
> ImageMagick (1)
Apparently fixed, though there remains a bug in the manual page in that
".SH SYNOPSIS" is missing; I can't change man-db's parsing here without
handling other manual pages incorrectly.
ImageMagick (1) - is a free software suite for the creation,
modification and display of bitmap images.convert input-file [options]
output-file
> innwstr (3ncurses)
Apparently fixed:
innwstr (3ncurses) - get a string of wchar_t characters from a curses window
> mb2a (1)
I can't find this in Debian.
> mimedecode (1)
Manual page bug (missing separator and description).
> montage (1)
Apparently fixed:
montage (1) - create a composite image by combining several separate
images. The images are tiled on the composite image optionall adorned with a
border, frame, image name, and more.
> mvadd_wchnstr (3ncurses)
> mvadd_wchstr (3ncurses)
> mvhline_set (3ncurses)
> mvinnwstr (3ncurses)
> mvinwstr (3ncurses)
> mvvline_set (3ncurses)
> mvwadd_wchnstr (3ncurses)
> mvwadd_wchstr (3ncurses)
> mvwhline_set (3ncurses)
> mvwinnwstr (3ncurses)
> mvwinwstr (3ncurses)
> mvwvline_set (3ncurses)
Apparently fixed:
mvadd_wchnstr (3ncurses) - add an array of complex characters (and
attributes) to a curses window
mvadd_wchstr (3ncurses) - add an array of complex characters (and attributes)
to a curses window
mvhline_set (3ncurses) - create curses borders or lines using complex
characters and renditions
mvinnwstr (3ncurses) - get a string of wchar_t characters from a curses window
mvinwstr (3ncurses) - get a string of wchar_t characters from a curses window
mvvline_set (3ncurses) - create curses borders or lines using complex
characters and renditions
mvwadd_wchnstr (3ncurses) - add an array of complex characters (and
attributes) to a curses window
mvwadd_wchstr (3ncurses) - add an array of complex characters (and
attributes) to a curses window
mvwhline_set (3ncurses) - create curses borders or lines using complex
characters and renditions
mvwinnwstr (3ncurses) - get a string of wchar_t characters from a curses
window
mvwinwstr (3ncurses) - get a string of wchar_t characters from a curses window
mvwvline_set (3ncurses) - create curses borders or lines using complex
characters and renditions
> object types (3pm) [Gtk::objects]
See above.
> Perl for NetWare (1) [perlnetware]
> Perl for WinCE (1) [perlce]
> Perl/Pollution/Portability (3perl) [Devel::PPPort]
> perlce (1)
> perlnetware (1)
Either the manual pages or man-db have been fixed here so that the
description shows up properly rather than as a whatis reference.
> Reference documentation for the GdkImlib module (3pm)
> [Gtk::Gdk::ImlibImage::reference]
> Reference documentation for the Glade module (3pm) [Gtk::GladeXML::reference]
> Reference documentation for the Gnome module (3pm) [Gnome::reference]
> Reference documentation for the Gtk module (3pm) [Gtk::reference]
See above.
> synaptic (8)
Apparently fixed:
synaptic (8) - graphical management of software packages
> tgz (1)
Manual page bug (missing separator and description).
> vline_set (3ncurses)
> wadd_wchnstr (3ncurses)
> wadd_wchstr (3ncurses)
> wbkgrnd (3ncurses)
> wbkgrndset (3ncurses)
> wborder_set (3ncurses)
> wgetbkgrnd (3ncurses)
> whline_set (3ncurses)
> winnwstr (3ncurses)
> winwstr (3ncurses)
> wvline_set (3ncurses)
Apparently fixed:
vline_set (3ncurses) - create curses borders or lines using complex
characters and renditions
wadd_wchnstr (3ncurses) - add an array of complex characters (and attributes)
to a curses window
wadd_wchstr (3ncurses) - add an array of complex characters (and attributes)
to a curses window
wbkgrnd (3ncurses) - curses window complex background manipulation routines
wbkgrndset (3ncurses) - curses window complex background manipulation routines
wborder_set (3ncurses) - create curses borders or lines using complex
characters and renditions
wgetbkgrnd (3ncurses) - curses window complex background manipulation routines
whline_set (3ncurses) - create curses borders or lines using complex
characters and renditions
winnwstr (3ncurses) - get a string of wchar_t characters from a curses window
winwstr (3ncurses) - get a string of wchar_t characters from a curses window
wvline_set (3ncurses) - create curses borders or lines using complex
characters and renditions
> wwwoffle (1)
> wwwoffle.conf (5)
> wwwoffled (8)
Apparently fixed:
wwwoffle (1) - A program to control the World Wide Web Offline
Explorer.
wwwoffle.conf (5) - The configuration file for the proxy server for the
World Wide Web Offline Explorer.
wwwoffled (8) - A proxy server for the World Wide Web Offline Explorer.
> xminicom (1)
Manual page bug (missing separator and description).
> zh-sgmltools (1)
I can't find this in Debian; I assume it was removed.
> C> Have a look through the "(unknown subject)" pages on your system. If
> C> there's no "-" in the NAME section, or if there's no NAME section at all
> C> (sometimes people try to call it something else, which isn't allowed),
> C> then the page is buggy and should be fixed to include a description.
> C> Send me a list of those that remain and I'll have a look through them,
> C> telling you for each one whether it's the fault of the page or the fault
> C> of mandb.
>
> I looked at one, xminicom, and Name was just Name.
> Perhaps send me a script to check all this.
If I had one that was better than lexgrog(1) (the same backend as used
by the rest of man-db), then I would simply incorporate the same logic
into man-db itself. Is this not obvious? You are asking for a way to
check whether a program is behaving correctly; writing another program
is not the answer.
> Better yet, as world champion debian bug reporter, don't encourage me
> to report even more, lest I enrage even more folks,
Your social interaction with the Debian bug reporting system is your own
concern, unless I need to get involved with my [EMAIL PROTECTED] hat on. It is
not remotely my problem what you choose to do. You are (I assume) a
grown adult and need to take responsibility for your own actions rather
than trying to palm it off on me. The reason you often enrage people is
because you report many trivial issues with little evidence of
consideration, and the effort required to deal with them often exceeds
the benefit. Some of your bug reports are useful (I've made a few
enhancements to man-db recently that were your idea, for which I'm
grateful); I just wish there were more of the useful ones and fewer of
the whitespace quibbles, bulk reports of many issues at once, and the
like!
The format required by man-db of the NAME section is documented in
lexgrog(1). Some considerable amount of variation from what is
documented there is tolerated because that's necessary to do a good job
of parsing manual pages; but, if it's obvious that the name, the
separator, or the description are just missing, then that is a bug in
the manual page. The things that are legitimate bugs in man-db are
typically those where some extra groff formatting is stuffed in there
that man-db doesn't recognise.
> and instead centralize this job at your end --- anyways you need to
> make a script that makes an appropriate bug report and that scans all
> the man pages on all of debian.
I need to do no such thing, and as explained above it would make no
sense to do so in any case. Lintian has included a check for much of
this kind of thing for some time (implemented by running lexgrog),
although of course package maintainers may not necessarily have fixed
every Lintian warning.
In short, not one of the issues you report here requires any changes in
man-db, so I am closing this bug (with apologies for the lateness, but
that's what happens when you report so many possible issues at once; it
takes a while to get round to going through all of them). I will
summarily close any future bug reports from you that simply list lots of
manual pages whose descriptions have not been parsed correctly. If you
want me to spend time going through bulky issues like this, then you
need to do some work yourself rather than just dumping the output of
shell pipelines at me.
Regards,
--
Colin Watson [EMAIL PROTECTED]
--- End Message ---
