[PATCH] teach browse-url about man pages

[PATCH] teach browse-url about man pages

[Mark Oteiza]

We should be able to browse to man page urls within emacs.

Not sure about a couple things:

- whether something like browse-url-man-viewer should be added. Are
  there some other commonly used man page reader? I don't know.
- the :version

but otherwise, pretty straightforward, mostly derived from the mailto:
bits.

diff --git a/lisp/net/browse-url.el b/lisp/net/browse-url.el
index c0b3591..91f6f2f 100644
--- a/lisp/net/browse-url.el
+++ b/lisp/net/browse-url.el
@@ -184,6 +184,22 @@ browse-url-mailto-function
   :version "24.1"
   :group 'browse-url)
 
+(defcustom browse-url-man-function 'browse-url-man
+  "Function to display man: links."
+  :type '(choice
+	  (function-item :tag "Emacs Man" :value browse-url-man)
+	  (function-item :tag "None" nil))
+  :version "26.1"
+  :group 'browse-url)
+
+(defcustom browse-url-man-viewer 'man
+  "Function to display Un*x man pages."
+  :type '(radio (function-item man)
+                (function-item woman)
+                (function :tag "Other function"))
+  :version "26.1"
+  :group 'browse-url)
+
 (defcustom browse-url-netscape-program "netscape"
   ;; Info about netscape-remote from Karl Berry.
   "The name by which to invoke Netscape.
@@ -801,6 +817,8 @@ browse-url
   (let ((process-environment (copy-sequence process-environment))
 	(function (or (and (string-match "\\`mailto:" url)
 			   browse-url-mailto-function)
+                      (and (string-match "\\`man:" url)
+                           browse-url-man-function)
 		      browse-url-browser-function))
 	;; Ensure that `default-directory' exists and is readable (b#6077).
 	(default-directory (or (unhandled-file-name-directory default-directory)
@@ -1588,6 +1606,20 @@ browse-url-mail
 		     (unless (bolp)
 		       (insert "\n"))))))))
 
+;; --- man ---
+
+(defvar manual-program)
+
+(defun browse-url-man (url &optional _new-window)
+  "Open a man page."
+  (interactive (browse-url-interactive-arg "Man page URL: "))
+  (require 'man)
+  (setq url (replace-regexp-in-string "\\`man:" "" url))
+  (pcase browse-url-man-viewer
+    (`man (man url))
+    (`woman (woman (replace-regexp-in-string "([[:alnum:]]+)" "" url)))
+    (_ (apply 'browse-url-man-viewer url))))
+
 ;; --- Random browser ---
 
 ;;;###autoload

Re: [PATCH] teach browse-url about man pages

[Clément Pit--Claudel]

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Neat :)

On 2016-10-14 21:14, Mark Oteiza wrote:
> +    (_ (apply 'browse-url-man-viewer url))))

Do you need the quote there? 

Clément.


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Re: [PATCH] teach browse-url about man pages

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Mark Oteiza <mvoteiza@udel.edu>
> Date: Fri, 14 Oct 2016 21:14:21 -0400
> 
> We should be able to browse to man page urls within emacs.

I think it would be a nice feature, yes.

> Not sure about a couple things:
> 
> - whether something like browse-url-man-viewer should be added. Are
>   there some other commonly used man page reader? I don't know.

You mean, except man.el and woman.el?  I think these two should be
enough.  (Actually, woman.el doesn't support many modern man pages, so
it's only a distant second.)

If you mean something else, please tell.

> - the :version

This will go to master, so the version is 26.1.

> but otherwise, pretty straightforward, mostly derived from the mailto:
> bits.

If no one objects, please push to master in a week or so.

Thanks.

Re: [PATCH] teach browse-url about man pages

[Mark Oteiza]

On 15/10/16 at 09:01am, Eli Zaretskii wrote:
> > From: Mark Oteiza <mvoteiza@udel.edu>
> > Date: Fri, 14 Oct 2016 21:14:21 -0400
> > 
> > Not sure about a couple things:
> > 
> > - whether something like browse-url-man-viewer should be added. Are
> >   there some other commonly used man page reader? I don't know.
> 
> You mean, except man.el and woman.el?  I think these two should be
> enough.  (Actually, woman.el doesn't support many modern man pages, so
> it's only a distant second.)
> 
> If you mean something else, please tell.

I meant instead of man(1).  I'm aware of xorg-xman, but that looks quite
crusty.  I'm not going to worry about it--the other variable can be
added later, if ever needed.

Re: [PATCH] teach browse-url about man pages

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Sun, 16 Oct 2016 10:59:04 -0400
> From: Mark Oteiza <mvoteiza@udel.edu>
> Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org
> 
> > > - whether something like browse-url-man-viewer should be added. Are
> > >   there some other commonly used man page reader? I don't know.
> > 
> > You mean, except man.el and woman.el?  I think these two should be
> > enough.  (Actually, woman.el doesn't support many modern man pages, so
> > it's only a distant second.)
> > 
> > If you mean something else, please tell.
> 
> I meant instead of man(1).

The stand-alone Info reader can display man pages, but it calls 'man'
for that and displays what 'man' outputs.

I'm not aware of any others.