1 ************************************************************************
2 * Official mandoc TODO.
3 * $Id: TODO,v 1.286 2019/03/02 16:30:53 schwarze Exp $
4 ************************************************************************
6 Many issues are annotated for difficulty as follows:
8 - loc = locality of the issue
9 * single file issue, affects file only, or very few
10 ** single module issue, affects several files of one module
11 *** cross-module issue, significantly impacts multiple modules
12 and may require substantial changes to internal interfaces
13 - exist = difficulty of the existing code in this area
14 * affected code is straightforward and easy to read and change
15 ** affected code is somewhat complex, but once you understand
16 the design, not particularly difficult to understand
17 *** affected code uses a special, exceptionally tricky design
18 - algo = difficulty of the new algorithm to be written
19 * the required logic and code is straightforward
20 ** the required logic is somewhat complex and needs a careful design
21 *** the required logic is exceptionally tricky,
22 maybe an approach to solve that is not even known yet
23 - size = the amount of code to be written or changed
24 * a small number of lines (at most 100, usually much less)
25 ** a considerable amount of code (several dozen to a few hundred)
26 *** a large amount of code (many hundreds, maybe thousands)
27 - imp = importance of the issue
28 * mostly for completeness
29 ** would be nice to have
30 *** issue causes considerable inconvenience
32 Obviously, as the issues have not been solved yet, these annotations
33 are mere guesses, and some may be wrong.
35 ************************************************************************
37 ************************************************************************
39 --- missing roff features ----------------------------------------------
41 - .ad (adjust margins)
42 .ad l -- adjust left margin only (flush left)
43 .ad r -- adjust right margin only (flush right)
44 .ad c -- center text on line
45 .ad b -- adjust both margins (alias: .ad n)
46 .na -- temporarily disable adjustment without changing the mode
47 .ad -- re-enable adjustment without changing the mode
48 Adjustment mode is ignored while in no-fill mode (.nf).
49 loc *** exist *** algo ** size ** imp ** (parser reorg would help)
52 found by naddy@ in xloadimage(1)
53 loc ** exist *** algo * size * imp *
55 - .ns (no-space mode) occurs in xine-config(1)
56 when implementing this, also let .TH set it
57 reported by brad@ Sat, 15 Jan 2011 15:45:23 -0500
58 loc *** exist *** algo *** size ** imp *
60 - \w'' improve width measurements
61 would not be very useful without an expression parser, see below
62 needed for Tcl_NewStringObj(3) via wiz@ Wed, 5 Mar 2014 22:27:43 +0100
63 loc ** exist *** algo *** size * imp ***
65 --- missing mdoc features ----------------------------------------------
67 - .Bl -column .Xo support is missing
69 restore .Xr and .Dv to
70 lib/libc/compat-43/sigvec.3
72 lib/libc/sys/sigaction.2
73 loc * exist *** algo *** size * imp **
75 - edge case: decide how to deal with blk_full bad nesting, e.g.
76 .Sh .Nm .Bk .Nm .Ek .Sh found by jmc@ in ssh-keygen(1)
77 from jmc@ Wed, 14 Jul 2010 18:10:32 +0100
78 loc * exist *** algo *** size ** imp **
80 - .Bd -filled should not be the same as .Bd -ragged, but align both
81 the left and right margin. In groff, it is implemented in terms
82 of .ad b, which we don't have either. Found in cksum(1).
83 loc *** exist *** algo ** size ** imp ** (parser reorg would help)
85 - implement blank `Bl -column', such as
89 loc * exist *** algo *** size * imp *
91 - explicitly disallow nested `Bl -column', which would clobber internal
92 flags defined for struct mdoc_macro
93 loc * exist * algo * size * imp **
95 - In .Bl -column .It, the end of the line probably has to be regarded
96 as an implicit .Ta, if there could be one, see the following mildly
97 ugly code from login.conf(5):
98 .Bl -column minpasswordlen program xetcxmotd
99 .It path Ta path Ta value of Dv _PATH_DEFPATH
102 reported by Michal Mazurek <akfaew at jasminek dot net>
103 via jmc@ Thu, 7 Apr 2011 16:00:53 +0059
104 loc * exist *** algo ** size * imp **
106 - inside `.Bl -column' phrases, punctuation is handled like normal
107 text, e.g. `.Bl -column .It Fl x . Ta ...' should give "-x -."
109 - inside `.Bl -column' phrases, TERMP_IGNDELIM handling by `Pf'
110 is not safe, e.g. `.Bl -column .It Pf a b .' gives "ab."
111 but should give "ab ."
113 - prohibit `Nm' from having non-text HEAD children
114 (e.g., NetBSD mDNSShared/dns-sd.1)
115 (mdoc_html.c and mdoc_term.c `Nm' handlers can be slightly simplified)
117 - support translated section names
118 e.g. x11/scrotwm scrotwm_es.1:21:2: error: NAME section must be first
119 that one uses NOMBRE because it is spanish...
120 deraadt tends to think that section-dependent macro behaviour
121 is a bad idea in the first place, so this may be irrelevant
122 loc ** exist ** algo ** size * imp **
124 - When there is free text in the SYNOPSIS and that free text contains
125 the .Nm macro, groff somehow understands to treat the .Nm as an in-line
126 macro, while mandoc treats it as a block macro and breaks the line.
127 No idea how the logic for distinguishing in-line and block instances
128 should be, needs investigation.
129 uqs@ Thu, 2 Jun 2011 11:03:51 +0200
130 uqs@ Thu, 2 Jun 2011 11:33:35 +0200
131 loc * exist ** algo *** size * imp **
133 --- missing man features -----------------------------------------------
135 - groff_www(7) .MTO and .URL
136 These macros were used by the GNU grep(1) man page.
137 The groff_www(7) manual page itself uses them, too.
138 We should probably *not* add them to mandoc.
139 Just mentioning this here to keep track of the abuse.
140 Laura Morales <lauretas at mail dot com> 20 Apr 2018 07:33:02 +0200
141 loc ** exist * algo * size ** imp *
143 --- missing tbl features -----------------------------------------------
145 - vertical centering in cells vertically spanned with ^
146 pali dot rohar at gmail dot com 16 Jul 2018 13:03:35 +0200
147 loc * exist *** algo *** size ** imp *
149 - support mdoc(7) and man(7) macros inside tbl(7) code;
150 probably requires the parser reorg and letting tbl(7)
151 use roff_node such that macro sets can mix;
152 informed by bapt@ that FreeBSD needs this: 3 Jan 2015 23:32:23 +0100
153 loc *** exist ** algo *** size ** imp ***
155 - look at the POSIX manuals in the books/man-pages-posix port,
156 they use some unsupported tbl(7) features, mostly macros in tbl(7).
157 loc * exist ** algo ** size ** imp ***
159 - look what Joerg Schilling manual pages use
160 Thu, 19 Mar 2015 18:31:48 +0100
162 --- missing eqn features -----------------------------------------------
164 - In a matrix, break the output line after each matrix line.
165 Found in the discussion at CDBUG 2015.
166 Suggested by Avi Weinstock.
167 loc * exist * algo * size * imp **
169 - The "size" keyword is parsed, but ignored by the formatter.
170 loc * exist * algo * size * imp *
172 - The spacing characters `~', `^', and tab are currently ignored,
173 see User's Guide (Second Edition) page 2 section 4.
174 loc * exist * algo ** size * imp **
176 - Mark and lineup are parsed and ignored,
177 see User's Guide (Second Edition) page 5 section 15.
178 loc ** exist ** algo ** size ** imp **
180 - GNU eqn converts some operators to special characters, for example,
181 input HYPHEN-MINUS becomes output \(mi, unless it is part of a
182 quoted word. mandoc(1) only does this when the operator is
183 surrounded by blanks, not when it is part of an unquoted word.
184 Also, check whether there are more such cases (e.g., +?).
185 reported by bentley@ 20 Jun 2017 02:04:29 -0600
186 loc * exist ** algo ** size * imp *
188 - Primes, opprime, and '
189 bentley@ Thu, 13 Jul 2017 23:14:20 -0600
191 --- missing misc features ----------------------------------------------
193 - man -ks 1,8 route; kn@ Jul 13, 2018 orally
195 - italic correction (\/) in PostScript mode
196 Werner LEMBERG on groff at gnu dot org Sun, 10 Nov 2013 12:47:46
197 loc ** exist ** algo * size * imp *
199 - change the default PAGER to more -Es and use the pager
200 even for apropos title line output; req by bapt@
201 loc * exist * algo * size * imp ***
203 - clean up escape sequence handling, creating three classes:
204 (1) fully implemented, or parsed and ignored without loss of content
205 (2) unimplemented, potentially causing loss of content
206 or serious mangling of formatting (e.g. \n) -> ERROR
207 see textproc/mgdiff(1) for nice examples
208 (3) undefined, just output the character -> perhaps WARNING
209 loc *** exist ** algo ** size ** imp *** (parser reorg helps)
211 - kettenis wants base roff, ms, and me Fri, 1 Jan 2010 22:13:15 +0100 (CET)
212 loc ** exist ** algo ** size *** imp *
214 --- compatibility checks -----------------------------------------------
216 - is .Bk implemented correctly in modern groff?
217 sobrado@ Tue, 19 Apr 2011 22:12:55 +0200
219 - compare output to Heirloom roff, Solaris roff, and
220 http://repo.or.cz/w/neatroff.git http://litcave.rudi.ir/
222 - look at AT&T DWB http://www2.research.att.com/sw/download
223 Carsten Kunze <carsten dot kunze at arcor dot de> has patches
224 Mon, 4 Aug 2014 17:01:28 +0200
225 ported version: https://github.com/n-t-roff/DWB3.3
226 Carsten Kunze Wed, 22 Apr 2015 11:21:43 +0200
228 - look at pages generated from reStructeredText, e.g. devel/mercurial hg(1)
229 These are a weird mixture of man(7) and custom autogenerated low-level
230 roff stuff. Figure out to what extent we can cope.
231 For details, see http://docutils.sourceforge.net/rst.html
232 noted by stsp@ Sat, 24 Apr 2010 09:17:55 +0200
233 reminded by nicm@ Mon, 3 May 2010 09:52:41 +0100
235 - look at pages generated from ronn(1) github.com/rtomayko/ronn
238 - look at pages generated from Texinfo source by yat2m, e.g. security/gnupg
239 First impression is not that bad.
241 - look at pages generated by pandoc; see
242 https://github.com/jgm/pandoc/blob/master/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/Man.hs
243 porting planned by kili@ Thu, 19 Jun 2014 19:46:28 +0200
245 - check compatibility with Plan9:
246 http://swtch.com/usr/local/plan9/tmac/tmac.an
247 http://swtch.com/plan9port/man/man7/man.html
248 "Anthony J. Bentley" <anthonyjbentley@gmail.com> 28 Dec 2010 21:58:40 -0700
250 - check compatibility with COHERENT troff:
251 http://www.nesssoftware.com/home/mwc/source.php
253 - check compatibility with the man(7) formatter
254 https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rofl0r/hardcore-utils/master/man.c
256 - check compatibility with
257 http://ikiwiki.info/plugins/contrib/mandoc/
258 https://github.com/schmonz/ikiwiki/compare/mandoc
259 Amitai Schlair Mon, 19 May 2014 14:05:53 -0400
261 - check features of the Slackware man.conf(5) format
262 Carsten Kunze Wed, 11 Mar 2015 17:57:24 +0100
264 ************************************************************************
265 * formatting issues: ugly output
266 ************************************************************************
268 - revisit empty in-line macros
269 look at the difference between "Em x Em ." and "Sq x Em ."
270 Carsten Kunze Fri, 12 Dec 2014 00:15:41 +0100
271 loc *** exist *** algo *** size * imp **
273 - a column list with blank `Ta' cells triggers a spurious
274 start-with-whitespace printing of a newline
276 - In .Bl -column, .It a<tab>"b<tab>c"
277 shows the quotes in groff, but not in mandoc
278 loc * exist *** algo ** size * imp **
281 .It Em Authentication<tab>Key Length
282 ought to render "Key Length" with emphasis, too,
283 see OpenBSD iked.conf(5).
284 reported again Nicolas Joly via wiz@ Wed, 12 Oct 2011 00:20:00 +0200
285 loc * exist *** algo *** size ** imp ***
287 - empty phrases in .Bl column produce too few blanks
288 try e.g. .Bl -column It Ta Ta
289 reported by millert Fri, 02 Apr 2010 16:13:46 -0400
290 loc * exist *** algo *** size * imp **
292 - .%T can have trailing punctuation. Currently, it puts the trailing
293 punctuation into a trailing MDOC_TEXT element inside its own scope.
294 That element should rather be outside its scope, such that the
295 punctuation does not get underlines. This is not trivial to
296 implement because .%T then needs some features of in_line_eoln() -
297 slurp all arguments into one single text element - and one feature
298 of in_line() - put trailing punctuation out of scope.
299 Found in mount_nfs(8) and exports(5), search for "Appendix".
300 loc ** exist ** algo *** size * imp **
302 - Trailing punctuation after .%T triggers EOS spacing, at least
303 outside .Rs (eek!). Simply setting ARGSFL_DELIM for .%T is not
304 the right solution, it sends mandoc into an endless loop.
305 reported by Nicolas Joly Sat, 17 Nov 2012 11:49:54 +0100
306 loc * exist ** algo ** size * imp **
308 - global variables in the SYNOPSIS of section 3 pages
309 .Vt vs .Vt/.Va vs .Ft/.Va vs .Ft/.Fa ...
310 from kristaps@ Tue, 08 Jun 2010 11:13:32 +0200
312 - implicit whitespace around inline equations
313 example code: where '$times$' denotes matrix multiplication
314 must not have an HTML line break, nor a blank, before <math>
315 partial solution: html.c {"math", HTML_NLINSIDE | HTML_INDENT},
316 bentley@ Thu, 13 Jul 2017 19:00:59 -0600
318 - in enclosures, mandoc sometimes fancies a bogus end of sentence
319 reminded by jmc@ Thu, 23 Sep 2010 18:13:39 +0059
320 loc * exist ** algo *** size * imp ***
322 - a line starting with "\fB something" counts as starting with whitespace
323 and triggers a line break; found in audio/normalize-mp3(1)
324 loc ** exist * algo ** size * imp **
326 - formatting /usr/local/man/man1/latex2man.1 with groff and mandoc
327 reveals lots of bugs both in groff and mandoc...
328 reported by bentley@ Wed, 22 May 2013 23:49:30 -0600
330 --- PostScript and PDF issues ------------------------------------------
332 - PDF output doesn't use a monospaced font for .Bd -literal
333 Example: "mandoc -Tpdf afterboot.8 > output.pdf && pdfviewer output.pdf".
334 Search the text "Routing tables".
335 Also check what PostScript mode does when fixing this.
336 reported by juanfra@ Wed, 04 Jun 2014 21:44:58 +0200
337 instructions from juanfra@ Wed, 11 Jun 2014 02:21:01 +0200
338 add a new <</Type /Font>> block to the PDF files with /BaseFont /Courier
339 and change the /Name from /F0 to the new font (/F5 (?)).
340 re-reported by tb@ Mon, 16 Mar 2015 16:47:21 +0100
341 loc * exist ** algo ** size * imp **
343 --- HTML issues --------------------------------------------------------
345 - .Bf at the beginning of a paragraph inserts a bogus 1ex horizontal
346 space, see for example random(3). Introduced in
347 http://mdocml.bsd.lv/cgi-bin/cvsweb/mdoc_html.c.diff?r1=1.91&r2=1.92
348 reported by deraadt@ Mon, 28 Sep 2015 20:14:13 -0600 (MDT)
349 loc ** exist ** algo ** size * imp *
351 - jsg on icb, Nov 3, 2014:
352 try to guess Xr in man(7) for hyperlinking
353 and render them with <a class="Xr" href=...>
354 https://github.com/Debian/debiman/issues/15
355 loc * exist * algo ** size ** imp **
357 - The tables used to render the three-part page headers actually force
358 the width of the <body> to the max-width given for <html>.
359 Not yet sure how to fix that...
360 Observed by an Anonymous Coward on undeadly.org:
361 http://undeadly.org/cgi?action=article&sid=20140925064244&pid=1
362 loc * exist * algo ** size * imp ***
364 - generate <img> tags in HTML
365 idea from florian@ Tue, 7 Apr 2015 00:26:28 +0000
366 may be possible to implement with .Lk img://something.png alt_text
368 - check https://github.com/trentm/mdocml
370 ************************************************************************
371 * formatting issues: gratuitous differences
372 ************************************************************************
374 - .Fn reopens a new scope after punctuation in mandoc,
375 but closes its scope for good in groff.
376 Do we want to change mandoc or groff?
377 Steffen Nurpmeso Sat, 08 Nov 2014 13:34:59 +0100
378 loc * exist ** algo ** size * imp **
380 - In .Bl -enum -width 0n, groff continues one the same line after
381 the number, mandoc breaks the line.
382 mail to kristaps@ Mon, 20 Jul 2009 02:21:39 +0200
383 loc * exist ** algo ** size * imp **
385 - .Pp between two .It in .Bl -column should produce one,
386 not two blank lines, see e.g. login.conf(5).
387 reported by jmc@ Sun, 17 Apr 2011 14:04:58 +0059
388 reported again by sthen@ Wed, 18 Jan 2012 02:09:39 +0000 (UTC)
389 loc * exist *** algo ** size * imp **
391 - If the *first* line after .It is .Pp, break the line right after
392 the tag, do not pad with space characters before breaking.
393 See the description of the a, c, and i commands in sed(1).
394 loc * exist ** algo ** size * imp **
396 - If the first line after .It is .D1, do not assert a blank line
397 in between, see for example tmux(1).
398 reported by nicm@ 13 Jan 2011 00:18:57 +0000
399 loc * exist ** algo ** size * imp **
401 - Trailing punctuation after .It should trigger EOS spacing.
402 reported by Nicolas Joly Sat, 17 Nov 2012 11:49:54 +0100
403 Probably, this should be fixed somewhere in termp_it_pre(), not sure.
404 loc * exist ** algo ** size * imp **
406 - When the -width string contains macros, the macros must be rendered
407 before measuring the width, for example
408 .Bl -tag -width ".Dv message"
409 in magic(5), located in src/usr.bin/file, is the same
410 as -width 7n, not -width 11n.
411 The same applies to .Bl -column column widths;
412 reported again by Nicolas Joly Thu, 1 Mar 2012 13:41:26 +0100 via wiz@ 5 Mar
413 reported again by Franco Fichtner Fri, 27 Sep 2013 21:02:28 +0200
414 reported again by Bruce Evans Fri, 17 Feb 2017 21:22:44 +0100 via bapt@
415 loc *** exist *** algo *** size ** imp ***
416 An easy partial fix would be to just skip the first word if it starts
417 with a dot, including any following white space, when measuring.
418 loc * exist * algo * size * imp ***
420 - The \& zero-width character counts as output.
421 That is, when it is alone on a line between two .Pp,
422 we want three blank lines, not two as in mandoc.
423 loc ** exist ** algo ** size * imp **
425 - Sequences of multiple man(7) paragraphs (.PP, .IP) interspersed
426 with .ps and .nf/.fi produce execessive blank lines, see libJudy
427 and graphics/dcmtk. The parser reorg may help with this.
429 - trailing whitespace must be ignored even when followed by a font escape,
433 operate in batch mode
435 loc ** exist ** algo ** size * imp **
437 ************************************************************************
439 ************************************************************************
441 - When a man(1) command returns no result and there was an -S
442 argument, check the -S argument against the list of valid
443 architectures and say "Unknown architecture AAA" rather than
444 "No entry for NNN in the manual" if there is no match.
445 Requires moving the lists of valid architectures out of
446 mdoc_validate.c such that they can be used by main.c.
447 Discussed with jmc@ 10 Aug 2018 19:20:12 +0100.
448 loc ** exist * algo * size * imp **
450 - warn about duplicate .Sh/.Ss heads
451 gre(4): Rename duplicate sections 20 Apr 2018 15:27:33 +0200
452 loc * exist * algo * size * imp **
454 - style message about macros inside .Bd -literal and .Dl, in particular
455 font changing macros like .Cm, .Ar, .Fa (from the mdoclint TODO)
457 - style message about mismatches between the section number in the
458 file name (if it is known) and the section number in .Dt
459 (from the mdoclint TODO)
461 - style message about NULL without .Dv (from the mdoclint TODO)
463 - style message about error constants without .Er (from the mdoclint TODO)
465 - warn when .Sh or .Ss contain other macros
466 Steffen Nurpmeso, savannah.gnu.org/bugs/index.php?45034
467 loc * exist * algo * size * imp **
469 - style message about violations of the convention
470 .An name Aq Mt localpart@domain in AUTHORS (from the mdoclint TODO)
472 - warn about attempts to call non-callable macros
473 Steffen Nurpmeso Tue, 11 Nov 2014 22:55:16 +0100
474 Note that formatting is inconsistent in groff.
475 .Fn Po prints "Po()", .Ar Sh prints "file ..." and no "Sh".
476 Relatively hard because the relevant code is scattered
477 all over mdoc_macro.c and all subtly different.
478 loc ** exist ** algo ** size ** imp **
480 - warn about punctuation - e.g. ',' and ';' - at the beginning
481 of a text line, if it is likely intended to follow the preceding
482 output without intervening whitespace, in particular after a
483 macro line (from the mdoclint TODO)
485 - makewhatis -p complains about language subdirectories:
486 /usr/local/man//ru: Unknown directory part
489 ************************************************************************
490 * documentation issues
491 ************************************************************************
493 - mark macros as: page structure domain, manual domain, general text domain
496 - mention /usr/share/misc/mdoc.template in mdoc(7)?
498 - Is all the content from http://www.std.com/obi/BSD/doc/usd/28.tbl/tbl
501 ************************************************************************
503 ************************************************************************
505 - the PDF file is HUGE: this can be reduced by using relative offsets
507 ************************************************************************
509 ************************************************************************
511 - POSIX says in the documentation of sysconf(3) that PATH_MAX
512 is allowed to be so large that it is a bad idea to use it
513 for sizing static buffers. So use dynamic buffers throughout.
514 See the file test-PATH_MAX.c for details.
515 Found by Aaron M. Ucko in the GNU Hurd via Bdale Garbee,
516 https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=829624
518 - We use the input line number at several places to distinguish
519 same-line from different-line input. That plainly doesn't work
520 with user-defined macros, leading to random breakage.
522 - Is it possible to further simplify ENDBODY_SPACE?
524 - Find better ways to prevent endless loops
525 in roff(7) macro and string expansion.
527 - make buffers for parsing functions const
528 christos@ via wiz@ Fri, 18 Dec 2015 17:10:01 +0100
530 - struct mparse refactoring
531 Steffen Nurpmeso Thu, 04 Sep 2014 12:50:00 +0200
533 ************************************************************************
535 ************************************************************************
537 - Enable HTTP compression by detecting gzip encoding and filtering
539 - Privilege separation (see OpenSSH).
540 - Enable caching support via HTTP 304 and If-Modified-Since.
542 ************************************************************************
543 * to improve in the groff_mdoc(7) macros
544 ************************************************************************
546 - .Cd # arch1, arch2 in section 4 pages:
547 find better way to indicate multiple architectures, maybe:
548 allow .Dt vgafb 4 "macppc sparc64"
549 already shown as "Device Drivers Manual (macppc sparc64)"
550 for apropos, make that "vgafb(4) - macppc # sparc64" instead of "- all"
551 groff can be made to show multiple arches, too, but it is
552 tedious to do the string parsing in roff code...
553 jmc@ 23 Apr 2018 07:24:52 +0100 [man for vgafb(4)...]
554 loc ** exist ** algo * size * imp ***
556 - use uname(1) to set doc-default-operating-system at install time
557 tobimensch Mon, 1 Dec 2014 00:25:07 +0100
559 - apostrophe (39), circumflex (94), grave (96), tilde (126)
560 in manuals: \(aq, \(ha, \`, \(ti
561 Re: [Groff] ASCII Minus Sign in man Pages.
562 bentley@ 26 Apr 2017 10:02:06 -0600
563 Do we need to fix existing manuals?
564 Do we need to fix the definition of the mdoc(7) language?