Your message dated Sun, 19 Jan 2020 13:20:41 +0100
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and subject line Re: Mention what is the new output format
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regarding Mention what is the new output format
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--- Begin Message ---
Package: rfkill
Version: 2.34-0.1
Severity: minor
File: /usr/share/man/man8/rfkill.8.gz
We read
The command "list" output format is deprecated and maintained for
backward compatibility only. The new output format is the default
when no command is specified or when the option --output is used.
OK, but shouldn't the man page mention what the "new output format" is?
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
Hello,
On Wed, Oct 30, 2019 at 03:38:22AM +0800, 積丹尼 Dan Jacobson wrote:
> Package: rfkill
> Version: 2.34-0.1
> Severity: minor
> File: /usr/share/man/man8/rfkill.8.gz
>
> We read
>
> The command "list" output format is deprecated and maintained for
> backward compatibility only. The new output format is the default
> when no command is specified or when the option --output is used.
For reference, here are an example:
# old format
$ sudo rfkill list
0: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
1: hci0: Bluetooth
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
# new format
$ sudo rfkill
[sudo] password for ah:
ID TYPE DEVICE SOFT HARD
0 wlan phy0 unblocked unblocked
1 bluetooth hci0 unblocked unblocked
# new format output all
$ sudo rfkill --output-all
ID TYPE DEVICE TYPE-DESC SOFT HARD
0 wlan phy0 Wireless LAN unblocked unblocked
1 bluetooth hci0 Bluetooth unblocked unblocked
>
> OK, but shouldn't the man page mention what the "new output format" is?
>
As can be seen by the examples above, the new format is the util-linux
stardard output format based on "(lib)smartcols". The output format is
configurable via standard smartcols mechanism via the '--output'
command line flag, in the same way as other commands implemented
in util-linux suite.
The output is a table including headings which describes the data
shown (unless the --noheadings options is given ofcourse).
I thus consider the output to be 'self-documenting'.
In the sense that manpages should be short and concise I don't think
duplicating information about how libsmartcols works for every
command in the util-linux suite is suitable. Neither is duplicating
information that can be found in the '--output' description.
My conclusion is thus that a suitable short description would be
something that points towards reading up about --output like the
existing one is with:
"The new output format is the default when no command is specified or
when the option --output is used."
And by the way, to figure out which options you can pass to --output
you might want to see and try the --output-all argument.
Regards,
Andreas Henriksson
--- End Message ---
