GNU bug report logs - #39272
`man -H` doesn't use absolute path to groff

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From: help-debbugs <at> gnu.org (GNU bug Tracking System)
To: Maxim Cournoyer <maxim.cournoyer <at> gmail.com>
Cc: tracker <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#39272: closed (`man -H` doesn't use absolute path to groff)
Date: Sun, 15 Nov 2020 22:49:02 +0000

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Your message dated Sun, 15 Nov 2020 17:48:47 -0500
with message-id <87zh3idynk.fsf <at> gmail.com>
and subject line Re: bug#39272: `man -H` doesn't use absolute path to groff
has caused the debbugs.gnu.org bug report #39272,
regarding `man -H` doesn't use absolute path to groff
to be marked as done.

(If you believe you have received this mail in error, please contact
help-debbugs <at> gnu.org.)


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From: pkill9 <pkill9 <at> runbox.com>
To: bug-guix <at> gnu.org
Subject: `man -H` doesn't use absolute path to groff
Date: Fri, 24 Jan 2020 20:34:35 +0000

when running `man -H curl`, I get the following output:

```
man: command exited with status 255: (cd /tmp/hmanCnZGIK && /gnu/store/l9j6dsfs2i4spfkia492wnighplvhb1c-man-db-2.9.0/libexec/man-db/zsoelim) | (cd /tmp/hmanCnZGIK && /gnu/store/l9j6dsfs2i4spfkia492wnighplvhb1c-man-db-2.9.0/libexec/man-db/manconv -f UTF-8:ISO-8859-1 -t UTF-8//IGNORE) | (cd /tmp/hmanCnZGIK && /gnu/store/5sd2yanrfv9pq8mvnf4c6pga11r6x7qh-groff-minimal-1.22.4/bin/preconv -e UTF-8) | (cd /tmp/hmanCnZGIK && /gnu/store/5sd2yanrfv9pq8mvnf4c6pga11r6x7qh-groff-minimal-1.22.4/bin/tbl) | (cd /tmp/hmanCnZGIK && groff -mandoc -Thtml)
```

When I go into a guix environment containing groff however, it works.
Looking at the command `man -H` tries to use, it needs an absolute path
to groff.

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From: Maxim Cournoyer <maxim.cournoyer <at> gmail.com>
To: pkill9 <pkill9 <at> runbox.com>
Cc: 39272-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#39272: `man -H` doesn't use absolute path to groff
Date: Sun, 15 Nov 2020 17:48:47 -0500

Hello pkill9,

pkill9 <pkill9 <at> runbox.com> writes:

> when running `man -H curl`, I get the following output:
>
> ```
> man: command exited with status 255: (cd /tmp/hmanCnZGIK &&
> /gnu/store/l9j6dsfs2i4spfkia492wnighplvhb1c-man-db-2.9.0/libexec/man-db/zsoelim)
> | (cd /tmp/hmanCnZGIK &&
> /gnu/store/l9j6dsfs2i4spfkia492wnighplvhb1c-man-db-2.9.0/libexec/man-db/manconv
> -f UTF-8:ISO-8859-1 -t UTF-8//IGNORE) | (cd /tmp/hmanCnZGIK &&
> /gnu/store/5sd2yanrfv9pq8mvnf4c6pga11r6x7qh-groff-minimal-1.22.4/bin/preconv
> -e UTF-8) | (cd /tmp/hmanCnZGIK &&
> /gnu/store/5sd2yanrfv9pq8mvnf4c6pga11r6x7qh-groff-minimal-1.22.4/bin/tbl)
> | (cd /tmp/hmanCnZGIK && groff -mandoc -Thtml)
> ```
>
> When I go into a guix environment containing groff however, it works.
> Looking at the command `man -H` tries to use, it needs an absolute path
> to groff.

I looked into this but it turns out that our man-db package is carefully
crafted not to refer to the full groff package to reduce its closure
size by more than half.

I think you'll have to live with installing groff manually to get the
HTML feature, or alter the man-db definition to your particular needs.

If this issue comes back often, we could revisit this choice and use the
full groff, which would mean adding about 50 MiB to the closure of the
bare-bones.tmpl system.

Closing,

Thanks for the report!

Maxim

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