bug#59631: 29.0.50; [PATCH] New check-man target to check man pages for errors

[Stefan Kangas <stefankangas@gmail.com>]

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Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

> Can this be done by running Groff directly instead of via 'man'?  If it's
> possible, it's IMO better, since Groff installations are more widespread
> than the particular variant of 'man' you used in the script.  E.g., I think
> the requirement for C.UTF-8 locale being available can be dropped in that
> case.

The version of man used is man-db, which AFAIK is used by all major
GNU/Linux distributions.

    https://man-db.gitlab.io/man-db/

Looking into this with PIPELINE_DEBUG=1, the processing done is
non-trivial, and depends on e.g. /usr/libexec/man-db/zsoelim from
man-db.  So I think trying to duplicate all of that for the purposes of
this script might not be the best use of our time.

For reference, I've attached the debug output from man.

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$ PIPELINE_DEBUG=1 LC_ALL=C.UTF-8 MANROFFSEQ='' MANWIDTH=80 \
man --warnings=all,mac -E UTF-8 -l -Tutf8 -Z doc/man/emacs.1 >/dev/null                  
Starting pipeline: (echo .nh && echo .de hy && echo .. && echo .na && echo .de ad && echo .. && cat) [input: {0, doc/man/emacs.1}, output: {-1, NULL}]
Started "decompressor", pid 1636161
Started "echo .nh && echo .de hy && echo ..", pid 1636162
  "echo .nh && echo .de hy && echo .." (1636162) -> 0
Started "echo .na && echo .de ad && echo ..", pid 1636163
  "echo .na && echo .de ad && echo .." (1636163) -> 0
Started "cat", pid 1636164
Starting pipeline: /usr/libexec/man-db/zsoelim | preconv -e UTF-8 | groff -mandoc -Z -wall -wmac -Tutf8  "cat" (1636164) -> 0
 [input: {-1, NULL}, output: {0, NULL}]
Started "/usr/libexec/man-db/zsoelim", pid 1636165
Started "preconv", pid 1636166
Started "groff", pid 1636167
source pipeline 0 returned error or EOF
Waiting for pipeline: (echo .nh && echo .de hy && echo .. && echo .na && echo .de ad && echo .. && cat) [input: {0, doc/man/emacs.1}, output: {-1, NULL}]
Active processes (1):
  "decompressor" (1636161) -> 0
Waiting for pipeline: /usr/libexec/man-db/zsoelim | preconv -e UTF-8 | groff -mandoc -Z -wall -wmac -Tutf8 [input: {-1, NULL}, output: {0, NULL}]
Active processes (3):
  "/usr/libexec/man-db/zsoelim" (1636165) -> -1
  "preconv" (1636166) -> -1
  "groff" (1636167) -> -1
Starting pipeline: zcat [input: {3, NULL}, output: {-1, NULL}]
Started "zcat", pid 1636168
Waiting for pipeline: zcat [input: {3, NULL}, output: {-1, NULL}]
Active processes (1):
  "zcat" (1636168) -> -1
Active processes (1):
  "zcat" (1636168) -> 0
Active processes (3):
  "/usr/libexec/man-db/zsoelim" (1636165) -> 0
  "preconv" (1636166) -> -1
  "groff" (1636167) -> -1
Active processes (2):
  "preconv" (1636166) -> 0
  "groff" (1636167) -> -1
troff: <standard input>:18: warning: macro 'SHX' not defined (possibly missing space after 'SH')
Active processes (1):
  "groff" (1636167) -> 0

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> But if doing so requires too much effort or research, feel free to install
> what you have.

I'll do that, thanks.