Re: doc: fix date(1) synopses etc

[Bruno Haible via GNU coreutils General Discussion]

> I'm starting a new CI run.

The CI run succeeded on all platforms.

Re: doc: fix date(1) synopses etc

[Bruno Haible via GNU coreutils General Discussion]

Collin Funk wrote:
> Thanks, I pushed the attached patch to add one.

Thanks. I'm starting a new CI run.

Re: doc: fix date(1) synopses etc

[Collin Funk]

Hi Bruno,

Bruno Haible via GNU coreutils General Discussion 
writes:

> "make distcheck" still fails. This time the error is:
>
> man/date.x
> sc_man_check_x_copyright: exceeding file size/line count limit - please add a 
> copyright note
> make[3]: *** [cfg.mk:406: sc_man_check_x_copyright] Error 1
> make[3]: Leaving directory '/home/runner/work/ci-check/ci-check/coreutils'
> make[2]: *** [dist-check.mk:108: my-distcheck] Error 2
> make[2]: Leaving directory '/home/runner/work/ci-check/ci-check/coreutils'
> make[1]: *** [Makefile:26862: distcheck-hook] Error 2
> make[1]: Leaving directory '/home/runner/work/ci-check/ci-check/coreutils'
> make: *** [Makefile:24696: distcheck] Error 1
>
> Probably you need to add a copyright notice, like in man/chmod.x or man/env.x.

Thanks, I pushed the attached patch to add one.

Here is how I determined the start date for the copyright header:

   $ git log --diff-filter=A --follow --format=%aI man/date.x
   1998-09-12T20:12:55Z

Collin

>From 6add5f97ec6026603729be95ea29742141dcc5fa Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
Message-ID: <6add5f97ec6026603729be95ea29742141dcc5fa.1769482342.git.collin.fu...@gmail.com>
From: Collin Funk 
Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2026 18:47:17 -0800
Subject: [PATCH] maint: avoid syntax-check failure

* man/date.x: Add a copyright header to fix sc_copyright_check.
Reported by Bruno Haible.
---
 man/date.x | 5 +
 1 file changed, 5 insertions(+)

diff --git a/man/date.x b/man/date.x
index 46fcfe978..c0bdc41c6 100644
--- a/man/date.x
+++ b/man/date.x
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+'\" Copyright (C) 1998-2026 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+'\"
+'\" This is free software.  You may redistribute copies of it under the terms
+'\" of the GNU General Public License .
+'\" There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
 [NAME]
 date \- print or set the system date and time
 [SYNOPSIS]
-- 
2.52.0

Re: doc: fix date(1) synopses etc

[Bruno Haible via GNU coreutils General Discussion]

Hi Paul,
> > maint.mk: line(s) with more than 80 characters; reindent
> 
> Thanks, I installed the attached.

"make distcheck" still fails. This time the error is:

man/date.x
sc_man_check_x_copyright: exceeding file size/line count limit - please add a 
copyright note
make[3]: *** [cfg.mk:406: sc_man_check_x_copyright] Error 1
make[3]: Leaving directory '/home/runner/work/ci-check/ci-check/coreutils'
make[2]: *** [dist-check.mk:108: my-distcheck] Error 2
make[2]: Leaving directory '/home/runner/work/ci-check/ci-check/coreutils'
make[1]: *** [Makefile:26862: distcheck-hook] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory '/home/runner/work/ci-check/ci-check/coreutils'
make: *** [Makefile:24696: distcheck] Error 1

Probably you need to add a copyright notice, like in man/chmod.x or man/env.x.

Re: doc: fix date(1) synopses etc

[Paul Eggert]

On 1/26/26 13:31, Bruno Haible wrote:

maint.mk: line(s) with more than 80 characters; reindent


Thanks, I installed the attached.From c9f943b2e3f209af98253ce37f27573eee0cd6ff Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Paul Eggert 
Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2026 14:59:55 -0800
Subject: [PATCH] doc: fit in 80 columns

---
 man/date.x | 3 ++-
 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/man/date.x b/man/date.x
index 991facd5f..46fcfe978 100644
--- a/man/date.x
+++ b/man/date.x
@@ -5,7 +5,8 @@ date \- print or set the system date and time
 [\fI\,OPTION\/\fR]... [\fB+\fR\fI\,FORMAT\/\fR]
 .br
 .B date
-[\fI\,OPTION\/\fR]... \fIMMDDhhmm\/\fR[[\fI\,CC\/\fR]\fI\,YY\/\fR][\fB.\fI\,ss\/\fR]
+[\fI\,OPTION\/\fR]... \
+\fIMMDDhhmm\/\fR[[\fI\,CC\/\fR]\fI\,YY\/\fR][\fB.\fI\,ss\/\fR]
 [DESCRIPTION]
 .\" Add any additional description here
 [DATE STRING]
-- 
2.52.0

Re: doc: fix date(1) synopses etc

[G. Branden Robinson]

At 2026-01-26T22:31:11+0100, Bruno Haible via GNU coreutils General Discussion 
wrote:
> Your recent commit to man/date.x causes a "make distcheck" failure.
> Reported by the CI. Namely:
> 
> man/date.x:8:[\fI\,OPTION\/\fR]... 
> \fIMMDDhhmm\/\fR[[\fI\,CC\/\fR]\fI\,YY\/\fR][\fB.\fI\,ss\/\fR]
> maint.mk: line(s) with more than 80 characters; reindent
[...]
> Possibly someone needs to customize the 'long_lines' syntax-check.

That is a remarkably ugly way to write *roff, and it doesn't have to be.

If you guys are interested in writing more attractive man(7) source,
consider me (and the groff_man_style(7) man page) a resource.

But to get over the immediate hump, bear in mind that you can use input
line continuation: backslash-newline.

groff_man_style(7):
   Portability
...
   \newline
  Join the next input line to the current one.  Except for
  the update of the input line counter (used for diagnostic
  messages and related purposes), a series of lines ending
  in backslash‐newline appears to groff as a single input
  line.  Use this escape sequence to split excessively long
  input lines for document maintenance.

I'll also point out that:

1.  `\,` and `\/` are GNU troff extensions, and not portable to AT&T
troff, which matters if coreutils is portable to System V Unix
troff.  (This is the case for Solaris 10.)

2.  Ellipses are best spelled with `\|` escape sequences between their
dots.  This escape sequence _is_ portable.

groff_man_style(7):
   Portability
...
  \| Thin space (one‐sixth em on typesetters, zero‐width on
  terminals); a non‐breaking space.  Used primarily in
  ellipses (“.\|.\|.”)  to space the dots more pleasantly on
  typesetting devices like dvi, pdf, and ps.

3.  If you rewrite synopses like the foregoing using font selection
macros rather than font selection escape sequences, you will get the
italic corrections of `\/` and `\,` for free when the troff
implementation on the host system is groff.  You can be portable
_and_ enjoy better typesetting.

Regards,
Branden


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Re: doc: fix date(1) synopses etc

[Bruno Haible via GNU coreutils General Discussion]

Hi Paul,

Your recent commit to man/date.x causes a "make distcheck" failure.
Reported by the CI. Namely:

man/date.x:8:[\fI\,OPTION\/\fR]... 
\fIMMDDhhmm\/\fR[[\fI\,CC\/\fR]\fI\,YY\/\fR][\fB.\fI\,ss\/\fR]
maint.mk: line(s) with more than 80 characters; reindent
make[3]: *** [cfg.mk:345: sc_long_lines] Error 1
make[3]: Leaving directory '/home/runner/work/ci-check/ci-check/coreutils'
make[2]: *** [dist-check.mk:108: my-distcheck] Error 2
make[2]: Leaving directory '/home/runner/work/ci-check/ci-check/coreutils'
make[1]: *** [Makefile:26862: distcheck-hook] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory '/home/runner/work/ci-check/ci-check/coreutils'
make: *** [Makefile:24696: distcheck] Error 1

Possibly someone needs to customize the 'long_lines' syntax-check.

Bruno