Annotation of mandoc/TODO, Revision 1.337
1.1 kristaps 1: ************************************************************************
1.37 kristaps 2: * Official mandoc TODO.
1.337 ! schwarze 3: * $Id: TODO,v 1.336 2025/01/21 18:42:13 schwarze Exp $
1.27 kristaps 4: ************************************************************************
1.145 schwarze 5:
1.184 schwarze 6: Many issues are annotated for difficulty as follows:
7:
8: - loc = locality of the issue
9: * single file issue, affects file only, or very few
10: ** single module issue, affects several files of one module
11: *** cross-module issue, significantly impacts multiple modules
12: and may require substantial changes to internal interfaces
13: - exist = difficulty of the existing code in this area
14: * affected code is straightforward and easy to read and change
15: ** affected code is somewhat complex, but once you understand
16: the design, not particularly difficult to understand
17: *** affected code uses a special, exceptionally tricky design
18: - algo = difficulty of the new algorithm to be written
19: * the required logic and code is straightforward
20: ** the required logic is somewhat complex and needs a careful design
21: *** the required logic is exceptionally tricky,
22: maybe an approach to solve that is not even known yet
23: - size = the amount of code to be written or changed
24: * a small number of lines (at most 100, usually much less)
25: ** a considerable amount of code (several dozen to a few hundred)
26: *** a large amount of code (many hundreds, maybe thousands)
27: - imp = importance of the issue
28: * mostly for completeness
29: ** would be nice to have
30: *** issue causes considerable inconvenience
31:
32: Obviously, as the issues have not been solved yet, these annotations
33: are mere guesses, and some may be wrong.
1.306 schwarze 34:
35: ************************************************************************
36: * assertion failures
37: ************************************************************************
38:
39: - .if n .ce in the middle of .TS data
40: afl case f1/id:000103,sig:06,src:009024+009105,op:splice,rep:2 (jes@)
41: While roff_parseln() prevents .ce and similar requests in the middle
42: of a tbl, the guard is no longer effective when the .ce is wrapped
43: in a roff block, for example a conditional. The resulting assertion
44: has never been seen in any real-world manual page.
45: This is too dangerous to fix before release because it requires
46: reorganizing the very delicate internals of roff_parseln(),
47: which risks causing more severe bugs.
48: loc * exist *** algo *** size * imp *
1.296 schwarze 49:
1.314 schwarze 50:
51: ************************************************************************
52: * bugs: invalid output
53: ************************************************************************
54:
55: - wrong number of layout columns in tbl(7) code generated by -T man
56: https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?57720
57: The reason likely is that tbl(7) does not support the -Bl -column
58: feature of not explicitly specifying the last table column.
59: loc ** exist * algo ** size * imp ***
60:
1.318 schwarze 61: - eqn(7) delimiters cause conditional lines to misbehave
62: nabijaczleweli 8 Sep 2021 15:24:48 +0200
63: loc * exist *** algo *** size * imp *
64:
65: - roff.c, roff_expand() should not remove blanks before comments
66: to Oliver Corff, Sep 7, 2021
67: loc * exist * algo * size * imp *
68: but watch out for regressions in the high-level parsers
69: maybe it should not even remove comments? - consider T{\"
70:
1.329 schwarze 71: - In the body of conditional requests, escape sequence expansion
72: must not be performed if the condition is false. This implies
73: the first part of a request line must be expanded before
74: request parsing (like it is now), but expansion in the second
75: part must be delayed.
76: to Nab 8 Aug 2023 20:05:32 +0200 Subject: if/ie d condition always true
77: loc ** exist *** algo *** size ** imp *
78:
1.314 schwarze 79:
1.296 schwarze 80: ************************************************************************
1.1 kristaps 81: * missing features
82: ************************************************************************
1.70 kristaps 83:
1.79 schwarze 84: --- missing roff features ----------------------------------------------
1.258 schwarze 85:
1.82 schwarze 86: - .ad (adjust margins)
87: .ad l -- adjust left margin only (flush left)
88: .ad r -- adjust right margin only (flush right)
89: .ad c -- center text on line
90: .ad b -- adjust both margins (alias: .ad n)
91: .na -- temporarily disable adjustment without changing the mode
92: .ad -- re-enable adjustment without changing the mode
93: Adjustment mode is ignored while in no-fill mode (.nf).
1.184 schwarze 94: loc *** exist *** algo ** size ** imp ** (parser reorg would help)
1.150 schwarze 95:
96: - .fc (field control)
97: found by naddy@ in xloadimage(1)
1.184 schwarze 98: loc ** exist *** algo * size * imp *
1.198 schwarze 99:
1.80 schwarze 100: - .ns (no-space mode) occurs in xine-config(1)
1.205 schwarze 101: when implementing this, also let .TH set it
1.80 schwarze 102: reported by brad@ Sat, 15 Jan 2011 15:45:23 -0500
1.184 schwarze 103: loc *** exist *** algo *** size ** imp *
1.201 schwarze 104:
1.184 schwarze 105: - \w'' improve width measurements
1.167 schwarze 106: would not be very useful without an expression parser, see below
107: needed for Tcl_NewStringObj(3) via wiz@ Wed, 5 Mar 2014 22:27:43 +0100
1.184 schwarze 108: loc ** exist *** algo *** size * imp ***
1.291 schwarze 109:
110: - .als only works for macros in mandoc, not for user-defined strings.
111: Also, the "val" field in struct roffkv would have to be replaced
112: with a pointer to a reference-counted wrapper, and an alias
113: would have to point to the same wrapper as the original.
114: .als to undefined does nothing; the alias is not created.
115: .rm'ing the original leaves the alias to point to the old value.
116: .de .als .de changes both, but
117: .de .als .rm .de only changes the new value, not the alias.
118: Found in groffer(1) version 1.19
119: Jan Stary 20 Apr 2019 20:16:54 +0200
120: loc * exist ** algo ** size ** imp *
121:
122: - roff string condition comparisons fail when vars contain quotes:
123: .ds s '
124: .if '\*s'' \&...
125: hard to fix because of the basic architecture (string replacement
126: happens before roff(7) syntax parsing)
127: Found in groffer(1) version 1.19
128: Jan Stary 20 Apr 2019 20:16:54 +0200
129: loc * exist *** algo *** size ** imp *
1.303 schwarze 130:
131: - mandoc replaces all ASCII control characters except tab and line feed
132: with '?' during input. It would be better to replace them with
133: Unicode escapes in preconv_encode() or somewhere in the vicinity,
134: such that the already existing better replacement strings show
135: up in the output. Emulating groff is not desirable: groff replaces
136: 0x00, 0x0b, and 0x0d to 0x1f with the empty string (bad because
137: that's easy to overlook for the document author), 0x01 with '.'
138: (very confusing), and passes through 0x02 to 0x08, 0x0c, and 0x7f
139: raw (bad because that is insecure output). Remember that 0x07 may
140: need special handling because it is sometimes used for certain
141: delimiters, so it may need handling *after* roff.c rather than before.
142: reminded by John Gardner 16 Jun 2020 14:26:28 +1000
1.304 schwarze 143: Actually, more ASCII control characters than just 0x07 may need
144: later handling because they can for example be used in macro names.
145: So they may need handling after roff(7) processing.
146: pointed out by John Gardner 23 Jun 2020 18:28:08 +1000
1.305 schwarze 147: more info from John Gardner 29 Jun 2020 19:54:04 +1000
1.303 schwarze 148: loc ** exist ** algo ** size ** imp *
1.308 schwarze 149:
150: - many missing features used in old groff_char(7),
151: some can possibly be supported
152: kamil at netbsd 12 Nov 2020 17:27:09 +0100 + reply
1.312 schwarze 153:
154: - \s with arbitrary arg delimiters as already supported for other escapes
155: found following jmc@'s mail 28 Apr 2021 18:31:41 +0100
156: loc * exist * algo * size * imp *
1.203 schwarze 157:
1.79 schwarze 158: --- missing mdoc features ----------------------------------------------
1.18 schwarze 159:
1.328 schwarze 160: - support mixed case for section names
161: also, first section is not "NAME" should not appear more than once per page
162: Alejandro Colomar 28 Apr 2023 16:57:49 +0200
163: loc * exist * algo * size * imp ***
164:
1.298 schwarze 165: - .Sh and .Ss should be parsed and partially callable, see groff_mdoc(7)
166: reed at reedmedia dot net Sat, 21 Dec 2019 17:13:07 -0600
167: loc ** exist ** algo ** size ** imp *
168:
1.1 kristaps 169: - .Bl -column .Xo support is missing
170: ultimate goal:
171: restore .Xr and .Dv to
172: lib/libc/compat-43/sigvec.3
173: lib/libc/gen/signal.3
174: lib/libc/sys/sigaction.2
1.184 schwarze 175: loc * exist *** algo *** size * imp **
1.1 kristaps 176:
1.28 schwarze 177: - edge case: decide how to deal with blk_full bad nesting, e.g.
178: .Sh .Nm .Bk .Nm .Ek .Sh found by jmc@ in ssh-keygen(1)
179: from jmc@ Wed, 14 Jul 2010 18:10:32 +0100
1.184 schwarze 180: loc * exist *** algo *** size ** imp **
1.174 schwarze 181:
1.82 schwarze 182: - .Bd -filled should not be the same as .Bd -ragged, but align both
183: the left and right margin. In groff, it is implemented in terms
184: of .ad b, which we don't have either. Found in cksum(1).
1.184 schwarze 185: loc *** exist *** algo ** size ** imp ** (parser reorg would help)
1.22 schwarze 186:
1.10 kristaps 187: - implement blank `Bl -column', such as
188: .Bl -column
189: .It foo Ta bar
190: .El
1.184 schwarze 191: loc * exist *** algo *** size * imp *
1.11 kristaps 192:
193: - explicitly disallow nested `Bl -column', which would clobber internal
194: flags defined for struct mdoc_macro
1.184 schwarze 195: loc * exist * algo * size * imp **
1.102 schwarze 196:
197: - In .Bl -column .It, the end of the line probably has to be regarded
198: as an implicit .Ta, if there could be one, see the following mildly
199: ugly code from login.conf(5):
200: .Bl -column minpasswordlen program xetcxmotd
201: .It path Ta path Ta value of Dv _PATH_DEFPATH
202: .br
203: Default search path.
204: reported by Michal Mazurek <akfaew at jasminek dot net>
205: via jmc@ Thu, 7 Apr 2011 16:00:53 +0059
1.184 schwarze 206: loc * exist *** algo ** size * imp **
1.42 schwarze 207:
208: - inside `.Bl -column' phrases, punctuation is handled like normal
209: text, e.g. `.Bl -column .It Fl x . Ta ...' should give "-x -."
210:
211: - inside `.Bl -column' phrases, TERMP_IGNDELIM handling by `Pf'
212: is not safe, e.g. `.Bl -column .It Pf a b .' gives "ab."
213: but should give "ab ."
1.12 kristaps 214:
1.20 kristaps 215: - prohibit `Nm' from having non-text HEAD children
216: (e.g., NetBSD mDNSShared/dns-sd.1)
217: (mdoc_html.c and mdoc_term.c `Nm' handlers can be slightly simplified)
1.109 schwarze 218:
1.174 schwarze 219: - support translated section names
220: e.g. x11/scrotwm scrotwm_es.1:21:2: error: NAME section must be first
221: that one uses NOMBRE because it is spanish...
222: deraadt tends to think that section-dependent macro behaviour
223: is a bad idea in the first place, so this may be irrelevant
1.184 schwarze 224: loc ** exist ** algo ** size * imp **
1.174 schwarze 225:
1.109 schwarze 226: - When there is free text in the SYNOPSIS and that free text contains
227: the .Nm macro, groff somehow understands to treat the .Nm as an in-line
228: macro, while mandoc treats it as a block macro and breaks the line.
229: No idea how the logic for distinguishing in-line and block instances
230: should be, needs investigation.
231: uqs@ Thu, 2 Jun 2011 11:03:51 +0200
232: uqs@ Thu, 2 Jun 2011 11:33:35 +0200
1.184 schwarze 233: loc * exist ** algo *** size * imp **
1.57 kristaps 234:
1.252 schwarze 235: --- missing man features -----------------------------------------------
1.337 ! schwarze 236:
! 237: - When calling less(1), specify -P to print "name(sec) lines ..."
! 238: in the bottom line instead of "/tmp/man..."
! 239: Jan Engelhardt (SuSE) via Matej Cepl 06 Apr 2025 14:42:52 +0200
! 240: loc * exist * algo * size * imp **
1.330 schwarze 241:
1.309 schwarze 242: - MANWIDTH
243: Markus Waldeck <waldeck at gmx dot de> 9 Jun 2015 05:49:56 +0200
244: Laura Morales <lauretas at mail dot com> 26 Apr 2018 08:15:55 +0200
245: Kamil Rytarowski <kamil at netbsd> 13 Nov 2020 00:19:36 +0100
1.310 schwarze 246: patch from Kamil 13 Nov 2020 22:37:07 +0100
1.309 schwarze 247: loc * exist * algo * size * imp *
1.258 schwarze 248:
1.252 schwarze 249: - groff_www(7) .MTO and .URL
250: These macros were used by the GNU grep(1) man page.
1.258 schwarze 251: The groff_www(7) manual page itself uses them, too.
1.252 schwarze 252: We should probably *not* add them to mandoc.
253: Just mentioning this here to keep track of the abuse.
254: Laura Morales <lauretas at mail dot com> 20 Apr 2018 07:33:02 +0200
255: loc ** exist * algo * size ** imp *
256:
1.79 schwarze 257: --- missing tbl features -----------------------------------------------
258:
1.255 schwarze 259: - vertical centering in cells vertically spanned with ^
260: pali dot rohar at gmail dot com 16 Jul 2018 13:03:35 +0200
261: loc * exist *** algo *** size ** imp *
262:
1.208 schwarze 263: - support mdoc(7) and man(7) macros inside tbl(7) code;
264: probably requires the parser reorg and letting tbl(7)
265: use roff_node such that macro sets can mix;
1.233 schwarze 266: informed by bapt@ that FreeBSD needs this: 3 Jan 2015 23:32:23 +0100
1.208 schwarze 267: loc *** exist ** algo *** size ** imp ***
268:
1.171 schwarze 269: - look at the POSIX manuals in the books/man-pages-posix port,
1.283 schwarze 270: they use some unsupported tbl(7) features, mostly macros in tbl(7).
1.184 schwarze 271: loc * exist ** algo ** size ** imp ***
1.171 schwarze 272:
1.230 schwarze 273: - look what Joerg Schilling manual pages use
274: Thu, 19 Mar 2015 18:31:48 +0100
1.255 schwarze 275:
1.182 schwarze 276: --- missing eqn features -----------------------------------------------
1.209 schwarze 277:
278: - In a matrix, break the output line after each matrix line.
1.287 schwarze 279: Found in the discussion at CDBUG 2015. Suggested by Avi Weinstock.
280: This may not be the ideal solution after all: eqn(7) matrices
281: are lists of columns, so Avi's proposal would show each *column*
282: on its own *line*, which is likely to cause confusion.
283: A better solution, but much harder to implement, would be to
284: actually show the coordinates of column vectors on different
285: terminal output lines, using the clumnated output facilities
286: developed for .Bl -tag, .Bl -column, and also used for tbl(7).
287: loc * exist * algo ** size ** imp **
1.182 schwarze 288:
289: - The "size" keyword is parsed, but ignored by the formatter.
1.184 schwarze 290: loc * exist * algo * size * imp *
1.182 schwarze 291:
292: - The spacing characters `~', `^', and tab are currently ignored,
293: see User's Guide (Second Edition) page 2 section 4.
1.184 schwarze 294: loc * exist * algo ** size * imp **
1.182 schwarze 295:
296: - Mark and lineup are parsed and ignored,
297: see User's Guide (Second Edition) page 5 section 15.
1.184 schwarze 298: loc ** exist ** algo ** size ** imp **
1.238 schwarze 299:
300: - GNU eqn converts some operators to special characters, for example,
301: input HYPHEN-MINUS becomes output \(mi, unless it is part of a
302: quoted word. mandoc(1) only does this when the operator is
303: surrounded by blanks, not when it is part of an unquoted word.
304: Also, check whether there are more such cases (e.g., +?).
305: reported by bentley@ 20 Jun 2017 02:04:29 -0600
1.252 schwarze 306: loc * exist ** algo ** size * imp *
1.182 schwarze 307:
1.239 schwarze 308: - Primes, opprime, and '
309: bentley@ Thu, 13 Jul 2017 23:14:20 -0600
310:
1.79 schwarze 311: --- missing misc features ----------------------------------------------
1.319 schwarze 312:
1.328 schwarze 313: - use the default volume headers for sections with suffixes
314: certainly affects man(7); possibly mdoc(7)?; and also groff(1)
315: Alejandro Colomar 21 Aug 2022
316:
1.333 schwarze 317: - consider whether man(1) fallback code in main.c/fs_*() can find files
1.319 schwarze 318: like man3c/fopen.3c (illumos, Solaris) and man3p/fopen.3p (POSIX)
319: discussed with Robert Mustacchi 21 Sep 2021 10:39:40 -0700
320: loc * exist * algo ** size * imp **
1.317 schwarze 321:
322: - let makewhatis(8) follow symbolic links to dirs below READ_ALLOWED_PATH
323: this may be feasible using fts_set(FTS_FOLLOW)
324: mail to sternenseemann 19 Aug 2021 19:11:50 +0200
325: loc * exist ** algo ** size * imp **
1.322 schwarze 326:
327: - handle Unicode letters in tags in both HTML and terminal output
328: thread "section headers with diacritics" starting with
329: Mario Blaettermann 24 Mar 2022 18:13:23 +0100
330: loc ** exist * algo * size * imp **
1.301 schwarze 331:
332: - -T man does not handle eqn(7) and tbl(7)
333: Stephen Gregoratto 16 Feb 2020 01:28:07 +1100
1.316 schwarze 334: also https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=901636
1.301 schwarze 335: loc ** exist ** algo ** size *** imp **
1.255 schwarze 336:
337: - man -ks 1,8 route; kn@ Jul 13, 2018 orally
1.159 schwarze 338:
339: - italic correction (\/) in PostScript mode
340: Werner LEMBERG on groff at gnu dot org Sun, 10 Nov 2013 12:47:46
1.184 schwarze 341: loc ** exist ** algo * size * imp *
1.153 schwarze 342:
1.210 schwarze 343: - change the default PAGER to more -Es and use the pager
344: even for apropos title line output; req by bapt@
345: loc * exist * algo * size * imp ***
1.171 schwarze 346:
1.79 schwarze 347: - clean up escape sequence handling, creating three classes:
348: (1) fully implemented, or parsed and ignored without loss of content
349: (2) unimplemented, potentially causing loss of content
350: or serious mangling of formatting (e.g. \n) -> ERROR
351: see textproc/mgdiff(1) for nice examples
352: (3) undefined, just output the character -> perhaps WARNING
1.184 schwarze 353: loc *** exist ** algo ** size ** imp *** (parser reorg helps)
1.333 schwarze 354:
355: - man.conf(5) alias aliasname dirname or just -Mb -Mx -Mp
356: mail to jmc@ Mar 23, 2015 03:53:14PM +0100
357: loc * exist * algo * size * imp **
1.83 schwarze 358:
1.174 schwarze 359: - kettenis wants base roff, ms, and me Fri, 1 Jan 2010 22:13:15 +0100 (CET)
1.184 schwarze 360: loc ** exist ** algo ** size *** imp *
1.174 schwarze 361:
362: --- compatibility checks -----------------------------------------------
1.196 schwarze 363:
1.174 schwarze 364: - is .Bk implemented correctly in modern groff?
365: sobrado@ Tue, 19 Apr 2011 22:12:55 +0200
366:
1.175 schwarze 367: - compare output to Heirloom roff, Solaris roff, and
368: http://repo.or.cz/w/neatroff.git http://litcave.rudi.ir/
1.178 schwarze 369:
370: - look at AT&T DWB http://www2.research.att.com/sw/download
371: Carsten Kunze <carsten dot kunze at arcor dot de> has patches
372: Mon, 4 Aug 2014 17:01:28 +0200
1.230 schwarze 373: ported version: https://github.com/n-t-roff/DWB3.3
374: Carsten Kunze Wed, 22 Apr 2015 11:21:43 +0200
1.174 schwarze 375:
1.79 schwarze 376: - look at pages generated from reStructeredText, e.g. devel/mercurial hg(1)
377: These are a weird mixture of man(7) and custom autogenerated low-level
378: roff stuff. Figure out to what extent we can cope.
1.80 schwarze 379: For details, see http://docutils.sourceforge.net/rst.html
1.79 schwarze 380: noted by stsp@ Sat, 24 Apr 2010 09:17:55 +0200
381: reminded by nicm@ Mon, 3 May 2010 09:52:41 +0100
1.160 schwarze 382:
1.174 schwarze 383: - look at pages generated from ronn(1) github.com/rtomayko/ronn
384: (based on markdown)
385:
1.160 schwarze 386: - look at pages generated from Texinfo source by yat2m, e.g. security/gnupg
387: First impression is not that bad.
1.172 schwarze 388:
389: - look at pages generated by pandoc; see
390: https://github.com/jgm/pandoc/blob/master/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/Man.hs
391: porting planned by kili@ Thu, 19 Jun 2014 19:46:28 +0200
1.71 schwarze 392:
393: - check compatibility with Plan9:
394: http://swtch.com/usr/local/plan9/tmac/tmac.an
395: http://swtch.com/plan9port/man/man7/man.html
396: "Anthony J. Bentley" <anthonyjbentley@gmail.com> 28 Dec 2010 21:58:40 -0700
1.63 schwarze 397:
1.207 schwarze 398: - check compatibility with COHERENT troff:
399: http://www.nesssoftware.com/home/mwc/source.php
400:
1.174 schwarze 401: - check compatibility with the man(7) formatter
402: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rofl0r/hardcore-utils/master/man.c
403:
1.186 schwarze 404: - check compatibility with
405: http://ikiwiki.info/plugins/contrib/mandoc/
406: https://github.com/schmonz/ikiwiki/compare/mandoc
407: Amitai Schlair Mon, 19 May 2014 14:05:53 -0400
1.295 schwarze 408:
409: - check compatibility with
410: https://git.sr.ht/~sircmpwn/scdoc
1.186 schwarze 411:
1.230 schwarze 412: - check features of the Slackware man.conf(5) format
413: Carsten Kunze Wed, 11 Mar 2015 17:57:24 +0100
414:
1.314 schwarze 415: - look at http://www.snake.net/software/troffcvt/ (troff to HTML)
416: mentioned by Oliver Corff 22 Jan 2021 01:36:49 +0100
417:
418:
1.1 kristaps 419: ************************************************************************
420: * formatting issues: ugly output
421: ************************************************************************
1.87 kristaps 422:
1.195 schwarze 423: - revisit empty in-line macros
424: look at the difference between "Em x Em ." and "Sq x Em ."
425: Carsten Kunze Fri, 12 Dec 2014 00:15:41 +0100
426: loc *** exist *** algo *** size * imp **
427:
428: - a column list with blank `Ta' cells triggers a spurious
1.87 kristaps 429: start-with-whitespace printing of a newline
1.195 schwarze 430:
431: - In .Bl -column, .It a<tab>"b<tab>c"
432: shows the quotes in groff, but not in mandoc
433: loc * exist *** algo ** size * imp **
1.1 kristaps 434:
1.39 schwarze 435: - In .Bl -column,
436: .It Em Authentication<tab>Key Length
437: ought to render "Key Length" with emphasis, too,
438: see OpenBSD iked.conf(5).
1.123 schwarze 439: reported again Nicolas Joly via wiz@ Wed, 12 Oct 2011 00:20:00 +0200
1.184 schwarze 440: loc * exist *** algo *** size ** imp ***
1.39 schwarze 441:
1.1 kristaps 442: - empty phrases in .Bl column produce too few blanks
443: try e.g. .Bl -column It Ta Ta
444: reported by millert Fri, 02 Apr 2010 16:13:46 -0400
1.184 schwarze 445: loc * exist *** algo *** size * imp **
1.48 schwarze 446:
1.83 schwarze 447: - .%T can have trailing punctuation. Currently, it puts the trailing
448: punctuation into a trailing MDOC_TEXT element inside its own scope.
449: That element should rather be outside its scope, such that the
450: punctuation does not get underlines. This is not trivial to
451: implement because .%T then needs some features of in_line_eoln() -
452: slurp all arguments into one single text element - and one feature
453: of in_line() - put trailing punctuation out of scope.
454: Found in mount_nfs(8) and exports(5), search for "Appendix".
1.184 schwarze 455: loc ** exist ** algo *** size * imp **
1.83 schwarze 456:
1.147 schwarze 457: - Trailing punctuation after .%T triggers EOS spacing, at least
458: outside .Rs (eek!). Simply setting ARGSFL_DELIM for .%T is not
459: the right solution, it sends mandoc into an endless loop.
460: reported by Nicolas Joly Sat, 17 Nov 2012 11:49:54 +0100
1.184 schwarze 461: loc * exist ** algo ** size * imp **
1.147 schwarze 462:
1.174 schwarze 463: - global variables in the SYNOPSIS of section 3 pages
464: .Vt vs .Vt/.Va vs .Ft/.Va vs .Ft/.Fa ...
465: from kristaps@ Tue, 08 Jun 2010 11:13:32 +0200
1.239 schwarze 466:
467: - implicit whitespace around inline equations
468: example code: where '$times$' denotes matrix multiplication
469: must not have an HTML line break, nor a blank, before <math>
470: partial solution: html.c {"math", HTML_NLINSIDE | HTML_INDENT},
471: bentley@ Thu, 13 Jul 2017 19:00:59 -0600
1.174 schwarze 472:
1.48 schwarze 473: - in enclosures, mandoc sometimes fancies a bogus end of sentence
474: reminded by jmc@ Thu, 23 Sep 2010 18:13:39 +0059
1.184 schwarze 475: loc * exist ** algo *** size * imp ***
1.197 schwarze 476:
1.324 schwarze 477: - the man(7) single-font macros (e.g. .B) use .itc,
478: so ".B foo\c" followed by "bar" prints "bar" in bold
479: gbranden@ Sun, 5 Jun 2022 18:08:46 -0500
480:
1.197 schwarze 481: - a line starting with "\fB something" counts as starting with whitespace
482: and triggers a line break; found in audio/normalize-mp3(1)
1.287 schwarze 483: This will become easier once escape sequences are represented
484: by syntax tree nodes.
1.197 schwarze 485: loc ** exist * algo ** size * imp **
1.149 schwarze 486:
487: - formatting /usr/local/man/man1/latex2man.1 with groff and mandoc
488: reveals lots of bugs both in groff and mandoc...
489: reported by bentley@ Wed, 22 May 2013 23:49:30 -0600
1.336 schwarze 490:
491: - Make an underlined blank an underscore rather than a blank in both
492: groff and mandoc terminal output (likely tricky, needs investigation)
493: job@ 21 Jan 2025 18:03:52 +0000
1.171 schwarze 494:
1.230 schwarze 495: --- PostScript and PDF issues ------------------------------------------
1.171 schwarze 496:
497: - PDF output doesn't use a monospaced font for .Bd -literal
498: Example: "mandoc -Tpdf afterboot.8 > output.pdf && pdfviewer output.pdf".
499: Search the text "Routing tables".
500: Also check what PostScript mode does when fixing this.
501: reported by juanfra@ Wed, 04 Jun 2014 21:44:58 +0200
1.186 schwarze 502: instructions from juanfra@ Wed, 11 Jun 2014 02:21:01 +0200
503: add a new <</Type /Font>> block to the PDF files with /BaseFont /Courier
504: and change the /Name from /F0 to the new font (/F5 (?)).
1.230 schwarze 505: re-reported by tb@ Mon, 16 Mar 2015 16:47:21 +0100
1.310 schwarze 506: loc ** exist ** algo ** size * imp **
1.173 schwarze 507:
508: --- HTML issues --------------------------------------------------------
1.330 schwarze 509:
510: - support the idiom .TP .IP .TP for multi-paragraph list item bodies
511: to: Alejandro Colomar Thu, 19 Oct 2023 16:45:21 +0200
512: loc ** exist ** algo ** size ** imp **
1.314 schwarze 513:
1.324 schwarze 514: - .Nm without an argument and .Bx cause premature </pre>
515: Nab Sun, 5 Jun 2022 18:30:09 +0200
516:
1.323 schwarze 517: - .Aq Mt could set and reset "white-space: nowrap";
518: Check whether other enclosure macros could profit from similar handling,
519: or whether that is covered by Unicode line-breaking classes WJ, ZW, GL, ZWJ.
520: John Gardner 25 Mar 2022 04:44:27 +1100
521:
522: - make the HTML scaffolding customizable with -O skip=...
1.314 schwarze 523: mail to Oliver Corff 3 Jun 2021 17:28:02 +0200
1.318 schwarze 524: more feedback from Oliver 3 Jun 2021 18:27:56 +0200
525: more feedback from Oliver 3 Jun 2021 23:37:18 +0200
1.327 schwarze 526: would also be useful for
527: https://github.com/gbdev/rgbds-www/blob/master/
528: maintainer/support/man_postproc.awk
1.310 schwarze 529:
530: - .Bd -unfilled should not use monospaced font
531: anton@ 4 Mar 2021 08:19:35 +0100
532: loc ** exist * algo * size * imp **
1.315 schwarze 533:
1.325 schwarze 534: - HTML formatting of .nf should avoid <br/>,
535: even when input lines start with whitespace,
1.315 schwarze 536: and not close and re-open <pre> on .P
537: my mail to ports@ 27 Jun 2021 16:09:20 +0200
1.325 schwarze 538: reported again by Mohamed Akram 25 Jun 2022 16:28:18 +0000
1.315 schwarze 539: loc ** exist ** algo * size * imp **
1.321 schwarze 540:
541: - tbl(7) HTML output does not implement column width specifications
542: reported by Ted Bullock 11 Jan 2022 16:00:44 -0700
543: loc * exist * algo ? size ? imp *
1.327 schwarze 544:
545: - link from flags in the SYNOPSIS to their descriptions
546: https://github.com/gbdev/rgbds-www/blob/master/
547: maintainer/support/man_postproc.awk
548: loc * exist * algo ** size * imp *
1.297 schwarze 549:
550: - get rid of the last handful of style= attributes such that
551: Content-Security-Policy: can be enabled without unsafe-inline
552: suggested by bentley@ Nov 10, 2019 at 06:02:49AM -0700
553: loc * exist * algo * size * imp **
1.214 schwarze 554:
555: - .Bf at the beginning of a paragraph inserts a bogus 1ex horizontal
556: space, see for example random(3). Introduced in
557: http://mdocml.bsd.lv/cgi-bin/cvsweb/mdoc_html.c.diff?r1=1.91&r2=1.92
558: reported by deraadt@ Mon, 28 Sep 2015 20:14:13 -0600 (MDT)
559: loc ** exist ** algo ** size * imp *
1.180 schwarze 560:
1.187 schwarze 561: - jsg on icb, Nov 3, 2014:
562: try to guess Xr in man(7) for hyperlinking
1.226 schwarze 563: and render them with <a class="Xr" href=...>
564: https://github.com/Debian/debiman/issues/15
565: loc * exist * algo ** size ** imp **
1.296 schwarze 566:
567: - space characters can end up in href= attributes, for example coming
568: from the first .Xr argument (where they make no sense, but still);
569: does this affect other characters, other source macros...?
570: Jackson Pauls 29 Aug 2017 16:56:27 +0100
1.206 schwarze 571:
572: - generate <img> tags in HTML
573: idea from florian@ Tue, 7 Apr 2015 00:26:28 +0000
574: may be possible to implement with .Lk img://something.png alt_text
1.174 schwarze 575:
1.173 schwarze 576: - check https://github.com/trentm/mdocml
1.323 schwarze 577:
578: --- CSS issues ---------------------------------------------------------
579:
580: - use flexbox for .Bl-tag instead of the fragile float/clear mechanism
581: John Gardner 25 Mar 2022 04:44:27 +1100
582:
1.35 kristaps 583:
1.1 kristaps 584: ************************************************************************
1.104 kristaps 585: * formatting issues: gratuitous differences
1.1 kristaps 586: ************************************************************************
1.187 schwarze 587:
588: - .Fn reopens a new scope after punctuation in mandoc,
589: but closes its scope for good in groff.
590: Do we want to change mandoc or groff?
591: Steffen Nurpmeso Sat, 08 Nov 2014 13:34:59 +0100
592: loc * exist ** algo ** size * imp **
1.230 schwarze 593:
1.335 schwarze 594: - Multiple issues with .In below SYNOPSIS; groff behaviour is:
595: text line + .In -> no line break before #include
596: called .In -> no line break before angle bracket
597: .In + .In -> second one gets #include, too
598: two arguments -> line break before second
599: child macro -> line break before child
600: .In + text line -> line break before the text line
601: Evan Silberman Fri, 20 Sep 2024 16:48:19 -0700
602: loc ** exist ** algo * size * imp *
603:
604: - In .Bl -enum -width 0n, groff continues on the same line after
1.174 schwarze 605: the number, mandoc breaks the line.
606: mail to kristaps@ Mon, 20 Jul 2009 02:21:39 +0200
1.184 schwarze 607: loc * exist ** algo ** size * imp **
1.174 schwarze 608:
1.103 schwarze 609: - .Pp between two .It in .Bl -column should produce one,
610: not two blank lines, see e.g. login.conf(5).
611: reported by jmc@ Sun, 17 Apr 2011 14:04:58 +0059
1.129 schwarze 612: reported again by sthen@ Wed, 18 Jan 2012 02:09:39 +0000 (UTC)
1.184 schwarze 613: loc * exist *** algo ** size * imp **
1.39 schwarze 614:
1.83 schwarze 615: - If the *first* line after .It is .Pp, break the line right after
616: the tag, do not pad with space characters before breaking.
617: See the description of the a, c, and i commands in sed(1).
1.184 schwarze 618: loc * exist ** algo ** size * imp **
1.83 schwarze 619:
620: - If the first line after .It is .D1, do not assert a blank line
621: in between, see for example tmux(1).
622: reported by nicm@ 13 Jan 2011 00:18:57 +0000
1.184 schwarze 623: loc * exist ** algo ** size * imp **
1.147 schwarze 624:
625: - Trailing punctuation after .It should trigger EOS spacing.
626: reported by Nicolas Joly Sat, 17 Nov 2012 11:49:54 +0100
627: Probably, this should be fixed somewhere in termp_it_pre(), not sure.
1.184 schwarze 628: loc * exist ** algo ** size * imp **
1.83 schwarze 629:
630: - When the -width string contains macros, the macros must be rendered
631: before measuring the width, for example
632: .Bl -tag -width ".Dv message"
633: in magic(5), located in src/usr.bin/file, is the same
634: as -width 7n, not -width 11n.
1.129 schwarze 635: The same applies to .Bl -column column widths;
636: reported again by Nicolas Joly Thu, 1 Mar 2012 13:41:26 +0100 via wiz@ 5 Mar
1.157 schwarze 637: reported again by Franco Fichtner Fri, 27 Sep 2013 21:02:28 +0200
1.234 schwarze 638: reported again by Bruce Evans Fri, 17 Feb 2017 21:22:44 +0100 via bapt@
1.324 schwarze 639: https://reviews.freebsd.org/D35245
640: even groff_mdoc(7) uses this: Nab Sun, 5 Jun 2022 22:16:37 +0200
641: When implementing this, try to avoid breaking existing manuals,
642: or at least fix them: Jan Stary Sun, 5 Jun 2022 22:48:05 +0200
1.184 schwarze 643: loc *** exist *** algo *** size ** imp ***
1.157 schwarze 644: An easy partial fix would be to just skip the first word if it starts
645: with a dot, including any following white space, when measuring.
1.184 schwarze 646: loc * exist * algo * size * imp ***
1.83 schwarze 647:
1.56 schwarze 648: - The \& zero-width character counts as output.
649: That is, when it is alone on a line between two .Pp,
650: we want three blank lines, not two as in mandoc.
1.184 schwarze 651: loc ** exist ** algo ** size * imp **
1.83 schwarze 652:
1.205 schwarze 653: - Sequences of multiple man(7) paragraphs (.PP, .IP) interspersed
654: with .ps and .nf/.fi produce execessive blank lines, see libJudy
1.207 schwarze 655: and graphics/dcmtk. The parser reorg may help with this.
1.329 schwarze 656:
657: - The man(7) .UR macro produces UTF-8 angle brackets in -Tutf8 output mode
658: with groff, but ASCII <> with mandoc
659: Alejandro Colomar Mon, 7 Aug 2023 17:13:29 +0200 Subject: hostname
1.83 schwarze 660:
661: - trailing whitespace must be ignored even when followed by a font escape,
1.198 schwarze 662: see for example
1.83 schwarze 663: makes
664: \fBdig \fR
665: operate in batch mode
666: in dig(1).
1.184 schwarze 667: loc ** exist ** algo ** size * imp **
1.166 schwarze 668:
669: ************************************************************************
670: * warning issues
671: ************************************************************************
1.307 schwarze 672:
673: - shorten/simplify error messages for usage errors
674: To: deraadt@ 25 Oct 2020 23:37:01 +0100
675: loc ** exist * algo * size ** imp ***
1.332 schwarze 676:
677: - warn about \\ and \. in interpretation mode
678: gbranden@, groff issue #62776, 10 Nov 2023 01:57:32 -0500
1.328 schwarze 679:
680: - warn about output lines exceeding 80 characters
681: Alejandro Colomar Aug 22, 2022
682: not trivial because -T lint does not call any formatter
683: loc *** exist * algo ** size ** imp **
1.251 schwarze 684:
685: - warn about duplicate .Sh/.Ss heads
686: gre(4): Rename duplicate sections 20 Apr 2018 15:27:33 +0200
1.252 schwarze 687: loc * exist * algo * size * imp **
1.216 schwarze 688:
1.245 schwarze 689: - style message about macros inside .Bd -literal and .Dl, in particular
690: font changing macros like .Cm, .Ar, .Fa (from the mdoclint TODO)
691:
1.246 schwarze 692: - style message about mismatches between the section number in the
693: file name (if it is known) and the section number in .Dt
694: (from the mdoclint TODO)
695:
1.245 schwarze 696: - style message about NULL without .Dv (from the mdoclint TODO)
697:
698: - style message about error constants without .Er (from the mdoclint TODO)
699:
1.211 schwarze 700: - warn when .Sh or .Ss contain other macros
701: Steffen Nurpmeso, savannah.gnu.org/bugs/index.php?45034
1.210 schwarze 702: loc * exist * algo * size * imp **
1.188 schwarze 703:
1.245 schwarze 704: - style message about violations of the convention
1.246 schwarze 705: .An name Aq Mt localpart@domain in AUTHORS (from the mdoclint TODO)
1.245 schwarze 706:
1.188 schwarze 707: - warn about attempts to call non-callable macros
708: Steffen Nurpmeso Tue, 11 Nov 2014 22:55:16 +0100
709: Note that formatting is inconsistent in groff.
710: .Fn Po prints "Po()", .Ar Sh prints "file ..." and no "Sh".
711: Relatively hard because the relevant code is scattered
712: all over mdoc_macro.c and all subtly different.
713: loc ** exist ** algo ** size ** imp **
1.245 schwarze 714:
1.246 schwarze 715: - warn about punctuation - e.g. ',' and ';' - at the beginning
716: of a text line, if it is likely intended to follow the preceding
717: output without intervening whitespace, in particular after a
718: macro line (from the mdoclint TODO)
1.311 schwarze 719:
720: - report double .TH in man(7) as an ERROR and let the first win
721: kristaps@ 28 Mar 2021 13:30:41 +0200
722: loc * exist * algo * size * imp *
1.257 schwarze 723:
724: - makewhatis -p complains about language subdirectories:
725: /usr/local/man//ru: Unknown directory part
726:
1.174 schwarze 727:
728: ************************************************************************
729: * documentation issues
730: ************************************************************************
731:
732: - mark macros as: page structure domain, manual domain, general text domain
733: is this useful?
734:
735: - mention /usr/share/misc/mdoc.template in mdoc(7)?
1.185 schwarze 736:
737: - Is all the content from http://www.std.com/obi/BSD/doc/usd/28.tbl/tbl
738: covered in tbl(7)?
1.1 kristaps 739:
1.9 kristaps 740: ************************************************************************
741: * performance issues
742: ************************************************************************
743:
1.37 kristaps 744: - the PDF file is HUGE: this can be reduced by using relative offsets
1.115 kristaps 745:
1.23 kristaps 746: ************************************************************************
747: * structural issues
748: ************************************************************************
1.221 schwarze 749:
750: - POSIX says in the documentation of sysconf(3) that PATH_MAX
751: is allowed to be so large that it is a bad idea to use it
752: for sizing static buffers. So use dynamic buffers throughout.
753: See the file test-PATH_MAX.c for details.
754: Found by Aaron M. Ucko in the GNU Hurd via Bdale Garbee,
755: https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=829624
1.67 schwarze 756:
1.241 schwarze 757: - Is it possible to further simplify ENDBODY_SPACE?
758:
1.67 schwarze 759: - Find better ways to prevent endless loops
760: in roff(7) macro and string expansion.
1.241 schwarze 761:
762: - make buffers for parsing functions const
763: christos@ via wiz@ Fri, 18 Dec 2015 17:10:01 +0100
1.186 schwarze 764:
765: - struct mparse refactoring
766: Steffen Nurpmeso Thu, 04 Sep 2014 12:50:00 +0200
1.170 schwarze 767:
1.179 kristaps 768: ************************************************************************
769: * CGI issues
770: ************************************************************************
771:
1.302 schwarze 772: - Inspect httpd(8) logs on man.openbsd.org and consider
773: whether logging can be improved, where bad syntax comes from,
774: and what needs to be done to get rid of COMPAT_OLDURI.
1.179 kristaps 775: - Enable HTTP compression by detecting gzip encoding and filtering
776: output through libz.
1.256 schwarze 777: - Privilege separation (see OpenSSH).
1.179 kristaps 778: - Enable caching support via HTTP 304 and If-Modified-Since.
1.181 kristaps 779:
1.192 schwarze 780: ************************************************************************
781: * to improve in the groff_mdoc(7) macros
782: ************************************************************************
1.298 schwarze 783:
784: - delete OS release verification from .Dx, .Fx, .Nx, .Ox etc.
785: https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=629161
786: also Branden Robinson 18 Dec 2019 00:59:52 +1100
1.299 schwarze 787:
788: - Can the distinction between .Vt and .Va be made stricter,
789: recommending .Vt extern char * Ns Va optarg ; ?
790: What about the block macro properties of .Vt in the SYNOPSIS?
791: zeurkous 25 Dec 2019 08:48:36 +0100
1.252 schwarze 792:
793: - .Cd # arch1, arch2 in section 4 pages:
794: find better way to indicate multiple architectures, maybe:
795: allow .Dt vgafb 4 "macppc sparc64"
796: already shown as "Device Drivers Manual (macppc sparc64)"
797: for apropos, make that "vgafb(4) - macppc # sparc64" instead of "- all"
798: groff can be made to show multiple arches, too, but it is
799: tedious to do the string parsing in roff code...
800: jmc@ 23 Apr 2018 07:24:52 +0100 [man for vgafb(4)...]
801: loc ** exist ** algo * size * imp ***
1.192 schwarze 802:
803: - use uname(1) to set doc-default-operating-system at install time
804: tobimensch Mon, 1 Dec 2014 00:25:07 +0100
1.236 schwarze 805:
806: - apostrophe (39), circumflex (94), grave (96), tilde (126)
807: in manuals: \(aq, \(ha, \`, \(ti
808: Re: [Groff] ASCII Minus Sign in man Pages.
809: bentley@ 26 Apr 2017 10:02:06 -0600
810: Do we need to fix existing manuals?
811: Do we need to fix the definition of the mdoc(7) language?
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