Hi Ted, Ted Unangst wrote on Sat, Dec 22, 2018 at 12:13:35PM -0500: > Ingo Schwarze wrote:
>> What about making -O style= *compulsory* unless "option style" is >> defined in man.conf(5)? Just error out when no style sheet is >> configured? That can be combined with inlining the full set of >> rules when -O style=inline is explicitly specified. > This seems unnecessarily user hostile. Like we have failed to reach a > decision, so push it to the user. But at times I do value explicit options > over implicit defaults, so it's not without merit. I think it will annoy me, That objection is not without merit. Rapha@ also said he likes that "mandoc -T html" just works. And indeed, making -O style= compulsory would break simple-minded use cases like $ MANPAGER="lynx -force_html" man -T html pledge Yes, i have occusionally heard that some people like and use the colourful output resulting from that (even though i do not). Sure, you can still configure "option style" in man.conf(5), but it would no longer work out of the box, and this is an example of a use case that doesn't necessarily need a sophisticated style sheet. > but if I can't convince you my preferred default is best, then maybe this is > the way to go. Nobody will be surprised or disappointed with the output at > least. Hum. Maybe let's just keep the current situation for now, until somebody manages to come up with a suggestion that doesn't have blatant downsides: * -O style=mandoc.css is really only adequate for a small subset of local viewing and webserver purposes and not suited to any serious installation. * -O style=/mandoc.css is really only adequate for a subset of webserver installations and quite unhelpful for local viewing. * Nobody was enthusiastic about /usr/share/misc/mandoc.css, and it's only useful for local viewing anyway - and with unveil(2), maybe not even that. * A full set of inline rules by default hides the most typical user error and is not a sane default for webserver installation at all. * Making -O style= compulsory reduces the risk a lot that bad configurations get deployed into production without thinking, but it breaks the simplest use cases. The status quo looks like some kind of a compromise - not ideal for any of the use cases, but not totally breaking any of them, either. Yours, Ingo
