Bug 81761

Summary: Manuals: Some typesetting improvements
Product: poppler Reporter: bjarniig
Component: utilsAssignee: poppler-bugs <poppler-bugs>
Status: RESOLVED INVALID QA Contact:
Severity: minor    
Priority: medium CC: bjarniig
Version: unspecified   
Hardware: Other   
OS: Linux (All)   
Whiteboard:
i915 platform: i915 features:
Attachments: Patches for manuals

Description bjarniig 2014-07-25 20:11:49 UTC
Created attachment 103471 [details]
Patches for manuals

Poppler-utils
Version: 0.26.2

  The patches are in the attachment.

  Main changes in each file:

pdfdetach.1

Change - to \(en (en-dash) for a numeric range.

Change name of macros for two fonts (e.g., BR and IR) to one letter,
if there is only one argument.

Change - to \- if it means a minus sign

####

pdffonts.1

Change - to \(en (en-dash) for a numeric range.

Change two hyphen-minuses to an em-dash (\[em]).  An en-dash is usually
surrounded by a space, while an em-dash is used without spaces.  "man"
(1 byte characters) transforms an en-dash (\[en]) to one hyphen-minus, and an
em-dash to two hyphen-minuses without considering the space around it.

Change name of macros for two fonts (e.g., BR and IR) to one letter,
if there is only one argument.

Change - to \- if it means a minus sign

####

pdfimages.1

Split lines longer than 75[1] characters into two or more lines, each
at most 72 (8x(10-1)) characters long.
[1] man-pages(7)

The space between sentences in "roff" is two spaces.
Better is to begin each sentence on a new line[1] to avoid different
writers' conventions.
[1] man-pages(7)

Add command .tr '\(aq at the top of the source file to use only
straight single quotes (nondirectional ones)[1].
[1] man-pages(7)

Change - to \(en (en-dash) for a numeric range.

Change a minus sign (\-) in(side) names to a hyphen-minus (-) .  Names or
(compound) words are not written with a minus sign (which is an
operator).

Change (or include a "FIXME" paragraph about) misused SI (metric)
numeric prefixes (or names) to the binary ones, like Ki (kibi), Mi
(mebi), Gi (gibi), or Ti (tebi), if indicated.  If the metric prefixes
are correct, add the definitions or an explanation to avoid
misunderstanding.

Protect a full stop (.) with \&, if
 a) it can be transported to the first column, when the line is
reformatted (split).
 b) it is the last part of an abbreviation that does not end a
sentence.

Correct space around a semicolon or a comma.

Change name of macros for two fonts (e.g., BR and IR) to one letter,
if there is only one argument.

Change - to \- if it means a minus sign

#####

pdfinfo.1

The space between sentences in "roff" is two spaces.
Better is to begin each sentence on a new line[1] to avoid different
writers' conventions.
[1] man-pages(7)

Change \' (acute) to ', if used as a quote.

Add command .tr '\(aq at the top of the source file to use only
straight single quotes (nondirectional ones)[1].
[1] man-pages(7)

Change - to \(en (en-dash) for a numeric range.

Protect a full stop (.) with \&, if
 a) it can be transported to the first column, when the line is
reformatted (split).
 b) it is the last part of an abbreviation that does not end a
sentence.

Change - to \- if it means a minus sign

####

pdfseparate.1

Split lines longer than 75[1] characters into two or more lines, each
at most 72 (8x(10-1)) characters long.
[1] man-pages(7)

The space between sentences in "roff" is two spaces.
Better is to begin each sentence on a new line[1] to avoid different
writers' conventions.
[1] man-pages(7)

Change - to \(en (en-dash) for a numeric range.

Protect a full stop (.) with \&, if
 a) it can be transported to the first column, when the line is
reformatted (split).
 b) it is the last part of an abbreviation that does not end a
sentence.

Correct space around a semicolon or a comma.

Change - to \- if it means a minus sign

####

pdftocairo.1

Split lines longer than 75[1] characters into two or more lines, each
at most 72 (8x(10-1)) characters long.
[1] man-pages(7)

The space between sentences in "roff" is two spaces.
Better is to begin each sentence on a new line[1] to avoid different
writers' conventions.
[1] man-pages(7)

Change - to \(en (en-dash) for a numeric range.

Protect a full stop (.) with \&, if
 a) it can be transported to the first column, when the line is
reformatted (split).
 b) it is the last part of an abbreviation that does not end a
sentence.

Correct space around a semicolon or a comma.

Change name of macros for two fonts (e.g., BR and IR) to one letter,
if there is only one argument.

Change - to \- if it means a minus sign


Empty (or only spaces) lines cause a break.  Start such lines with
.\" (or remove them).

Use the word (in)valid instead of (il)legal.

####

pdftohtml.1

Split lines longer than 75[1] characters into two or more lines, each
at most 72 (8x(10-1)) characters long.
[1] man-pages(7)

Remove space at end of lines to simplify automatic tests to improve
typesetting.

The space between sentences in "roff" is two spaces.
Better is to begin each sentence on a new line[1] to avoid different
writers' conventions.
[1] man-pages(7)

Change - to \(en (en-dash) for a numeric range.

Protect a full stop (.) with \&, if
 a) it can be transported to the first column, when the line is
reformatted (split).
 b) it is the last part of an abbreviation that does not end a
sentence.

Change - to \- if it means a minus sign

Empty (or only spaces) lines cause a break.  Start such lines with
.\" (or remove them).

####

pdftoppm.1

Remove space at end of lines to simplify automatic tests to
improve typesetting.

The space between sentences in "roff" is two spaces.
Better is to begin each sentence on a new line[1] to avoid different
writers' conventions.
[1] man-pages(7)

Change - to \(en (en-dash) for a numeric range.

Protect a full stop (.) with \&, if
 a) it can be transported to the first column, when the line is
reformatted (split).
 b) it is the last part of an abbreviation that does not end a
sentence.

Correct space around a semicolon or a comma.

Change name of macros for two fonts (e.g., BR and IR) to one letter,
if there is only one argument.

Change - to \- if it means a minus sign

####

pdftops.1

Split lines longer than 75[1] characters into two or more lines, each
at most 72 (8x(10-1)) characters long.
[1] man-pages(7)

The space between sentences in "roff" is two spaces.
Better is to begin each sentence on a new line[1] to avoid different
writers' conventions.
[1] man-pages(7)

Change \' (acute) to ', if used as a quote.

Change - to \(en (en-dash) for a numeric range.

Protect a full stop (.) with \&, if
 a) it can be transported to the first column, when the line is
reformatted (split).
 b) it is the last part of an abbreviation that does not end a
sentence.

Correct space around a semicolon or a comma.

Change name of macros for two fonts (e.g., BR and IR) to one letter,
if there is only one argument.

Change - to \- if it means a minus sign

Use the word (in)valid instead of (il)legal.

####

pdftotext.1

Remove space at end of lines to simplify automatic tests to
improve typesetting.

The space between sentences in "roff" is two spaces.
Better is to begin each sentence on a new line[1] to avoid different
writers' conventions.
[1] man-pages(7)

Change \' (acute) to ', if used as a quote.

Add command .tr '\(aq at the top of the source file to use only
straight single quotes (nondirectional ones)[1].
[1] man-pages(7)

Change - to \(en (en-dash) for a numeric range.

Protect a full stop (.) with \&, if
 a) it can be transported to the first column, when the line is
reformatted (split).
 b) it is the last part of an abbreviation that does not end a
sentence.

Correct space around a semicolon or a comma.

Change - to \- if it means a minus sign

####

pdfunite.1

Split lines longer than 75[1] characters into two or more lines, each
at most 72 (8x(10-1)) characters long.
[1] man-pages(7)

Change - to \(en (en-dash) for a numeric range.

Change - to \- if it means a minus sign
(END)
Comment 1 Albert Astals Cid 2014-08-12 15:19:05 UTC
Hmmm, quick question, you split some lines, e.g.

 The default output format is PBM (for monochrome images) or PPM for
non-monochrome.
The \-png or \-tiff options change to default output to PNG or TIFF
respectively.

instead of


 The default output format is PBM (for monochrome images) or PPM for
non-monochrome. The \-png or \-tiff options change to default output
to PNG or TIFF respectively. 


But i still don't see that as two lines in man, i just get something like wider spaces between the two sentences, but they are still in the same line.

Is this on purpose? I think it looks a bit uglier.
Comment 2 bjarniig 2014-08-12 19:46:51 UTC
  This is on purpose.  See for example the manual "man-pages(7)"
(package "manpages").

  Example (source file for a manual):

.TH SOMETHING 1 "12-08-2014"
.LP
Case A.
Case B. Case C.  Case D.   Case E.


  What case is the best (worst) for which purpose?

  Which combination of two cases is the best (worst) for which purpose?

  Which case to select (or find a better one), if you want to decide
what sentence space shall be used

a) for you

b) for others

  Your answers are primarily for yourself.
Comment 3 Albert Astals Cid 2014-08-13 09:20:16 UTC
Answers are primarily for myself, correct, but since i'm the maintainer you need to convince me that this is better.

And as i said i think the changes you're proposing look more ugly (at least the spacing between new lines that are not new lines when seen as man page).

Can you convince me they do not?
Comment 4 bjarniig 2014-08-15 17:51:37 UTC
(In reply to comment #3)
> Answers are primarily for myself, correct, but since i'm the maintainer you
> need to convince me that this is better.

  I do not need to do that.  I don't convince people.

> 
> And as i said i think the changes you're proposing look more ugly (at least
> the spacing between new lines that are not new lines when seen as man page).
> 

  The purpose of "man" is to present a changed format(ting) of its
input file.

  The input file does not need to be pretty, just practical, easy
(easier) to maintain, and have fewer and milder consequences when
changed.

> Can you convince me they do not?

  I do not convince people; it is theirs to convince themself, not to
be convinced by other people.
Comment 5 Albert Astals Cid 2014-08-15 18:15:11 UTC
Since you refuse to have a civil discussion I'll just apply the part of your patch I like and discard the rest
Comment 6 Albert Astals Cid 2014-09-25 23:16:34 UTC
Please reopen when you learn how to talk with people in a civil manner.

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