Jakub Kądziołka writes: > On Tue, Jan 28, 2020 at 12:36:04AM +0100, Marius Bakke wrote: >> Jakub Kądziołka writes: >> >> > * gnu/packages/hexedit.scm (hexedit)[arguments](patch-man-path): New >> > phase. >> > [inputs]: Add MAN-DB. >> >> While this change is harmless, I think we can generally expect "man" to >> be available. Does the program crash if man-db is not installed? Or >> does it print an actionable error message? >> >> In the latter case I'm inclined to leave things as-is, in the former >> case let's patch it. But no strong opinion, mostly curious :-) > > Currently, the problem appears when hexedit is used in a `guix > environment', and man-db is not specified as an input for the > environment. In this case (assuming --pure hasn't been used), man prints > an error message saying "no manpage for hexedit" when the user presses > F1, but it cannot be seen until one exits hexedit. For a new user, this > is not a trivial feat. Moreover, the error is confusing - it suggests > that the manpage just hasn't been packaged. Right. The problem of manpages being unavailable unless man-db is included in the profile is not unique to hexedit. 'git foo --help' has the same problem in a --pure environment. But at least then you get a good error message. > When man isn't found at all, no error message is printed, the F1 key > just makes the screen blink. This could happen in a --pure environment. I see, not great. Sounds like a good reason to add man-db as an input in this case. > In hindsight, this is something I should've explained in my first message. > Sorry about that. No worries, these things are difficult. :-) Pushed in 602059e79, with a few cosmetic modifications: