[PATCH] Documentation/process/changes: Escape --options to fix Sphinx output

[PATCH] Documentation/process/changes: Escape --options to fix Sphinx output

[Zipeng Zhang]

Add an escape character to resolve the problem of
"--version" being displayed as "–version".

Without such escaping, -- is rendered as – (en dash).

Signed-off-by: Zipeng Zhang <zhangzipeng0@foxmail.com>
---
 Documentation/process/changes.rst | 38 +++++++++++++++----------------
 1 file changed, 19 insertions(+), 19 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/process/changes.rst b/Documentation/process/changes.rst
index ef540865ad22..2d2747e1964a 100644
--- a/Documentation/process/changes.rst
+++ b/Documentation/process/changes.rst
@@ -29,17 +29,17 @@ you probably needn't concern yourself with pcmciautils.
 ====================== ===============  ========================================
         Program        Minimal version       Command to check the version
 ====================== ===============  ========================================
-GNU C                  5.1              gcc --version
-Clang/LLVM (optional)  11.0.0           clang --version
-Rust (optional)        1.62.0           rustc --version
-bindgen (optional)     0.56.0           bindgen --version
-GNU make               3.82             make --version
-bash                   4.2              bash --version
+GNU C                  5.1              gcc \--version
+Clang/LLVM (optional)  11.0.0           clang \--version
+Rust (optional)        1.62.0           rustc \--version
+bindgen (optional)     0.56.0           bindgen \--version
+GNU make               3.82             make \--version
+bash                   4.2              bash \--version
 binutils               2.25             ld -v
-flex                   2.5.35           flex --version
-bison                  2.0              bison --version
-pahole                 1.16             pahole --version
-util-linux             2.10o            fdformat --version
+flex                   2.5.35           flex \--version
+bison                  2.0              bison \--version
+pahole                 1.16             pahole \--version
+util-linux             2.10o            fdformat \--version
 kmod                   13               depmod -V
 e2fsprogs              1.41.4           e2fsck -V
 jfsutils               1.1.3            fsck.jfs -V
@@ -49,17 +49,17 @@ squashfs-tools         4.0              mksquashfs -version
 btrfs-progs            0.18             btrfsck
 pcmciautils            004              pccardctl -V
 quota-tools            3.09             quota -V
-PPP                    2.4.0            pppd --version
-nfs-utils              1.0.5            showmount --version
-procps                 3.2.0            ps --version
-udev                   081              udevd --version
-grub                   0.93             grub --version || grub-install --version
-mcelog                 0.6              mcelog --version
+PPP                    2.4.0            pppd \--version
+nfs-utils              1.0.5            showmount \--version
+procps                 3.2.0            ps \--version
+udev                   081              udevd \--version
+grub                   0.93             grub \--version || grub-install \--version
+mcelog                 0.6              mcelog \--version
 iptables               1.4.2            iptables -V
 openssl & libcrypto    1.0.0            openssl version
-bc                     1.06.95          bc --version
-Sphinx\ [#f1]_         1.7              sphinx-build --version
-cpio                   any              cpio --version
+bc                     1.06.95          bc \--version
+Sphinx\ [#f1]_         1.7              sphinx-build \--version
+cpio                   any              cpio \--version
 ====================== ===============  ========================================
 
 .. [#f1] Sphinx is needed only to build the Kernel documentation
-- 
2.39.2

Re: [PATCH] Documentation/process/changes: Escape --options to fix Sphinx output

[Jonathan Corbet]

Zipeng Zhang <zhangzipeng0@foxmail.com> writes:

> Add an escape character to resolve the problem of
> "--version" being displayed as "–version".
>
> Without such escaping, -- is rendered as – (en dash).
>
> Signed-off-by: Zipeng Zhang <zhangzipeng0@foxmail.com>
> ---
>  Documentation/process/changes.rst | 38 +++++++++++++++----------------
>  1 file changed, 19 insertions(+), 19 deletions(-)

Thanks for working on improving the documentation!

I understand where you are coming from, but this may be one of those
cases where the readability of the plain-text documentation has to win
out.  Those backslashes are ugly and seem unlikely to be maintained
going forward.

The right solution, if it is possible, is to convince Sphinx to stop
messing with "--" altogether.  Substituting em-dashes is of limited
cosmetic value and, I think, is something we could do without.

Thanks,

jon

Re: [PATCH] Documentation/process/changes: Escape --options to fix Sphinx output

[Jonathan Corbet]

Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net> writes:

> The right solution, if it is possible, is to convince Sphinx to stop
> messing with "--" altogether.  Substituting em-dashes is of limited
> cosmetic value and, I think, is something we could do without.

Ah ... I get it now.  We *did* disable this once by disabling the
"html_use_smartypants" option in conf.py.  The Sphinx folks changed the
name of that option in the 1.6.6 release, though, silently turning that
behavior back on.  It only took us five years to notice...  I think I'll
just drop the attached patch into docs-next.

Thanks for bringing this up!

jon

------------8<-----------------
From 995addeb4ab2a2c4beaf8b90a4dc8c1d64735d29 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>
Date: Thu, 20 Apr 2023 09:34:35 -0600
Subject: [PATCH] docs: turn off "smart quotes" in the HTML build

We have long disabled the "html_use_smartypants" option to prevent Sphinx
from mangling "--" sequences (among others).  Unfortunately, Sphinx changed
that option to "smartquotes" in the 1.6.6 release, and seemingly didn't see
fit to warn about the use of the obsolete option, resulting in the
aforementioned mangling returning.  Disable this behavior again and hope
that the option name stays stable for a while.

Reported-by: Zipeng Zhang <zhangzipeng0@foxmail.com>
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/tencent_CB1A298D31FD221496FF657CD7EF406E6605@qq.com
Signed-off-by: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>
---
 Documentation/conf.py | 7 ++++---
 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/conf.py b/Documentation/conf.py
index db16814f182f..3d1f74f76e64 100644
--- a/Documentation/conf.py
+++ b/Documentation/conf.py
@@ -343,9 +343,10 @@ sys.stderr.write("Using %s theme\n" % html_theme)
 # so a file named "default.css" will overwrite the builtin "default.css".
 html_static_path = ['sphinx-static']
 
-# If true, SmartyPants will be used to convert quotes and dashes to
-# typographically correct entities.
-html_use_smartypants = False
+# If true, Docutils "smart quotes will be used to convert quotes and dashes
+# to typographically correct entities.  This will convert "--" to "—",
+# which is not always what we want, so disable it.
+smartquotes = False
 
 # Custom sidebar templates, maps document names to template names.
 # Note that the RTD theme ignores this
-- 
2.40.0

Re: [PATCH] Documentation/process/changes: Escape --options to fix Sphinx output

[Miguel Ojeda]

On Thu, Apr 20, 2023 at 5:40 PM Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net> wrote:
>
> We have long disabled the "html_use_smartypants" option to prevent Sphinx
> from mangling "--" sequences (among others).  Unfortunately, Sphinx changed
> that option to "smartquotes" in the 1.6.6 release, and seemingly didn't see
> fit to warn about the use of the obsolete option, resulting in the
> aforementioned mangling returning.  Disable this behavior again and hope
> that the option name stays stable for a while.

I think it was deprecated in v1.6, and removed in v1.7. There seems to
be code for printing a deprecation warning during v1.6, though.

> +# If true, Docutils "smart quotes will be used to convert quotes and dashes

Missing quote in "smart quotes"? Or maybe Saxon genitive?

Other than that, sounds good to me!

Reviewed-by: Miguel Ojeda <ojeda@kernel.org>

Cheers,
Miguel