Subject: bug#62854: closed (Re: bug#62853: Man page “Name”section should be revised to be conformant to the POSIX man specification)

From: [email-masked] (GNU bug Tracking System)
Date: Tue, 30 May 2023 00:57:03 +0000

Your bug report

#62853: aclocal: Man page “Name” section should be revised to be conformant to the POSIX man specification

which was filed against the automake package, has been closed.

The explanation is attached below, along with your original report.
If you require more details, please reply to [email-masked].

-- 
62853: https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=62853
GNU Bug Tracking System
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Subject: Re: bug#62853: Man page “Name” section should be revised to be conformant to the POSIX man specification
From: Karl Berry <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Cc: [email-masked], [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 29 May 2023 18:56:05 -0600
List-Id: <debbugs-submit.debbugs.gnu.org>

Hi Sebastian,

    Currently, the "Name" section of the automake man

I just committed a change to set the Name section, as you suggested.
We'll now have (based on the --help message):

aclocal - Generate aclocal.m4 by scanning configure.ac
automake - Generate Makefile.in files for configure from Makefile.am

Thanks again for the report,
Karl

Subject: aclocal: Man page “Name” section should be revised to be conformant to the POSIX man specification
From: Sebastian Carlos <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2023 17:43:37 +0200
List-Id: <debbugs-submit.debbugs.gnu.org>

Hello,

Currently, the "Name" section of the aclocal man page reads "aclocal -
manual page for aclocal 1.16.5" This is problematic for two reasons:

- It is redundant, as there is no need to mention that it is a manual page.
Also, the version is already available in the footer of the man page.
- More importantly, the text is non-conformant to the POSIX man
specification because the "name" sections is used to generate the
"utilities summary database" (used for the "man -k" or the "apropos"
command), which should be a "terse description of the purpose of the
utility". The current text does not describe what aclocal does or how it
can be used.

POSIX specification for the man command:
https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/utilities/man.html

Thanks for your time.