From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.0 (2014-02-07) on aws-us-west-2-korg-lkml-1.web.codeaurora.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.6 required=3.0 tests=DKIM_SIGNED,DKIM_VALID, DKIM_VALID_AU,FREEMAIL_FORGED_FROMDOMAIN,FREEMAIL_FROM, HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS,MAILING_LIST_MULTI,SPF_HELO_NONE,SPF_PASS autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.0 Received: from mail.kernel.org (mail.kernel.org [198.145.29.99]) by smtp.lore.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 13D1EC433DF for ; Mon, 18 May 2020 10:36:15 +0000 (UTC) Received: from vger.kernel.org (vger.kernel.org [23.128.96.18]) by mail.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E195020787 for ; Mon, 18 May 2020 10:36:14 +0000 (UTC) Authentication-Results: mail.kernel.org; dkim=pass (2048-bit key) header.d=gmail.com header.i=@gmail.com header.b="Endt0lhn" Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1726283AbgERKgO (ORCPT ); Mon, 18 May 2020 06:36:14 -0400 Received: from lindbergh.monkeyblade.net ([23.128.96.19]:49432 "EHLO lindbergh.monkeyblade.net" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1726127AbgERKgO (ORCPT ); Mon, 18 May 2020 06:36:14 -0400 Received: from mail-ej1-x642.google.com (mail-ej1-x642.google.com [IPv6:2a00:1450:4864:20::642]) by lindbergh.monkeyblade.net (Postfix) with ESMTPS id ED78CC05BD09 for ; Mon, 18 May 2020 03:36:13 -0700 (PDT) Received: by mail-ej1-x642.google.com with SMTP id s21so8427489ejd.2 for ; Mon, 18 May 2020 03:36:13 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20161025; h=mime-version:references:in-reply-to:reply-to:from:date:message-id :subject:to:cc; bh=qZTMAdTv0Tp3VylX7vE0ylpdWlExkiNN4FzbJyYQ64Q=; b=Endt0lhn6+C63vHWmiJ3Fwl6q3yrauIHkhHQw61eAd3Vy9CqRjjcabOGv9zkBs0o/2 WzK2dKPGszLuDt5x2JsfnD9J7e0aP9Ulzb8/3P3nzYoWjYoUBAe8oz8kAJFv4Efe/FmW cUaDG1kRp4yL8z5v3jw9c70LAgWDPbVQOOXgatFdnjUXpvlXV+hGCRCyTg5BhZJLz4C9 rvmrJQQNCyLOAGDG/8vIViKgEu/lgIcIajQixlr7TPP5rDAvt86KyWjciTl4vWnOspdu ypgZAS/thgnnRY8Ss8z7vMwG9KrS99yrxNAlAu9FYbTgqYCVn4taaAmE63sSSsTPyK8+ HiGw== X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=1e100.net; s=20161025; h=x-gm-message-state:mime-version:references:in-reply-to:reply-to :from:date:message-id:subject:to:cc; bh=qZTMAdTv0Tp3VylX7vE0ylpdWlExkiNN4FzbJyYQ64Q=; b=pyQaf5iaJueczQYyvrGpRxS3lq8EaZkHbqOGVFs5pYKFim4gaYICFlljHZw5t61Hhu DIFeUrn+nf3iOg1qtjiJeDtJeuSSer8g/bcPcU2YLnJ5aCYWVmOPT8qRStoESa8kvToE XgmeKI0sy4KtSCrJfRA7C/74hKWQu0aBgviil6FB42je1ObSbx3EkttrCF1tjBodkghQ tPFh7Vi52ZAzGpIOX0ydbOWTVeJs+wP0YQ71CQgfnhbNdluEixDpwyAAYgDFQlXINKb9 p0uD2ieMUPVK2Us28qfn0PhuXks+A00JxRIvvk1Kys26FZi4jtiOhdl8NCZHkoFmOm/h rOzQ== X-Gm-Message-State: AOAM532sab+AfAFH6t891yyM8Nx2TR7YVsxz724LiUSo4lAP7njJokNz MogRQdHUiG2LdTRmBT1BCukrshipGOYFXSyIs+Q= X-Google-Smtp-Source: ABdhPJyZSqn4rwa1QHpsjGRR9MS99Hc3iSlGTcR2AddB1bkPF4h1Hz1OVMbSq2KgpT2fqoys3ORTplwNtyLxCp61Lvc= X-Received: by 2002:a17:906:f212:: with SMTP id gt18mr12193007ejb.150.1589798172413; Mon, 18 May 2020 03:36:12 -0700 (PDT) MIME-Version: 1.0 References: <4cb60e3f-0226-e7f0-0052-08a48ea9f425@gmail.com> <20200518082814.pq22ph732eiebacz@ws.net.home> In-Reply-To: <20200518082814.pq22ph732eiebacz@ws.net.home> Reply-To: mtk.manpages@gmail.com From: "Michael Kerrisk (man-pages)" Date: Mon, 18 May 2020 12:36:01 +0200 Message-ID: Subject: Re: Consistency fixes in util-linux man pages To: Karel Zak Cc: util-linux@vger.kernel.org, Helge Kreutzmann Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Sender: util-linux-owner@vger.kernel.org Precedence: bulk List-ID: X-Mailing-List: util-linux@vger.kernel.org Hello Karel, On Mon, 18 May 2020 at 10:28, Karel Zak wrote: > > On Sat, May 16, 2020 at 10:24:59AM +0200, Michael Kerrisk (man-pages) wrote: > > Hello Karel, > > > > Perhaps a little inspired by Helge's recent reports, I wonder about > > submitting some wide-ranging patches to improve consistency across > > the util-linux manual pages. > > > > As an example, there's quite a bit of variation in the order of > > .SH sections in the manual pages (e.g., in the placement of the SEE > > ALSO section). The pages would be more readable if the ordering was > > more consistent. > > > > Would you entertain patches that made wide-ranging changes > > that fixed that sort of thing (without changing page content? > > No problem, Ok. > but it would be nice to somehow document that is expected > to avoid future changes in an opposite way. For example add some info > to Documentation/howto-man-page.txt. Agreed. For man-pages, I created man-pags(7) to document those expectations. At least some of that should be applicable in othe pojects, if they want. > BTW, I'm not sure about man pages as ideal format to maintain > documentation (because it's mostly about formatting than about > content). I think about AsciiDoc or so in future. What do you think > about this idea? I'm not too knowledgeable in AsciiDc, but my impression is that it's too limited in terms of its formatting opinions. If I did move man-pages, the most likely candidate would probably be Sphinx, as is nowadays used in the kernel docs. But, that would require converting a thousand pages or so, and I have not so far had the stomach for that. Of course, you have a rather smaller set of pages to deal with, so a conversion step sould be more easily entertained. Thanks, Michael -- Michael Kerrisk Linux man-pages maintainer; http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/ Linux/UNIX System Programming Training: http://man7.org/training/