Re: Manual pages from glibc-doc

Alejandro Colomar
2023-05-21T10:47:06Z

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Hi Xavier,

On 5/21/23 11:40, Xavier Leroy wrote:
> Hello Alex,
>
> On Thu, May 18, 2023 at 8:23 PM Alex Colomar <alx.manpages@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hello Xavier,
>>
>> I see there are some manual pages in the glibc-doc package.
>> Most of glibc's manual pages are part of the Linux man-pages
>> project. I would be interested in absorbing the ones present
>> in the glibc-doc package into the Linux man-pages project.
>>
>> That would probably remove whatever overhead there is in
>> maintaining a separate package just for a few manual pages.
>>
>> Would you like that?
>>
>
> Well, I wrote those man pages a long time ago, in the late 1990's, to
> document the first version of the LinuxThreads library. The LinuxThreads
> code was later completely rewritten by Drepper and Molnar at Redhat (for
> the better!), so I forgot about the man pages, and did not know they were
> still distributed as part of the glibc-doc package.
>
> I hope the pages have been maintained and updated by the Glibc team,
> because the first version that I wrote was fairly specific to the
> LinuxThreads v1 implementation and its limitations, and is probably useless
> today. Likewise, the POSIX Threads standard changed quite a bit in the
> last 25 years, with new functions that are implemented in Glibc but lack a
> man page in glibc-doc.

Thanks for the history. I've investigated a bit after your email.
It seems that the pages were removed from glibc upstream in 2005 [1],
and then imported in the Debian glibc source package later in 2013 [2].
The last time a page's text was updated seems from 2002 by Drepper.

>
> To answer your question:
> - I don't think it's a good idea to take these man pages "as is" and drop
> them in the man-pages project, because they are probably obsolete and
> incomplete.
> - However, if you or others would like to use these man pages as a starting
> point for a comprehensive, up-to-date and maintained documentation for
> POSIX Threads functions in Linux, you're most welcome.
> - In both cases, I'd like my name and e-mail address to be removed from the
> man pages, as I no longer support them.

Yes, I plan to import these pages, specifying the historic details
found in this thread, keeping your name in the import commit, if you
don't mind, and then remove your name in the first commit, and start
cleaning them up. I'd compare them to the POSIX pages, to see if
there's any obviously outdated stuff, and fix it. Small details
that are not obvious from reading POSIX, I guess time will fix them.

So, you want your name removed. Any other request? The pages don't
seem to have a license. Should GPL be applied to them as they were
once part of glibc? If so, is GPL-3.0-or-later a good one? Or
should I relicense as Linux-man-pages-copyleft?

Does the above plan look good to you?

Cheers,
Alex

>
> Kind regards,
>
> - Xavier Leroy
>
>
>
>
>
>
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Alex
>>
>> --
>> <http://www.alejandro-colomar.es/>
>> GPG key fingerprint: A9348594CE31283A826FBDD8D57633D441E25BB5
>>
>

[1]:

alx@debian:~/src/gnu/glibc/glibc$ git lg --stat -- 'linuxthreads/man/pthread*';
* 88e3fbcb5d N - Sun, 3 Jul 2005 04:40:34 +0000 (18 years ago)
| linuxthreads, linuxthreads_db: Directories removed (preserved in ports repository). - Roland McGrath|
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_atfork.man | 53 -----
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_attr_init.man | 221 ------------------
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_cancel.man | 155 -------------
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_cleanup_push.man | 194 ----------------
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_cond_init.man | 234 --------------------
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_condattr_init.man | 39 ----
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_create.man | 46 ----
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_detach.man | 44 ----
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_equal.man | 23 --
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_exit.man | 32 ---
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_join.man | 70 ------
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_key_create.man | 151 -------------
| .../man/pthread_kill_other_threads_np.man | 40 ----
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_mutex_init.man | 213 ------------------
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_mutexattr_init.man | 84 -------
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_mutexattr_setkind_np.man | 39 ----
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_once.man | 34 ---
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_self.man | 23 --
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_setschedparam.man | 79 -------
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_sigmask.man | 123 ----------
| 20 files changed, 1897 deletions(-)

* a334319f65 N - Wed, 22 Dec 2004 20:10:10 +0000 (18 years ago)
| (CFLAGS-tst-align.c): Add -mpreferred-stack-boundary=4. - Ulrich Drepper|
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_atfork.man | 53 +++++
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_attr_init.man | 221 ++++++++++++++++++
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_cancel.man | 155 +++++++++++++
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_cleanup_push.man | 194 ++++++++++++++++
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_cond_init.man | 234 ++++++++++++++++++++
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_condattr_init.man | 39 ++++
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_create.man | 46 ++++
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_detach.man | 44 ++++
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_equal.man | 23 ++
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_exit.man | 32 +++
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_join.man | 70 ++++++
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_key_create.man | 151 +++++++++++++
| .../man/pthread_kill_other_threads_np.man | 40 ++++
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_mutex_init.man | 213 ++++++++++++++++++
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_mutexattr_init.man | 84 +++++++
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_mutexattr_setkind_np.man | 39 ++++
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_once.man | 34 +++
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_self.man | 23 ++
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_setschedparam.man | 79 +++++++
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_sigmask.man | 123 ++++++++++
| 20 files changed, 1897 insertions(+)

* 0ecb606cb6 N - Thu, 12 Jul 2007 18:26:36 +0000 (16 years ago)
| 2.5-18.1 - Jakub Jelinek|
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_atfork.man | 53 -----
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_attr_init.man | 221 ------------------
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_cancel.man | 155 -------------
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_cleanup_push.man | 194 ----------------
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_cond_init.man | 234 --------------------
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_condattr_init.man | 39 ----
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_create.man | 46 ----
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_detach.man | 44 ----
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_equal.man | 23 --
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_exit.man | 32 ---
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_join.man | 70 ------
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_key_create.man | 151 -------------
| .../man/pthread_kill_other_threads_np.man | 40 ----
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_mutex_init.man | 213 ------------------
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_mutexattr_init.man | 84 -------
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_mutexattr_setkind_np.man | 39 ----
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_once.man | 34 ---
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_self.man | 23 --
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_setschedparam.man | 79 -------
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_sigmask.man | 123 ----------
| 20 files changed, 1897 deletions(-)

* 79996eeed1 N - Sun, 28 Jul 2002 19:04:09 +0000 (21 years ago)
| Update. - Ulrich Drepper|
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_mutex_init.man | 2 +-
| 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

* 6736e93bab N - Sat, 6 Apr 2002 01:45:15 +0000 (21 years ago)
| Update. - Ulrich Drepper|
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_mutexattr_init.man | 20 +++++------
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_mutexattr_setkind_np.man | 39 +++++++++++++++++++++
| 2 files changed, 49 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)

* 638621aff9 N - Fri, 14 Dec 2001 22:17:03 +0000 (21 years ago)
| Update. - Ulrich Drepper|
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_atfork.man | 13 ++++---------
| 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)

* 0a51738ed9 N - Sun, 23 May 1999 09:27:35 +0000 (24 years ago)
| Correct example. - Ulrich Drepper|
| linuxthreads/man/pthread_cond_init.man | 5 ++---
| 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

* 5afdca0087 N - Wed, 11 Mar 1998 12:42:25 +0000 (25 years ago)
LinuxThreads library. - Ulrich Drepper
linuxthreads/man/pthread_atfork.man | 58 +++++
linuxthreads/man/pthread_attr_init.man | 221 ++++++++++++++++++
linuxthreads/man/pthread_cancel.man | 155 +++++++++++++
linuxthreads/man/pthread_cleanup_push.man | 194 ++++++++++++++++
linuxthreads/man/pthread_cond_init.man | 235 ++++++++++++++++++++
linuxthreads/man/pthread_condattr_init.man | 39 ++++
linuxthreads/man/pthread_create.man | 46 ++++
linuxthreads/man/pthread_detach.man | 44 ++++
linuxthreads/man/pthread_equal.man | 23 ++
linuxthreads/man/pthread_exit.man | 32 +++
linuxthreads/man/pthread_join.man | 70 ++++++
linuxthreads/man/pthread_key_create.man | 151 +++++++++++++
.../man/pthread_kill_other_threads_np.man | 40 ++++
linuxthreads/man/pthread_mutex_init.man | 213 ++++++++++++++++++
linuxthreads/man/pthread_mutexattr_init.man | 84 +++++++
linuxthreads/man/pthread_once.man | 34 +++
linuxthreads/man/pthread_self.man | 23 ++
linuxthreads/man/pthread_setschedparam.man | 79 +++++++
linuxthreads/man/pthread_sigmask.man | 123 ++++++++++
19 files changed, 1864 insertions(+)

[2]:

alx@debian:~/src/debian/glibc$ git lg --stat -- 'debian/local/manpages/pthread*';
* 2c35c554 N - Fri, 29 Nov 2013 11:00:45 +0000 (9 years ago)
* Remove linuxthreads from the tarball: - rules.d/tarball.mk: don't fetech linuxthreads and linuxthreads_db. - rules.d/build.mk: don't build linuxthreads manpages. - rules: don't run make clean in linuxthreads directory. - patches/any/local-sysctl.diff: drop the linuxthreads part. - patches/all/local-pthread-manpages.diff: remove. - local/manpages/pthread_*.3: import the few remaining linuxthreads manpages. - debhelper.in/glibc-doc.manpages: update manpage locations. - Aurelien Jarno
debian/local/manpages/pthread_atfork.3 | 53 +++++++
debian/local/manpages/pthread_cond_init.3 | 229 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
debian/local/manpages/pthread_condattr_init.3 | 38 +++++
debian/local/manpages/pthread_key_create.3 | 151 ++++++++++++++++++++
debian/local/manpages/pthread_mutex_init.3 | 209 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++
debian/local/manpages/pthread_mutexattr_init.3 | 81 +++++++++++
debian/local/manpages/pthread_mutexattr_setkind_np.3 | 38 +++++
debian/local/manpages/pthread_once.3 | 34 +++++
8 files changed, 833 insertions(+)

--
<http://www.alejandro-colomar.es/>
GPG key fingerprint: A9348594CE31283A826FBDD8D57633D441E25BB5

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