GNU bug report logs - #62853
Man page “Name” section should be revised to be conformant to the POSIX man specification

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From: Sebastian Carlos <sebaaa1754 <at> gmail.com>
To: 62853 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#62853: Man page “Name” section should be revised to be conformant to the POSIX man specification
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2023 17:36:31 +0200

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Hello,

Currently, the "Name" section of the automake man page reads "automake -
manual page for automake 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 automake does or how it
can be used.

I suggest that the “Name” section should be changed to something like
“automake - Generate Makefile.in files from Makefile.am files”. This would
be more informative and compliant with the POSIX standard.

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

Thanks for your time.

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