Issue in man page mansect.1

Issue in man page mansect.1

[Helge Kreutzmann]

Without further ado, the following was found:

Issue:    In Debian unstable this programme yields: Binary file (standard input) matches, add "-a" in line 23
Issue:    Even with this patch, the output of this command is just a single line. ".lf 1 /usr/share/man/man3/strtol.3.gz"

"$\\ B<man -w strtol strtoul | xargs mansect \\[aq]NAME|SEE ALSO\\[aq]>;\n"
"\\&.lf 1 /usr/local/man/man3/strtol.3\n"
"\\&.TH strtol 3 2024-07-23 \"Linux man-pages 6.9.1\"\n"
"\\&.SH NAME\n"
"strtol, strtoll, strtoq - convert a string to a long integer\n"
"\\&.SH SEE ALSO\n"
"\\&.BR atof (3),\n"
"\\&.BR atoi (3),\n"
"\\&.BR atol (3),\n"
"\\&.BR strtod (3),\n"
"\\&.BR strtoimax (3),\n"
"\\&.BR strtoul (3)\n"
"\\&.lf 1 /usr/local/man/man3/strtoul.3\n"
"\\&.TH strtoul 3 2024-07-23 \"Linux man-pages 6.9.1\"\n"
"\\&.SH NAME\n"
"strtoul, strtoull, strtouq - convert a string to an unsigned long integer\n"
"\\&.SH SEE ALSO\n"
"\\&.BR a64l (3),\n"
"\\&.BR atof (3),\n"
"\\&.BR atoi (3),\n"
"\\&.BR atol (3),\n"
"\\&.BR strtod (3),\n"
"\\&.BR strtol (3),\n"
"\\&.BR strtoumax (3)\n"

Re: Issue in man page mansect.1

[Alejandro Colomar]

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Hi Helge,

On Wed, Dec 24, 2025 at 02:38:21PM +0000, Helge Kreutzmann wrote:
> Without further ado, the following was found:
> 
> Issue:    In Debian unstable this programme yields: Binary file (standard input) matches, add "-a" in line 23
> Issue:    Even with this patch, the output of this command is just a single line. ".lf 1 /usr/share/man/man3/strtol.3.gz"

The issue is that Debian compresses manual pages.  Please consider
changing the policy to not compress manual pages.  The storage savings
are irrelevant in this age.

Please CC me if you talk about this in Debian.


Have a lovely day!
Alex

> 
> "$\\ B<man -w strtol strtoul | xargs mansect \\[aq]NAME|SEE ALSO\\[aq]>;\n"
> "\\&.lf 1 /usr/local/man/man3/strtol.3\n"
> "\\&.TH strtol 3 2024-07-23 \"Linux man-pages 6.9.1\"\n"
> "\\&.SH NAME\n"
> "strtol, strtoll, strtoq - convert a string to a long integer\n"
> "\\&.SH SEE ALSO\n"
> "\\&.BR atof (3),\n"
> "\\&.BR atoi (3),\n"
> "\\&.BR atol (3),\n"
> "\\&.BR strtod (3),\n"
> "\\&.BR strtoimax (3),\n"
> "\\&.BR strtoul (3)\n"
> "\\&.lf 1 /usr/local/man/man3/strtoul.3\n"
> "\\&.TH strtoul 3 2024-07-23 \"Linux man-pages 6.9.1\"\n"
> "\\&.SH NAME\n"
> "strtoul, strtoull, strtouq - convert a string to an unsigned long integer\n"
> "\\&.SH SEE ALSO\n"
> "\\&.BR a64l (3),\n"
> "\\&.BR atof (3),\n"
> "\\&.BR atoi (3),\n"
> "\\&.BR atol (3),\n"
> "\\&.BR strtod (3),\n"
> "\\&.BR strtol (3),\n"
> "\\&.BR strtoumax (3)\n"

-- 
<https://www.alejandro-colomar.es>

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Re: Issue in man page mansect.1

[Helge Kreutzmann]

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Hello Alex,
Am Wed, Dec 24, 2025 at 04:29:49PM +0100 schrieb Alejandro Colomar:
> On Wed, Dec 24, 2025 at 02:38:21PM +0000, Helge Kreutzmann wrote:
> > Without further ado, the following was found:
> > 
> > Issue:    In Debian unstable this programme yields: Binary file (standard input) matches, add "-a" in line 23
> > Issue:    Even with this patch, the output of this command is just a single line. ".lf 1 /usr/share/man/man3/strtol.3.gz"
> 
> The issue is that Debian compresses manual pages.  Please consider
> changing the policy to not compress manual pages.  The storage savings
> are irrelevant in this age.
> 
> Please CC me if you talk about this in Debian.

I just submitted the bug in the Debian BTS as #1123959. You should be
in CC.

Greetings

          Helge


-- 
      Dr. Helge Kreutzmann                     debian@helgefjell.de
           Dipl.-Phys.                   http://www.helgefjell.de/debian.php
        64bit GNU powered                     gpg signed mail preferred
           Help keep free software "libre": http://www.ffii.de/

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