GNU bug report logs -
#77944
31.0.50; M-x man on macOS fails with error
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Reported by: Gerd Möllmann <gerd.moellmann <at> gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 20 Apr 2025 16:29:02 UTC
Severity: normal
Found in version 31.0.50
Fixed in version 31.1
Done: Michael Albinus <michael.albinus <at> gmx.de>
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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):
To reproduce with emacs -Q
M-x man RET ls RET
The man buffer shows
sed: 1: "/^[\o001-\o032][\o001-\ ...": RE error: invalid character range
In GNU Emacs 31.0.50 (build 1, aarch64-apple-darwin24.4.0, NS
appkit-2575.50 Version 15.4.1 (Build 24E263)) of 2025-04-20 built on
pro2
Repository revision: 6fb2a4691f4d53473c0a326d3a6c23df9008b6e8
Repository branch: master
System Description: macOS 15.4.1
Configured using:
'configure --cache-file
/var/folders/1d/k_6t25f94sl83szqbf8gpkrh0000gn/T//config.cache.master
--enable-checking=yes --with-native-compilation=no CC=clang
'CFLAGS=-Wgnu-imaginary-constant -Wunused-result -g -g -O0 -F
/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks
-Wno-ignored-attributes -Wno-flag-enum -Wno-missing-method-return-type
-Wno-variadic-macros -Wno-strict-prototypes -Wno-availability
-Wno-nullability-completeness''
Configured features:
ACL DBUS GLIB GNUTLS LCMS2 LIBXML2 MODULES NOTIFY KQUEUE NS PDUMPER PNG
RSVG SQLITE3 THREADS TOOLKIT_SCROLL_BARS TREE_SITTER WEBP XIM ZLIB
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Message #8 received at 77944 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):
> From: Gerd Möllmann <gerd.moellmann <at> gmail.com>
> Date: Sun, 20 Apr 2025 18:27:44 +0200
>
> To reproduce with emacs -Q
>
> M-x man RET ls RET
>
> The man buffer shows
>
> sed: 1: "/^[\o001-\o032][\o001-\ ...": RE error: invalid character range
Micheal, that's your addition. Are these octal escapes not portable
enough?
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(Mon, 21 Apr 2025 15:20:03 GMT)
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Message #11 received at 77944 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):
Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org> writes:
Hi Gerd,
>> From: Gerd Möllmann <gerd.moellmann <at> gmail.com>
>> Date: Sun, 20 Apr 2025 18:27:44 +0200
>>
>> To reproduce with emacs -Q
>>
>> M-x man RET ls RET
>>
>> The man buffer shows
>>
>> sed: 1: "/^[\o001-\o032][\o001-\ ...": RE error: invalid character range
>
> Micheal, that's your addition. Are these octal escapes not portable
> enough?
Don't know. It was "-e '/^[\001-\032][\001-\032]*$/d'" before. I've
changed it due to problems with remote man pages, see the comment above.
This is macOS, isn't it? What does the following shell command show?
--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
# sed -e '/^[\o001-\o032][\o001-\o032]*$/d' /dev/null
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---
If it fails, does the following work?
--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
# sed -e '/^[\001-\032][\001-\032]*$/d' /dev/null
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---
Does 'sed --version' return something useful? Do you know which sed
version it is, otherwise?
Best regards, Michael.
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(Mon, 21 Apr 2025 15:32:02 GMT)
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Message #14 received at 77944 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):
Michael Albinus <michael.albinus <at> gmx.de> writes:
Frohe Ostern!
> This is macOS, isn't it? What does the following shell command show?
Right, it's macOS.
>
> # sed -e '/^[\o001-\o032][\o001-\o032]*$/d' /dev/null
>
$ /usr/bin/sed -e '/^[\o001-\o032][\o001-\o032]*$/d' /dev/null
sed: 1: "/^[\o001-\o032][\o001-\ ...": RE error: invalid character rangeThat gives
(I've installed the GNU sed package "gsed" for now, as a workaround.
That's why I invoke /usr/bin/sed.
> If it fails, does the following work?
>
> # sed -e '/^[\001-\032][\001-\032]*$/d' /dev/null
/usr/bin/sed -e '/^[\001-\032][\001-\032]*$/d' /dev/null
sed: 1: "/^[\001-\032][\001-\032 ...": RE error: invalid character range
>
> Does 'sed --version' return something useful? Do you know which sed
> version it is, otherwise?
It doesn't have a --version. The man page says
AUTHORS
Diomidis D. Spinellis <dds <at> FreeBSD.org>
so I guess it's the FreeBSD one.
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Message #17 received at 77944 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):
Gerd Möllmann <gerd.moellmann <at> gmail.com> writes:
Hi Gerd,
> Frohe Ostern!
Naja, fast vorbei. Trotzdem auch fuer Dich viele Ostereier!
>> If it fails, does the following work?
>>
>> # sed -e '/^[\001-\032][\001-\032]*$/d' /dev/null
>
> /usr/bin/sed -e '/^[\001-\032][\001-\032]*$/d' /dev/null
> sed: 1: "/^[\001-\032][\001-\032 ...": RE error: invalid character range
So it isn't due to my change. GNU sed is required for this expression
anyway.
I could check whether GNU sed is in game. But I don't know what to do in
case it isn't: don't use this regexp silently? Or use something else?
What works for BSD sed?
>> Does 'sed --version' return something useful? Do you know which sed
>> version it is, otherwise?
>
> It doesn't have a --version. The man page says
>
> AUTHORS
> Diomidis D. Spinellis <dds <at> FreeBSD.org>
>
> so I guess it's the FreeBSD one.
I see. Does of the following work with BSD sed?
--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
# sed -e '/^[[:cntrl:]][[:cntrl:]]*$/d' /dev/null
# sed -e '/^[\\o0001-\\o0032][\\o0001-\\o0032]*$/d' /dev/null
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---
Best regards, Michael.
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(Mon, 21 Apr 2025 16:42:02 GMT)
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Message #20 received at 77944 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):
Michael Albinus <michael.albinus <at> gmx.de> writes:
> I see. Does of the following work with BSD sed?
>
> # sed -e '/^[[:cntrl:]][[:cntrl:]]*$/d' /dev/null
> # sed -e '/^[\\o0001-\\o0032][\\o0001-\\o0032]*$/d' /dev/null
Neither prints an error in the shell.
I then
1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)
lisp/man.el | 2 +-
modified lisp/man.el
@@ -637,7 +637,7 @@ Man-init-defvars
"")
;; Use octal numbers. Otherwise, \032 (Ctrl-Z) would
;; suspend remote connections.
- "-e '/^[\\o001-\\o032][\\o001-\\o032]*$/d'"
+ "-e '/^[[:cntrl:]][[:cntrl:]]*$/d'"
"-e '/\e[789]/s///g'"
"-e '/Reformatting page. Wait/d'"
"-e '/Reformatting entry. Wait/d'"
built and M-x man in emacs -Q, and that works (with gsed uninstalled).
Didn't try the other one, but I could if you want me to.
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Message #23 received at 77944 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):
Gerd Möllmann <gerd.moellmann <at> gmail.com> writes:
Hi Gerd,
> I then
>
> 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)
> lisp/man.el | 2 +-
>
> modified lisp/man.el
> @@ -637,7 +637,7 @@ Man-init-defvars
> "")
> ;; Use octal numbers. Otherwise, \032 (Ctrl-Z) would
> ;; suspend remote connections.
> - "-e '/^[\\o001-\\o032][\\o001-\\o032]*$/d'"
> + "-e '/^[[:cntrl:]][[:cntrl:]]*$/d'"
> "-e '/\e[789]/s///g'"
> "-e '/Reformatting page. Wait/d'"
> "-e '/Reformatting entry. Wait/d'"
>
> built and M-x man in emacs -Q, and that works (with gsed uninstalled).
Great!
> Didn't try the other one, but I could if you want me to.
Yes, please try. [[:cntrl:]] is equal to [\\o0000-\\o0037]. Much
more than [\\o0001-\\o0032], so I'd prefer the latter.
Best regards, Michael.
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Message #26 received at 77944 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):
Michael Albinus <michael.albinus <at> gmx.de> writes:
> Gerd Möllmann <gerd.moellmann <at> gmail.com> writes:
>
> Hi Gerd,
>
>> I then
>>
>> 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)
>> lisp/man.el | 2 +-
>>
>> modified lisp/man.el
>> @@ -637,7 +637,7 @@ Man-init-defvars
>> "")
>> ;; Use octal numbers. Otherwise, \032 (Ctrl-Z) would
>> ;; suspend remote connections.
>> - "-e '/^[\\o001-\\o032][\\o001-\\o032]*$/d'"
>> + "-e '/^[[:cntrl:]][[:cntrl:]]*$/d'"
>> "-e '/\e[789]/s///g'"
>> "-e '/Reformatting page. Wait/d'"
>> "-e '/Reformatting entry. Wait/d'"
>>
>> built and M-x man in emacs -Q, and that works (with gsed uninstalled).
>
> Great!
>
>> Didn't try the other one, but I could if you want me to.
>
> Yes, please try. [[:cntrl:]] is equal to [\\o0000-\\o0037]. Much
> more than [\\o0001-\\o0032], so I'd prefer the latter.
The second one doesn't work. It gives the error again in M-x man. Also
in the shell
/Users/gerd/emacs/github/cl-packages % sed -e '/^[\\o0001-\\o0032][\\o0001-\\o0032]*$/d' /dev/null
sed: 1: "/^[\\o0001-\\o0032][\\o ...": RE error: invalid character range
I guess I had gsed still installed when I tried that in zsh, and forgot
to add the /usr/bin/.
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Michael Albinus <michael.albinus <at> gmx.de>:
You have taken responsibility.
(Tue, 22 Apr 2025 06:53:05 GMT)
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Gerd Möllmann <gerd.moellmann <at> gmail.com>:
bug acknowledged by developer.
(Tue, 22 Apr 2025 06:53:06 GMT)
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Message #31 received at 77944-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):
Version: 31.1
Gerd Möllmann <gerd.moellmann <at> gmail.com> writes:
Hi Gerd,
>> Yes, please try. [[:cntrl:]] is equal to [\\o0000-\\o0037]. Much
>> more than [\\o0001-\\o0032], so I'd prefer the latter.
>
> The second one doesn't work. It gives the error again in M-x man. Also
> in the shell
>
> /Users/gerd/emacs/github/cl-packages % sed -e '/^[\\o0001-\\o0032][\\o0001-\\o0032]*$/d' /dev/null
> sed: 1: "/^[\\o0001-\\o0032][\\o ...": RE error: invalid character range
>
> I guess I had gsed still installed when I tried that in zsh, and forgot
> to add the /usr/bin/.
Thanks for the check. So I've pushed a patch using [:cntrl:] to
master. Closing the bug.
Best regards, Michael.
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(Tue, 22 Apr 2025 07:03:01 GMT)
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Message #34 received at 77944-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):
Michael Albinus <michael.albinus <at> gmx.de> writes:
> Version: 31.1
>
> Gerd Möllmann <gerd.moellmann <at> gmail.com> writes:
>
> Hi Gerd,
>
>>> Yes, please try. [[:cntrl:]] is equal to [\\o0000-\\o0037]. Much
>>> more than [\\o0001-\\o0032], so I'd prefer the latter.
>>
>> The second one doesn't work. It gives the error again in M-x man. Also
>> in the shell
>>
>> /Users/gerd/emacs/github/cl-packages % sed -e '/^[\\o0001-\\o0032][\\o0001-\\o0032]*$/d' /dev/null
>> sed: 1: "/^[\\o0001-\\o0032][\\o ...": RE error: invalid character range
>>
>> I guess I had gsed still installed when I tried that in zsh, and forgot
>> to add the /usr/bin/.
>
> Thanks for the check. So I've pushed a patch using [:cntrl:] to
> master. Closing the bug.
>
> Best regards, Michael.
Thanks for the quick fix!
bug archived.
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(Tue, 20 May 2025 11:24:14 GMT)
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bug unarchived.
Request was from
Przemysław Kryger <pkryger <at> gmail.com>
to
control <at> debbugs.gnu.org.
(Thu, 29 May 2025 16:44:02 GMT)
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Message #41 received at 77944-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):
(Sorry for duplicate e-mail for some, but it seems that my previous attempt has failed.)
I can see the same issue on 30.1.50 on macOS as well, (built from:
https://github.com/jdtsmith/emacs-mac/commit/4caf8199ea11305ce5f6ca0a380cf18d200d5039).
That is, in emacs -Q
M-x man RET ls RET
yields a man buffer that shows:
sed: 1: "/^[\o001-\o032][\o001-\ ...": RE error: invalid character range
A quick check with:
M-x find-library RET man RET
shows that the line with
"-e '/^[\\o001-\\o032][\\o001-\\o032]*$/d'"
is there as well. The same line is also present in
8881dca81c95bac1977aa2c924be173382444c4a (tip of branch emacs-30).
I can see the fix (fc5e905dc90e21b1a381bde42e22c06f45c17e16) is contained in
branch master, but it's not in branch emacs-30 yet. Does it mean it's not
planned to be included in Emacs-30.2 (or Emacs-30.3)?
Cheers,
PK
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(Fri, 30 May 2025 04:43:02 GMT)
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Message #44 received at 77944 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):
> Date: Thu, 29 May 2025 17:40:35 +0100
> From: Przemysław Kryger <pkryger <at> gmail.com>
> CC: gerd.moellmann <at> gmail.com, eliz <at> gnu.org
>
> (Sorry for duplicate e-mail for some, but it seems that my previous attempt has failed.)
>
> I can see the same issue on 30.1.50 on macOS as well, (built from:
> https://github.com/jdtsmith/emacs-mac/commit/4caf8199ea11305ce5f6ca0a380cf18d200d5039).
> That is, in emacs -Q
>
> M-x man RET ls RET
>
> yields a man buffer that shows:
>
> sed: 1: "/^[\o001-\o032][\o001-\ ...": RE error: invalid character range
>
> A quick check with:
>
> M-x find-library RET man RET
>
> shows that the line with
>
> "-e '/^[\\o001-\\o032][\\o001-\\o032]*$/d'"
>
> is there as well. The same line is also present in
> 8881dca81c95bac1977aa2c924be173382444c4a (tip of branch emacs-30).
>
>
> I can see the fix (fc5e905dc90e21b1a381bde42e22c06f45c17e16) is contained in
> branch master, but it's not in branch emacs-30 yet. Does it mean it's not
> planned to be included in Emacs-30.2 (or Emacs-30.3)?
Indeed, we don't plan to have the fix in Emacs 30.2. The change is
not simple, and the handling of system-dependent idiosyncrasies in
"M-x man" is delicate and fragile, so we prefer not to risk any
breakage there.
You can, however, patch your man.el locally.
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(Fri, 30 May 2025 05:31:01 GMT)
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Message #47 received at 77944 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):
> Indeed, we don't plan to have the fix in Emacs 30.2.
Thanks for confirmation. Any chance to incorporate it in Emacs-30 further down
the line?
> The change is
> not simple, and the handling of system-dependent idiosyncrasies in
> "M-x man" is delicate and fragile, so we prefer not to risk any
> breakage there.
I fully support that!
> You can, however, patch your man.el locally.
For now I am setting Man-sed-command to gsed (the GNU sed available via brew on
macOS). But that's a great idea, I will add patch it in my brew build recipe.
Cheers,
PK
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(Sun, 15 Jun 2025 19:22:01 GMT)
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Message #50 received at 77944 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):
> From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
> To: Przemysław Kryger <pkryger <at> gmail.com>
> Cc: 77944 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, gerd.moellmann <at> gmail.com, michael.albinus <at> gmx.de
> Subject: Re: bug#77944: 31.0.50; M-x man on macOS fails with error
> Date: Fri, 30 May 2025 07:42:38 +0300
>
> > Date: Thu, 29 May 2025 17:40:35 +0100
> > From: Przemysław Kryger <pkryger <at> gmail.com>
> > CC: gerd.moellmann <at> gmail.com, eliz <at> gnu.org
>
> > I can see the fix (fc5e905dc90e21b1a381bde42e22c06f45c17e16) is contained in
> > branch master, but it's not in branch emacs-30 yet. Does it mean it's not
> > planned to be included in Emacs-30.2 (or Emacs-30.3)?
>
> Indeed, we don't plan to have the fix in Emacs 30.2. The change is
> not simple, and the handling of system-dependent idiosyncrasies in
> "M-x man" is delicate and fragile, so we prefer not to risk any
> breakage there.
What about something more surgical, like:
diff --git a/lisp/man.el b/lisp/man.el
index dcfab8d2035..060c3f99916 100644
--- a/lisp/man.el
+++ b/lisp/man.el
@@ -650,9 +650,11 @@ Man-init-defvars
(if Man-sed-script
(concat "-e '" Man-sed-script "'")
"")
- ;; Use octal numbers. Otherwise, \032 (Ctrl-Z) would
- ;; suspend remote connections.
- "-e '/^[\\o001-\\o032][\\o001-\\o032]*$/d'"
+ (if (eq system-type 'darwin)
+ ;; Darwin sed doesn't support \o notation.
+ "-e '/^[[:cntrl:]][[:cntrl:]]*$/d'"
+ ;; Use octal numbers. Otherwise, \032 (Ctrl-Z) would
+ ;; suspend remote connections.
+ "-e '/^[\\o001-\\o032][\\o001-\\o032]*$/d'")
"-e '/\e[789]/s///g'"
"-e '/Reformatting page. Wait/d'"
"-e '/Reformatting entry. Wait/d'"
That way it only impacts darwin users (which are totally without it).
I'd love to not have to patch emacs or install an alternative sed...
Thanks,
David
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(Mon, 16 Jun 2025 06:09:02 GMT)
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Message #53 received at 77944 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):
> Date: Sun, 15 Jun 2025 12:21:29 -0700
> From: David Caldwell <david <at> porkrind.org>
> Cc: 77944 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, Michael Albinus <michael.albinus <at> gmx.de>
>
> > From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
> > To: Przemysław Kryger <pkryger <at> gmail.com>
> > Cc: 77944 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, gerd.moellmann <at> gmail.com, michael.albinus <at> gmx.de
> > Subject: Re: bug#77944: 31.0.50; M-x man on macOS fails with error
> > Date: Fri, 30 May 2025 07:42:38 +0300
> >
> > > Date: Thu, 29 May 2025 17:40:35 +0100
> > > From: Przemysław Kryger <pkryger <at> gmail.com>
> > > CC: gerd.moellmann <at> gmail.com, eliz <at> gnu.org
> >
> > > I can see the fix (fc5e905dc90e21b1a381bde42e22c06f45c17e16) is contained in
> > > branch master, but it's not in branch emacs-30 yet. Does it mean it's not
> > > planned to be included in Emacs-30.2 (or Emacs-30.3)?
> >
> > Indeed, we don't plan to have the fix in Emacs 30.2. The change is
> > not simple, and the handling of system-dependent idiosyncrasies in
> > "M-x man" is delicate and fragile, so we prefer not to risk any
> > breakage there.
>
> What about something more surgical, like:
>
> diff --git a/lisp/man.el b/lisp/man.el
> index dcfab8d2035..060c3f99916 100644
> --- a/lisp/man.el
> +++ b/lisp/man.el
> @@ -650,9 +650,11 @@ Man-init-defvars
> (if Man-sed-script
> (concat "-e '" Man-sed-script "'")
> "")
> - ;; Use octal numbers. Otherwise, \032 (Ctrl-Z) would
> - ;; suspend remote connections.
> - "-e '/^[\\o001-\\o032][\\o001-\\o032]*$/d'"
> + (if (eq system-type 'darwin)
> + ;; Darwin sed doesn't support \o notation.
> + "-e '/^[[:cntrl:]][[:cntrl:]]*$/d'"
> + ;; Use octal numbers. Otherwise, \032 (Ctrl-Z) would
> + ;; suspend remote connections.
> + "-e '/^[\\o001-\\o032][\\o001-\\o032]*$/d'")
> "-e '/\e[789]/s///g'"
> "-e '/Reformatting page. Wait/d'"
> "-e '/Reformatting entry. Wait/d'"
>
> That way it only impacts darwin users (which are totally without it).
I could consider this if otherwise "M-x man" is completely broken on
macOS. Is it?
> I'd love to not have to patch emacs or install an alternative sed...
I don't understand why: installing GNU Sed should be easy, and you
don't lose anything by doing that.
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Message #56 received at 77944 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):
> I could consider this if otherwise "M-x man" is completely broken on
> macOS. Is it?
It is. At least in my case.
> I don't understand why: installing GNU Sed should be easy, and you
> don't lose anything by doing that.
That should be relatively straight forward. However, there's one slight
complication. User needs to set `Man-sed-command before' before man has
been loaded. Otherwise they need to call `(Man-init-defvars)' in order
to make the setting to be effective. At least this is how I understood
it.
Cheers,
PK
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Message #59 received at 77944 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):
>> I don't understand why: installing GNU Sed should be easy, and you
>> don't lose anything by doing that.
> That should be relatively straight forward. However, there's one
> slight complication. User needs to set `Man-sed-command before'
> before man has been loaded. Otherwise they need to call
> `(Man-init-defvars)' in order to make the setting to be effective. At
> least this is how I understood it.
Please disregard what I wrote about calling `(Man-init-defvars)'. It
was a leftover in my config from when it used to change the value of
`Man-filter-list'. Since then I have switched to applying the patch
directly Emacs source during build. Changing the value of
`Man-sed-command' doesn't require this.
Cheers,
PK
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Message #62 received at 77944 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):
> From: Przemysław Kryger <pkryger <at> gmail.com>
> Cc: 77944 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, david <at> porkrind.org, michael.albinus <at> gmx.de
> Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2025 09:46:05 +0100
>
>
> >> I don't understand why: installing GNU Sed should be easy, and you
> >> don't lose anything by doing that.
>
> > That should be relatively straight forward. However, there's one
> > slight complication. User needs to set `Man-sed-command before'
> > before man has been loaded. Otherwise they need to call
> > `(Man-init-defvars)' in order to make the setting to be effective. At
> > least this is how I understood it.
>
> Please disregard what I wrote about calling `(Man-init-defvars)'. It
> was a leftover in my config from when it used to change the value of
> `Man-filter-list'. Since then I have switched to applying the patch
> directly Emacs source during build. Changing the value of
> `Man-sed-command' doesn't require this.
I actually don't understand why there's a need to change
Man-sed-command. Can't you arrange for GNU Sed to be on PATH before
the system-provided one?
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Message #65 received at 77944 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):
> From: Przemysław Kryger <pkryger <at> gmail.com>
> Cc: 77944 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, david <at> porkrind.org, michael.albinus <at> gmx.de
> Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2025 09:20:53 +0100
>
>
> > I could consider this if otherwise "M-x man" is completely broken on
> > macOS. Is it?
>
> It is. At least in my case.
Can someone please provide a comprehensive answer to this: does "M-x
man" always fail on all supported versions of macOS? If not, which
versions are affected?
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Message #68 received at 77944 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):
[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]
On Mon, Jun 16, 2025 at 5:18 AM Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org> wrote:
> > From: Przemysław Kryger <pkryger <at> gmail.com>
> > Cc: 77944 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, david <at> porkrind.org, michael.albinus <at> gmx.de
> > Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2025 09:20:53 +0100
> >
> >
> > > I could consider this if otherwise "M-x man" is completely broken on
> > > macOS. Is it?
> >
> > It is. At least in my case.
>
> Can someone please provide a comprehensive answer to this: does "M-x
> man" always fail on all supported versions of macOS? If not, which
> versions are affected?
>
Running `man` Emacs 30.1 on macOS 12.7.6 /usr/bin/sed works fine for me. I
verified that (executable-find "sed") finds /usr/bin/sed and that I do not
have GNU sed installed. FYI, my (getenv "MANPATH") is nil, so it's system
defaults, which reminds me that I should add /usr/local/share/man, but
that's secondary.
[Message part 2 (text/html, inline)]
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Message #71 received at 77944 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):
Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org> writes:
> Can someone please provide a comprehensive answer to this: does "M-x
> man" always fail on all supported versions of macOS? If not, which
> versions are affected?
M-x man works for me on macOS (Sequoia 15.1.1) with a relatively recent
master (3927402af0a) and no special configuration. In a given Emacs
session, the first time time I do M-x man, it takes a long time (15+
seconds) before it prompts me to choose a manual entry, but each
subsequent use is responsive, and there are no errors.
$ which sed
/usr/bin/sed
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Message #74 received at 77944 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):
> From: Przemysław Kryger <pkryger <at> gmail.com>
> Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2025 10:19:39 +0100
>
> > I actually don't understand why there's a need to change
> > Man-sed-command. Can't you arrange for GNU Sed to be on PATH before
> > the system-provided one?
>
> This could be done, for example brew gives this advice on my system:
>
> GNU "sed" has been installed as "gsed".
> If you need to use it as "sed", you can add a "gnubin" directory
> to your PATH from your bashrc like:
>
> PATH="/opt/homebrew/opt/gnu-sed/libexec/gnubin:$PATH"
>
> However, this may have unintended consequences when something else
> relies on some peculiarity of non GNU sed installed with OS. Unless GNU
> sed functionality is guaranteed to be a superset of the non GNU one.
I think GNU Sed is indeed a superset in its functionalities.
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Message #77 received at 77944 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):
> Please disregard what I wrote about calling `(Man-init-defvars)'. [...]
Actually not. I've double checked and Man-sed-command is evaluated
while Man-filter-list is set by Man-init-defvars. It seems that calling
the latter is indeed required when Man-sed-command is updated after man
has been loaded.
> Can someone please provide a comprehensive answer to this: does "M-x
> man" always fail on all supported versions of macOS? If not, which
> versions are affected?
It fails with Emacs 30.1 on macOS Sequoia 15.5:
emacs -Q
M-x man RET sed RET
fails with (as in original report):
sed: 1: "/^[\o001-\o032][\o001-\ ...": RE error: invalid character range
In the *scratch* evaluated the following, just to make sure there are no
differences between effective PATH if make-process and a terminal:
emacs-version
"30.1"
(executable-find "sed")
=> "/usr/bin/sed"
(shell-command-to-string (concat (executable-find "sed") " --version"))
=> "/usr/bin/sed: illegal option -- -
usage: sed script [-EHalnru] [-i extension] [file ...]
sed [-EHalnu] [-i extension] [-e script] ... [-f script_file] ... [file ...]
"
So it seems that the "/usr/bin/sed" is unable to process --version
argument, while:
(shell-command-to-string (concat (executable-find "gsed") " --version"))
=> "/opt/homebrew/bin/gsed (GNU sed) 4.9
Copyright (C) 2022 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
Written by Jay Fenlason, Tom Lord, Ken Pizzini,
Paolo Bonzini, Jim Meyering, and Assaf Gordon.
This sed program was built without SELinux support.
GNU sed home page: <https://www.gnu.org/software/sed/>.
General help using GNU software: <https://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>.
E-mail bug reports to: <bug-sed <at> gnu.org>."
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Message #80 received at 77944 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):
Przemysław Kryger <pkryger <at> gmail.com> writes:
>> Please disregard what I wrote about calling `(Man-init-defvars)'. [...]
>
> Actually not. I've double checked and Man-sed-command is evaluated
> while Man-filter-list is set by Man-init-defvars. It seems that calling
> the latter is indeed required when Man-sed-command is updated after man
> has been loaded.
>
>> Can someone please provide a comprehensive answer to this: does "M-x
>> man" always fail on all supported versions of macOS? If not, which
>> versions are affected?
>
> It fails with Emacs 30.1 on macOS Sequoia 15.5:
>
> emacs -Q
>
> M-x man RET sed RET
>
> fails with (as in original report):
>
> sed: 1: "/^[\o001-\o032][\o001-\ ...": RE error: invalid character
> range
That was a regression introduced by a change Michael Albinus made in
Emacs 30. Michael fixed the regression on master. Before the regression,
M-x man worked fine on macOS for the last 3 years or so.
(Given that the macOS sed says the author is someone from freeBSD, I
wonder if it works on FreeBSD if it doesn't on macOS.)
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(Mon, 16 Jun 2025 19:41:02 GMT)
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Message #83 received at 77944 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):
Stéphane Marks <shipmints <at> gmail.com> writes:
> On Mon, Jun 16, 2025 at 5:18 AM Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org> wrote:
>
> Can someone please provide a comprehensive answer to
> this: does "M-x man" always fail on all supported
> versions of macOS? If not, which versions are affected?
>
> Running `man` Emacs 30.1 on macOS 12.7.6 /usr/bin/sed
> works fine for me. I verified that (executable-find
> "sed") finds /usr/bin/sed and that I do not have GNU sed
> installed. FYI, my (getenv "MANPATH") is nil, so it's
> system defaults, which reminds me that I should add
> /usr/local/share/man, but that's secondary.
It always fails for me on macOS 15.5 (on apple silicon)
unless I have GNU sed installed.
--
Howard
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Message #86 received at 77944 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):
On 6/16/25 2:16 AM, Eli Zaretskii wrote:
>> From: Przemysław Kryger <pkryger <at> gmail.com>
>> Cc: 77944 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, david <at> porkrind.org, michael.albinus <at> gmx.de
>> Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2025 09:20:53 +0100
>>
>>
>>> I could consider this if otherwise "M-x man" is completely broken on
>>> macOS. Is it?
>>
>> It is. At least in my case.
>
> Can someone please provide a comprehensive answer to this: does "M-x
> man" always fail on all supported versions of macOS? If not, which
> versions are affected?
I ran some tests on macOS VMs I have. I don't know which ones Emacs
officially supports. macOS 11 and below were tested on an Intel VM, and
12 and higher were on an M1 VM. I doubt that matters though.
*** sed test:
#!/bin/bash
echo octal; printf "\001\002" | sed -e '/[\o001-\o002]/d' | od -c
echo char; printf "\001\002" | sed -e '/[[:cntrl:]]/d' | od -c
I got 3 types of outputs with this test:
1. macOS With gnu sed the:
octal
char
2. With older macOS sed:
octal
0000000 001 002 \n
0000003
char
3. With newer macOS sed:
octal
sed: 1: "/[\o001-\o002]/d
": RE error: invalid character range
char
*** Emacs 30.1 test: `M-x man RET ascii RET`
Results
=======
OS Version Emacs Sed
--------------------------
macOS 10.12 works #2
macOS 10.14 works #2
macOS 10.15 works #2
macOS 11 works #2
macOS 12 works #2
macOS 13 works #2
macOS 14 works #2
macOS 15 fails #3
The interesting thing is that even on the Emacs versions that work, the
sed script isn't actually doing what it is supposed to do. So it's
broken but just not in an immediately fatal way.
Even the earliest version I tested supported the `[:cntrl:]` notation so
it seems that's a good fix for macOS 15 and will work on even very old
macOS versions.
-David
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(Sat, 21 Jun 2025 09:36:03 GMT)
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Message #89 received at 77944 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):
> Date: Sun, 15 Jun 2025 12:21:29 -0700
> From: David Caldwell <david <at> porkrind.org>
> Cc: 77944 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, Michael Albinus <michael.albinus <at> gmx.de>
>
> > From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
> > To: Przemysław Kryger <pkryger <at> gmail.com>
> > Cc: 77944 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, gerd.moellmann <at> gmail.com, michael.albinus <at> gmx.de
> > Subject: Re: bug#77944: 31.0.50; M-x man on macOS fails with error
> > Date: Fri, 30 May 2025 07:42:38 +0300
> >
> > > Date: Thu, 29 May 2025 17:40:35 +0100
> > > From: Przemysław Kryger <pkryger <at> gmail.com>
> > > CC: gerd.moellmann <at> gmail.com, eliz <at> gnu.org
> >
> > > I can see the fix (fc5e905dc90e21b1a381bde42e22c06f45c17e16) is contained in
> > > branch master, but it's not in branch emacs-30 yet. Does it mean it's not
> > > planned to be included in Emacs-30.2 (or Emacs-30.3)?
> >
> > Indeed, we don't plan to have the fix in Emacs 30.2. The change is
> > not simple, and the handling of system-dependent idiosyncrasies in
> > "M-x man" is delicate and fragile, so we prefer not to risk any
> > breakage there.
>
> What about something more surgical, like:
>
> diff --git a/lisp/man.el b/lisp/man.el
> index dcfab8d2035..060c3f99916 100644
> --- a/lisp/man.el
> +++ b/lisp/man.el
> @@ -650,9 +650,11 @@ Man-init-defvars
> (if Man-sed-script
> (concat "-e '" Man-sed-script "'")
> "")
> - ;; Use octal numbers. Otherwise, \032 (Ctrl-Z) would
> - ;; suspend remote connections.
> - "-e '/^[\\o001-\\o032][\\o001-\\o032]*$/d'"
> + (if (eq system-type 'darwin)
> + ;; Darwin sed doesn't support \o notation.
> + "-e '/^[[:cntrl:]][[:cntrl:]]*$/d'"
> + ;; Use octal numbers. Otherwise, \032 (Ctrl-Z) would
> + ;; suspend remote connections.
> + "-e '/^[\\o001-\\o032][\\o001-\\o032]*$/d'")
> "-e '/\e[789]/s///g'"
> "-e '/Reformatting page. Wait/d'"
> "-e '/Reformatting entry. Wait/d'"
>
> That way it only impacts darwin users (which are totally without it).
>
> I'd love to not have to patch emacs or install an alternative sed...
Thanks, the patch didn't apply, so I made the change by hand.
bug archived.
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