Any program (person), that produces man pages, should check the output for defects by using (both groff and nroff) [gn]roff -mandoc -t -ww -b -z -K utf8 The same goes for man pages that are used as an input. For a style guide use mandoc -T lint -.- So any 'generator' should check its products with the above mentioned 'groff', 'mandoc', and additionally with 'nroff ...'. This is just a simple quality control measure. The 'generator' may have to be corrected to get a better man page, the source file may, and any additional file may. Common defects: Input text line longer than 80 bytes. Not removing trailing spaces (in in- and output). The reason for these trailing spaces should be found and eliminated. Not beginning each input sentence on a new line. Lines should thus be shorter. See man-pages(7), item 'semantic newline'. -.- The difference between the formatted output of the original and patched file can be seen with: nroff -mandoc > nroff -mandoc > diff -u and for groff, using "printf '%s\n%s\n' '.kern 0' '.ss 12 0' | groff -mandoc -Z - " instead of 'nroff -mandoc' Add the option '-t', if the file contains a table. Read the output of 'diff -u' with 'less -R' or similar. -.-. If 'man' (man-db) is used to check the manual for warnings, the following must be set: The option "-warnings=w" The environmental variable: export MAN_KEEP_STDERR=yes (or any non-empty value) or (produce only warnings): export MANROFFOPT="-ww -b -z" export MAN_KEEP_STDERR=yes (or any non-empty value) -.-. Output from "mandoc -T lint dcb-maxrate.8": (possibly shortened list) mandoc: dcb-maxrate.8:6:2: WARNING: skipping paragraph macro: sp after SH mandoc: dcb-maxrate.8:79:83: STYLE: input text line longer than 80 bytes: tc-maxrate 0:25Gbit ... -.-. Change (or include a "FIXME" paragraph about) misused SI (metric) numeric prefixes (or names) to the binary ones, like Ki (kibi), Mi (mebi), Gi (gibi), or Ti (tebi), if indicated. If the metric prefixes are correct, add the definitions or an explanation to avoid misunderstanding. 68:Set rates of all traffic classes to 25Gbps, except for TC 6, which will 69:have the rate of 100Gbps: 72:# dcb maxrate set dev eth0 tc-maxrate all:25Gbit 6:100Gbit 79:tc-maxrate 0:25Gbit 1:25Gbit 2:25Gbit 3:25Gbit 4:25Gbit 5:25Gbit 6:100Gbit 7:25Gbit -.-. Use the correct macro for the font change of a single argument or split the argument into two. 19:.RI DEV 24:.RI DEV -.-. Change a HYPHEN-MINUS (code 0x2D) to a minus(-dash) (\-), if it is in front of a name for an option, is a symbol for standard input, is a single character used to indicate an option, or is in the NAME section (man-pages(7)). N.B. - (0x2D), processed as a UTF-8 file, is changed to a hyphen (0x2010, groff \[u2010] or \[hy]) in the output. 63:.B -i -.-. Add a comma (or \&) after "e.g." and "i.e.", or use English words (man-pages(7)). Abbreviation points should be protected against being interpreted as an end of sentence, if they are not, and that independent of the current place on the line. 48:The following describes only the write direction, i.e. as used with the -.-. Wrong distance between sentences in the input file. Separate the sentences and subordinate clauses; each begins on a new line. See man-pages(7) ("Conventions for source file layout") and "info groff" ("Input Conventions"). The best procedure is to always start a new sentence on a new line, at least, if you are typing on a computer. Remember coding: Only one command ("sentence") on each (logical) line. E-mail: Easier to quote exactly the relevant lines. Generally: Easier to edit the sentence. Patches: Less unaffected text. Search for two adjacent words is easier, when they belong to the same line, and the same phrase. The amount of space between sentences in the output can then be controlled with the ".ss" request. N.B. The number of lines affected can be too large to be in a patch. 48:The following describes only the write direction, i.e. as used with the 49:\fBset\fR command. For the \fBshow\fR command, the parameter name is to be used 50:as a simple keyword without further arguments. This instructs the tool to show 51:the value of a given parameter. When no parameters are given, the tool shows the 58:for details. Keys are TC indices, values are traffic rates in bits per second. 62:stands for bytes per second. When showing, the command line option -.-. Split lines longer than 80 characters into two or more lines. Appropriate break points are the end of a sentence and a subordinate clause; after punctuation marks. Line 79, length 83 tc-maxrate 0:25Gbit 1:25Gbit 2:25Gbit 3:25Gbit 4:25Gbit 5:25Gbit 6:100Gbit 7:25Gbit -.-. Use the name of units in text; use symbols in tables and calculations. The rule is to have a (no-break, \~) space between a number and its units (see "www.bipm.org/en/publications/si-brochure") 68:Set rates of all traffic classes to 25Gbps, except for TC 6, which will -.-. No space is needed before a quote (") at the end of a line 12:.RI "[ " OPTIONS " ] " 37:.IR RATE " := { " INTEGER "[" \fBbit\fR "] | " INTEGER\fBKbit\fR " | " -.-. Output from "test-groff -mandoc -t -K utf8 -rF0 -rHY=0 -ww -b -z ": troff: backtrace: '/home/bg/git/groff/build/s-tmac/an.tmac':709: macro 'RI' troff: backtrace: file '':12 troff::12: warning: trailing space in the line troff: backtrace: '/home/bg/git/groff/build/s-tmac/an.tmac':679: macro 'IR' troff: backtrace: file '':37 troff::37: warning: trailing space in the line