GNU bug report logs - #62854
aclocal: Man page “Name” section should be revised to be conformant to the POSIX man specification

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Package: automake;

Reported by: Sebastian Carlos <sebaaa1754 <at> gmail.com>

Date: Sat, 15 Apr 2023 04:05:05 UTC

Severity: normal

Merged with 62853

Done: Karl Berry <karl <at> freefriends.org>

Bug is archived. No further changes may be made.

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From: Sebastian Carlos <sebaaa1754 <at> gmail.com>
To: 62854 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#62854: aclocal: Man page “Name” section should be revised to be conformant to the POSIX man specification
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2023 17:43:37 +0200
[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]
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.
[Message part 2 (text/html, inline)]

This bug report was last modified 1 year and 356 days ago.

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