Package: adduser
Version: 3.154
Severity: minor
Tags: patch
Dear Maintainer,
* What led up to the situation?
Checking for defects with a new version
test-[g|n]roff -mandoc -t -K utf8 -rF0 -rHY=0 -rCHECKSTYLE=0 -ww -z < "man page"
[Use
grep -n -e ' $' -e '\\~$' -e ' \\f.$' -e ' \\"' <file>
to find (most) trailing spaces.]
["test-groff" is a script in the repository for "groff"; is not shipped]
(local copy and "troff" slightly changed by me).
[The fate of "test-nroff" was decided in groff bug #55941.]
* What was the outcome of this action?
Output from "test-groff -mandoc -t -K utf8 -rF0 -rHY=0 -rCHECKSTYLE=0 -ww -z ":
an.tmac:<stdin>:796: misuse, warning: .BR is for at least 2 arguments, got 1
Use macro '.B' for one argument or split the argument.
* What outcome did you expect instead?
No output (no warnings).
-.-
General remarks and further material, if a diff-file exist, are in the
attachments.
-- System Information:
Debian Release: forky/sid
APT prefers testing
APT policy: (500, 'testing')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
Kernel: Linux 6.17.13+deb14-amd64 (SMP w/2 CPU threads; PREEMPT)
Locale: LANG=is_IS.iso88591, LC_CTYPE=is_IS.iso88591 (charmap=ISO-8859-1),
LANGUAGE not set
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /usr/bin/dash
Init: sysvinit (via /sbin/init)
Versions of packages adduser depends on:
ii passwd 1:4.18.0-2
adduser recommends no packages.
Versions of packages adduser suggests:
ii cron 3.0pl1-205
ii liblocale-gettext-perl 1.07-7+b1
ii perl 5.40.1-7
pn quota <none>
-- no debconf information
Input file is adduser.8
Output from "mandoc -T lint adduser.8": (shortened list)
1 WARNING: missing date, using "": TH
-.-.
Output from
test-nroff -mandoc -t -ww -z adduser.8: (shortened list)
1 Use macro '.B' for one argument or split the argument.
1 .BR is for at least 2 arguments, got 1
-.-.
Input file is adduser.8
Reduce space between words.
adduser.8:470:.BI \-\-uid " ID"
adduser.8:480:.BI \-\-stdoutmsglevel " prio"
adduser.8:482:.BI \-\-stderrmsglevel " prio"
adduser.8:484:.BI \-\-logmsglevel " prio"
-.-.
Wrong distance (not two spaces) 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"
687:cannot be found. Check your installation and dependencies.
-.-.
Split a punctuation from a single argument, if a two-font macro is meant.
345:.B \-\-stdoutmsglevel=debug.
452:.B \-\-stdoutmsglevel=warn.
477:.B \-\-stdoutmsglevel=info.
-.-.
Change a HYPHEN-MINUS (code 0x55, 2D) to a dash
(\-, minus) if it matches "[[:alph:]]-[[:alpha:]]" in the name of an
option).
Facilitates the copy and paste of
a) an option in UTF-8 text
b) web addresses (URL).
Is not needed in ordinary words like "mother-in-law", that are not
copied and pasted to a command line (which needs ASCII code)
796:.BR /usr/share/doc/base-passwd/users-and-groups.html
-.-.
Only one space character is after a possible end of sentence
(after a punctuation, that can end a sentence).
adduser.8:687:cannot be found. Check your installation and dependencies.
-.-.
Change comment lines of type '.\" ====' (and an empty '.\"' line) to
a single period, as they contain no information and waste work each time
they are processed.
13:.\"
-.-.
Output from "test-groff -mandoc -t -K utf8 -rF0 -rHY=0 -rCHECKSTYLE=0 -ww -z ":
an.tmac:<stdin>:796: misuse, warning: .BR is for at least 2 arguments, got 1
Use macro '.B' for one argument or split the argument.
-.-
Generally:
Split (sometimes) lines after a punctuation mark; before a conjunction.
--- adduser.8 2026-01-06 18:37:32.082429678 +0000
+++ adduser.8.new 2026-01-06 18:47:15.730948014 +0000
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
.\" 2016 Helge Kreutzmann <[email protected]>
.\" 2021-2022 Jason Franklin <[email protected]>
.\" 2022 Matt Barry <[email protected]>
-.\"
+.
.\" This is free software; see the GNU General Public License version
.\" 2 or later for copying conditions. There is NO warranty.
.TH ADDUSER 8 "" "Debian GNU/Linux"
@@ -342,7 +342,7 @@ Multiple \fB\-\-conf\fR options can be g
.TP
.B \-\-debug
Synonymous to
-.B \-\-stdoutmsglevel=debug.
+.BR \-\-stdoutmsglevel=debug .
Deprecated.
.TP
.B \-\-disabled\-login
@@ -449,7 +449,7 @@ Valid modes: \fBadduser\fP, \fBadduser \
.TP
.B \-\-quiet
Synonymous to
-.B \-\-stdoutmsglevel=warn.
+.BR \-\-stdoutmsglevel=warn .
Deprecated.
.TP
.BI \-\-shell " shell"
@@ -467,21 +467,21 @@ With this option, \fBadduser\fP creates
and changes its mode respectively.
Valid modes: \fBadduser\fP, \fBaddgroup\fP.
.TP
-.BI \-\-uid " ID"
+.BI \-\-uid " ID"
Force the new userid to be the given number.
\fBadduser\fP will fail if the userid is already taken.
Valid modes: \fBadduser\fP, \fBadduser \-\-system\fP.
.TP
.B \-\-verbose
Synonymous to
-.B \-\-stdoutmsglevel=info.
+.BR \-\-stdoutmsglevel=info .
Deprecated.
.TP
-.BI \-\-stdoutmsglevel " prio"
+.BI \-\-stdoutmsglevel " prio"
.TQ
-.BI \-\-stderrmsglevel " prio"
+.BI \-\-stderrmsglevel " prio"
.TQ
-.BI \-\-logmsglevel " prio"
+.BI \-\-logmsglevel " prio"
Minimum priority for messages logged to syslog/journal and the console,
respectively.
Values are
@@ -684,7 +684,7 @@ Error accessing auxiliary files.
.TP
.B 81
An executable that is needed by \fBadduser\fP or \fBdeluser\fP
-cannot be found. Check your installation and dependencies.
+cannot be found. Check your installation and dependencies.
.TP
.B 82
Executing an external command returned some unexpected error.
@@ -793,7 +793,7 @@ to file bugs against the \fBadduser\fP p
.BR groupadd (8),
.BR useradd (8),
.BR usermod (8),
-.BR /usr/share/doc/base-passwd/users-and-groups.html
+.B /usr/share/doc/base\-passwd/users\-and\-groups.html
on any Debian system,
Debian Policy 9.2.2,
RFC8264 "PRECIS Framework: Preparation, Enforcement, and Comparison of
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
-.-
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)
-.-
