Re: Unify the --help and --version descriptions in man pages?

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On Mon, Jan 31, 2022 at 09:17:22PM +0100, Mario Blättermann wrote:
> Hello Karel,
> 
> Am Mo., 31. Jan. 2022 um 10:35 Uhr schrieb Karel Zak <kzak@xxxxxxxxxx>:
> >
> > On Sat, Jan 29, 2022 at 12:57:12PM +0100, Mario Blättermann wrote:
> > > I've just noticed the commit »docs: add man-common/in-bytes.adoc«.
> > > What about to unify the descriptions of the --help and the --version
> > > options in the man pages in a similar manner? Besides to simplify the
> > > maíntenance, it would also shrink the .po file of the man pages a bit.
> >
> > Arbitrary unification and consolidation is wanted, go ahead ;-)
> >
> > > --- blockdev.8.adoc     2021-11-26 17:40:06.931013901 +0100
> > > +++ blockdev.8.adoc    2022-01-29 12:47:43.087144014 +0100
> > > @@ -40,10 +40,10 @@
> > > Print a report for the specified device. It is possible to give multiple device
> > > s. If none is given, all devices which appear in _/proc/partitions_ are shown. N
> > > ote that the partition StartSec is in 512-byte sectors.
> > >
> > > *-h*, *--help*::
> > > -Display help text and exit.
> > > +include::man-common/help-description.adoc[]
> > >
> > > *-V*, *--version*::
> > > -Print version and exit.
> > > +include::man-common/version-description.adoc[]
> >
> > Do we need to separate help & version? Maybe we can use
> >
> >   include::man-common/help-and-version.adoc[]
> >
> > where will be everything.
> >
> >       *-h*, *--help*
> >               Display help text and exit.
> >
> >       *-V*, *--version*
> >               Display version information and exit.
> >
> > We use the same in usage() function (--help output) where both
> > items are printed together by USAGE_HELP_OPTIONS macro. (see 'git grep
> > USAGE_HELP_OPTIONS')
> >
> > IMHO --help and --version is so generic that we do not need to keep it
> > sorted in man pages. I guess it's OK to keep it at the end of the list
> > of options like we use in usage().
> 
> 
> OK, this is possible for --help without any other changes; all our
> tools have the same options (*-h*, *--help*). But for --version, the
> single-letter option differs. While most of the tools have *-V*,
> *--version*, it is *-v*, *--version* for the following ones:
> 
> sfdisk.8.adoc
> chsh.1.adoc
> chfn.1.adoc
> 
> For sfdisk, -V has a different meaning, and for chsh and chfn the
> option -V is unknown (invalid). So we could change chsh and chfn to
> accept -V (and maybe drop -v in turn), and we leave the --help and
> --version part of sfdisk.8.adoc untouched.

For chsh and chfn it's probably good idea to support also -V, but for
backward compatibility it would be nice to keep -v in code (not
necessary in man page).

And yes, sfdisk.8.adoc keep untouched.

> > > BTW, are there any plans for the next release 2.38? I'm planning to
> >
> > The last remaining patch is x-fstrim from Stanislav and than I'll
> > release v2.38-rc1 :-) (so today).
> >
> > > add direct support for Fedora 36 in manpages-l10n (once it is
> > > available from the servers), in addition to Rawhide. If v2.38 will
> > > come with Fedora 36, I could adjust the package lists appropriately,
> > > to avoid file conflicts.
> >
> > F36 beta freeze is 2022-03-15, it seems we have enough time.
> >
> So I assume you plan to release the final v2.38 until this Fedora Beta
> gets rolled out, including the translated man pages?

v2.38-rc1 is Fedora rawhide now :-) But without translated man pages,
I need to play with it during work on rc2.

 Karel

-- 
 Karel Zak  <kzak@xxxxxxxxxx>
 http://karelzak.blogspot.com




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