[Bug 216603] Environment variable MANLESS is described wrong in man(1)

[bugzilla-daemon@kernel.org]

https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=216603

--- Comment #1 from Alejandro Colomar (man-pages) (alx.manpages@gmail.com) ---
Hi Arttu,

On 10/18/22 21:55, bugzilla-daemon@kernel.org wrote:
> https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=216603
> 
>              Bug ID: 216603
>             Summary: Environment variable MANLESS is described wrong in
>                      man(1)
>             Product: Documentation
>             Version: unspecified
>            Hardware: All
>                  OS: Linux
>              Status: NEW
>            Severity: normal
>            Priority: P1
>           Component: man-pages
>            Assignee: documentation_man-pages@kernel-bugs.osdl.org
>            Reporter: karttu+bugzilla@gmail.com
>          Regression: No
> 
> In an example for setting MANLESS environment variable, man(1) claims:
> 
>      For example, if you want to set the prompt string unconditionally
>      to "my prompt string", set $MANLESS to '-Psmy prompt string'.
> 
> However, this is not not correct as man uses the entire MANLESS variable
> as a prompt for less.  I'll demonstrate:
> 
>      $ MANLESS='-Ps(prompt)' man man
>      <ctrl-z>
>      $ cat /proc/$(pgrep -P $(pgrep -f "man man"))/environ |
>      tr '\0' '\n' | grep "^LESS="
> 
>      LESS=-ix8RmPm-Ps(prompt)$PM-Ps(prompt)$
> 
> As seen, man(1) defines -Pm and -PM prompts using the MANLESS variable as is.
> The same applies to the command line option -r:
> 
>      $ man -r'-Ps(prompt)' man
>      <ctrl-z>
>      $ cat /proc/$(pgrep -P $(pgrep -f "man .* man"))/environ |
>      tr '\0' '\n' | grep "^LESS="
> 
>      LESS=-ix8RmPm-Ps(prompt)$PM-Ps(prompt)$
> 
> Option -r does not make the same claim, but it says:
> 
>      By default man sets the -ix8 options.
> 
> Which also is a bit outdated as we can see it sets -ix8R.
> 
> So in summary, at least the '-Ps' part should be removed from the MANLESS
> description example.  Furthermore, option -r description could elaborate on
> how LESS variable is formed (-ix8RmPm<MANLESS or -r>$PM<MANLESS or -r>$).
> 
> Note: Dollar sign in less prompt definition is an end-of-string marker.
> 

The man(1) page is part of the man-db project, not the Linux man-pages. 
Colin is the maintainer of man-db, so I CCd him.

Their website is:

<https://man-db.nongnu.org/>

However, I'm curious about the resolution, so if you report it again in 
the man-db bug tracker (I guess that's their gitlab?  don't remember), 
please CC me. :)

Cheers,

Alex

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