************************************************************************
* Official mandoc TODO.
-* $Id: TODO,v 1.258 2018/08/06 14:16:30 schwarze Exp $
+* $Id: TODO,v 1.314 2021/06/26 11:09:06 schwarze Exp $
************************************************************************
Many issues are annotated for difficulty as follows:
are mere guesses, and some may be wrong.
************************************************************************
-* missing features
+* assertion failures
************************************************************************
---- missing roff features ----------------------------------------------
+- .if n .ce in the middle of .TS data
+ afl case f1/id:000103,sig:06,src:009024+009105,op:splice,rep:2 (jes@)
+ While roff_parseln() prevents .ce and similar requests in the middle
+ of a tbl, the guard is no longer effective when the .ce is wrapped
+ in a roff block, for example a conditional. The resulting assertion
+ has never been seen in any real-world manual page.
+ This is too dangerous to fix before release because it requires
+ reorganizing the very delicate internals of roff_parseln(),
+ which risks causing more severe bugs.
+ loc * exist *** algo *** size * imp *
-- .nop prints its arguments as text,
- see groff(7) for an example
-- .ft CB selects constant-width bold font
- see groff_out(7) for examples
+************************************************************************
+* bugs: invalid output
+************************************************************************
-- \*(.T prints the device being used,
- see groff_char(7) for an example
+- wrong number of layout columns in tbl(7) code generated by -T man
+ https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?57720
+ The reason likely is that tbl(7) does not support the -Bl -column
+ feature of not explicitly specifying the last table column.
+ loc ** exist * algo ** size * imp ***
+
+
+************************************************************************
+* missing features
+************************************************************************
-- \[charNN], \[charNNN] prints a single-byte codepoint
- see groff_char(7) for examples
+--- missing roff features ----------------------------------------------
- .ad (adjust margins)
.ad l -- adjust left margin only (flush left)
reported by brad@ Sat, 15 Jan 2011 15:45:23 -0500
loc *** exist *** algo *** size ** imp *
-- .while and .shift
- found by jca@ in ratpoison(1) Sun, 30 Jun 2013 12:01:09 +0200
- loc * exist ** algo ** size ** imp **
-
- \w'' improve width measurements
would not be very useful without an expression parser, see below
needed for Tcl_NewStringObj(3) via wiz@ Wed, 5 Mar 2014 22:27:43 +0100
loc ** exist *** algo *** size * imp ***
-- \\ in high-level macro arguments
- Currently, \\ is expanded in two situations:
- 1) macro and string definition (roff.c setstrn())
- 2) macro argument parsing (mandoc.c mandoc_getarg())
- For user defined macros, the second happens in time because of ROFF_REPARSE.
- But for standard high-level macros, it only happens after entering the
- high level parsers, which is too late because the code doesn't get
- back to roff.c roff_res() from that point. Because this requires
- distinguishing requests, user-defined macros and standard macros
- on the roff_res() level, it is hard to solve without the parser reorg.
- Found by naddy@ in devel/cutils cobfusc(1) Mon, 16 Feb 2015 19:10:52 +0100
- loc *** exist *** algo *** size ** imp *
+- .als only works for macros in mandoc, not for user-defined strings.
+ Also, the "val" field in struct roffkv would have to be replaced
+ with a pointer to a reference-counted wrapper, and an alias
+ would have to point to the same wrapper as the original.
+ .als to undefined does nothing; the alias is not created.
+ .rm'ing the original leaves the alias to point to the old value.
+ .de .als .de changes both, but
+ .de .als .rm .de only changes the new value, not the alias.
+ Found in groffer(1) version 1.19
+ Jan Stary 20 Apr 2019 20:16:54 +0200
+ loc * exist ** algo ** size ** imp *
+
+- roff string condition comparisons fail when vars contain quotes:
+ .ds s '
+ .if '\*s'' \&...
+ hard to fix because of the basic architecture (string replacement
+ happens before roff(7) syntax parsing)
+ Found in groffer(1) version 1.19
+ Jan Stary 20 Apr 2019 20:16:54 +0200
+ loc * exist *** algo *** size ** imp *
-- check for missing roff escape sequences, implement those that are
- trivial even if not usually appearing in manual pages, gracefully
- ignore the non-trivial ones, document what they are supposed to do
- and what mandoc does instead
- loc * exist ** algo * size * imp *
+- mandoc replaces all ASCII control characters except tab and line feed
+ with '?' during input. It would be better to replace them with
+ Unicode escapes in preconv_encode() or somewhere in the vicinity,
+ such that the already existing better replacement strings show
+ up in the output. Emulating groff is not desirable: groff replaces
+ 0x00, 0x0b, and 0x0d to 0x1f with the empty string (bad because
+ that's easy to overlook for the document author), 0x01 with '.'
+ (very confusing), and passes through 0x02 to 0x08, 0x0c, and 0x7f
+ raw (bad because that is insecure output). Remember that 0x07 may
+ need special handling because it is sometimes used for certain
+ delimiters, so it may need handling *after* roff.c rather than before.
+ reminded by John Gardner 16 Jun 2020 14:26:28 +1000
+ Actually, more ASCII control characters than just 0x07 may need
+ later handling because they can for example be used in macro names.
+ So they may need handling after roff(7) processing.
+ pointed out by John Gardner 23 Jun 2020 18:28:08 +1000
+ more info from John Gardner 29 Jun 2020 19:54:04 +1000
+ loc ** exist ** algo ** size ** imp *
+
+- many missing features used in old groff_char(7),
+ some can possibly be supported
+ kamil at netbsd 12 Nov 2020 17:27:09 +0100 + reply
+
+- \s with arbitrary arg delimiters as already supported for other escapes
+ found following jmc@'s mail 28 Apr 2021 18:31:41 +0100
+ loc * exist * algo * size * imp *
--- missing mdoc features ----------------------------------------------
+- .Sh and .Ss should be parsed and partially callable, see groff_mdoc(7)
+ reed at reedmedia dot net Sat, 21 Dec 2019 17:13:07 -0600
+ loc ** exist ** algo ** size ** imp *
+
- .Bl -column .Xo support is missing
ultimate goal:
restore .Xr and .Dv to
from jmc@ Wed, 14 Jul 2010 18:10:32 +0100
loc * exist *** algo *** size ** imp **
-- .Bd -centered implies -filled, not -unfilled, which is not
- easy to implement; it requires code similar to .ce, which
- we don't have either.
- Besides, groff has bug causing text right *before* .Bd -centered
- to be centered as well.
- loc *** exist *** algo ** size ** imp ** (parser reorg would help)
-
- .Bd -filled should not be the same as .Bd -ragged, but align both
the left and right margin. In groff, it is implemented in terms
of .ad b, which we don't have either. Found in cksum(1).
--- missing man features -----------------------------------------------
-- .SY and .YS,
- used by many groff manual pages
-
-- preserve punctuation following .ME,
- see ditroff(7) for an example
-
-- .TQ tagged paragraph continuation,
- see groff_diff(7) for examples
+- MANWIDTH
+ Markus Waldeck <waldeck at gmx dot de> 9 Jun 2015 05:49:56 +0200
+ Laura Morales <lauretas at mail dot com> 26 Apr 2018 08:15:55 +0200
+ Kamil Rytarowski <kamil at netbsd> 13 Nov 2020 00:19:36 +0100
+ patch from Kamil 13 Nov 2020 22:37:07 +0100
+ loc * exist * algo * size * imp *
- groff_www(7) .MTO and .URL
These macros were used by the GNU grep(1) man page.
--- missing tbl features -----------------------------------------------
-- the "s" layout column specifier is used for placement of data
- into columns, but ignored during column width calculations
- synaptics(4) found by tedu@ Mon, 17 Aug 2015 21:17:42 -0400
- loc * exist ** algo *** size * imp **
-
- vertical centering in cells vertically spanned with ^
pali dot rohar at gmail dot com 16 Jul 2018 13:03:35 +0200
loc * exist *** algo *** size ** imp *
-- support .ds requests inside tbl(7) code,
- see tbl(1) for an example
-
- support mdoc(7) and man(7) macros inside tbl(7) code;
probably requires the parser reorg and letting tbl(7)
use roff_node such that macro sets can mix;
loc *** exist ** algo *** size ** imp ***
- look at the POSIX manuals in the books/man-pages-posix port,
- they use some unsupported tbl(7) features.
+ they use some unsupported tbl(7) features, mostly macros in tbl(7).
loc * exist ** algo ** size ** imp ***
- look what Joerg Schilling manual pages use
Thu, 19 Mar 2015 18:31:48 +0100
-- use Unicode U+2500 to U+256C for table borders
- in tbl(7) -Tutf-8 output
- suggested by bentley@ Tue, 14 Oct 2014 04:10:55 -0600
- loc * exist ** algo * size * imp **
-
-- implement horizontal and vertical alignment in HTML output
- pali dot rohar at gmail dot com 16 Jul 2018 13:03:35 +0200
- loc * exist * algo * size * imp ***
-
-- implement cell spanning in HTML output
- pali dot rohar at gmail dot com 16 Jul 2018 13:03:35 +0200
- loc * exist * algo ** size ** imp **
-
-- implement table borders in HTML output
- pali dot rohar at gmail dot com 16 Jul 2018 13:03:35 +0200
- loc * exist * algo ** size ** imp **
-
--- missing eqn features -----------------------------------------------
- In a matrix, break the output line after each matrix line.
- Found in the discussion at CDBUG 2015.
- Suggested by Avi Weinstock.
- loc * exist * algo * size * imp **
+ Found in the discussion at CDBUG 2015. Suggested by Avi Weinstock.
+ This may not be the ideal solution after all: eqn(7) matrices
+ are lists of columns, so Avi's proposal would show each *column*
+ on its own *line*, which is likely to cause confusion.
+ A better solution, but much harder to implement, would be to
+ actually show the coordinates of column vectors on different
+ terminal output lines, using the clumnated output facilities
+ developed for .Bl -tag, .Bl -column, and also used for tbl(7).
+ loc * exist * algo ** size ** imp **
- The "size" keyword is parsed, but ignored by the formatter.
loc * exist * algo * size * imp *
--- missing misc features ----------------------------------------------
+- -T man does not handle eqn(7) and tbl(7)
+ Stephen Gregoratto 16 Feb 2020 01:28:07 +1100
+ loc ** exist ** algo ** size *** imp **
+
- man -ks 1,8 route; kn@ Jul 13, 2018 orally
- italic correction (\/) in PostScript mode
https://github.com/schmonz/ikiwiki/compare/mandoc
Amitai Schlair Mon, 19 May 2014 14:05:53 -0400
+- check compatibility with
+ https://git.sr.ht/~sircmpwn/scdoc
+
- check features of the Slackware man.conf(5) format
Carsten Kunze Wed, 11 Mar 2015 17:57:24 +0100
+- look at http://www.snake.net/software/troffcvt/ (troff to HTML)
+ mentioned by Oliver Corff 22 Jan 2021 01:36:49 +0100
+
+
************************************************************************
* formatting issues: ugly output
************************************************************************
-- .UR can nest inside .TP,
- see roff(7) for examples
-
- revisit empty in-line macros
look at the difference between "Em x Em ." and "Sq x Em ."
Carsten Kunze Fri, 12 Dec 2014 00:15:41 +0100
- a line starting with "\fB something" counts as starting with whitespace
and triggers a line break; found in audio/normalize-mp3(1)
+ This will become easier once escape sequences are represented
+ by syntax tree nodes.
loc ** exist * algo ** size * imp **
- formatting /usr/local/man/man1/latex2man.1 with groff and mandoc
add a new <</Type /Font>> block to the PDF files with /BaseFont /Courier
and change the /Name from /F0 to the new font (/F5 (?)).
re-reported by tb@ Mon, 16 Mar 2015 16:47:21 +0100
- loc * exist ** algo ** size * imp **
+ loc ** exist ** algo ** size * imp **
--- HTML issues --------------------------------------------------------
-- wrap Sh and Ss content into <div>
- Laura Morales <lauretas at mail dot com> 21 Apr 2018 18:10:48 +0200
- (Evaluate whether this is really useful and has no adverse
- side effects before implementing; if it is possible,
- it does seem cleaner.)
- loc ** exist ** algo * size * imp ***
+- make the HTML scaffolding customozable with -O skip=...
+ mail to Oliver Corff 3 Jun 2021 17:28:02 +0200
-- format ".IP *" etc. as <ul> rather than <dl>
- https://github.com/Debian/debiman/issues/67
- loc ** exist ** algo ** size * imp ***
+- .Bd -unfilled should not use monospaced font
+ anton@ 4 Mar 2021 08:19:35 +0100
+ loc ** exist * algo * size * imp **
+
+- get rid of the last handful of style= attributes such that
+ Content-Security-Policy: can be enabled without unsafe-inline
+ suggested by bentley@ Nov 10, 2019 at 06:02:49AM -0700
+ loc * exist * algo * size * imp **
- .Bf at the beginning of a paragraph inserts a bogus 1ex horizontal
space, see for example random(3). Introduced in
https://github.com/Debian/debiman/issues/15
loc * exist * algo ** size ** imp **
+- space characters can end up in href= attributes, for example coming
+ from the first .Xr argument (where they make no sense, but still);
+ does this affect other characters, other source macros...?
+ Jackson Pauls 29 Aug 2017 16:56:27 +0100
+
- The tables used to render the three-part page headers actually force
the width of the <body> to the max-width given for <html>.
Not yet sure how to fix that...
http://undeadly.org/cgi?action=article&sid=20140925064244&pid=1
loc * exist * algo ** size * imp ***
+- implement the tbl(7) layout "n" specifier for HTML output,
+ probably by manual alignment, inserting adequate numbers of
+ digit-width spaces, similar to tbl_term.c, tbl_number()
+ Oliver Corff 16 May 2021 20:29:00 +0200
+ loc ** exist ** algo ** size * imp **
+
- generate <img> tags in HTML
idea from florian@ Tue, 7 Apr 2015 00:26:28 +0000
may be possible to implement with .Lk img://something.png alt_text
* warning issues
************************************************************************
+- shorten/simplify error messages for usage errors
+ To: deraadt@ 25 Oct 2020 23:37:01 +0100
+ loc ** exist * algo * size ** imp ***
+
- warn about duplicate .Sh/.Ss heads
gre(4): Rename duplicate sections 20 Apr 2018 15:27:33 +0200
loc * exist * algo * size * imp **
all over mdoc_macro.c and all subtly different.
loc ** exist ** algo ** size ** imp **
-- style message about suspicious uses of - vs. \- vs. \(mi
- e.g. -1 is likely wrong (from the mdoclint TODO)
-
- warn about punctuation - e.g. ',' and ';' - at the beginning
of a text line, if it is likely intended to follow the preceding
output without intervening whitespace, in particular after a
macro line (from the mdoclint TODO)
-- mandoc_special does not really check the escape sequence,
- but just the overall format
- loc ** exist ** algo *** size ** imp **
+- report double .TH in man(7) as an ERROR and let the first win
+ kristaps@ 28 Mar 2021 13:30:41 +0200
+ loc * exist * algo * size * imp *
- makewhatis -p complains about language subdirectories:
/usr/local/man//ru: Unknown directory part
* documentation issues
************************************************************************
-- dashes, hyphens, and minus signs in manual pages
- jmc@ Fri, 28 Mar 2014 07:19:27 +0000
-
- mark macros as: page structure domain, manual domain, general text domain
is this useful?
Found by Aaron M. Ucko in the GNU Hurd via Bdale Garbee,
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=829624
-- We use the input line number at several places to distinguish
- same-line from different-line input. That plainly doesn't work
- with user-defined macros, leading to random breakage.
-
- Is it possible to further simplify ENDBODY_SPACE?
- Find better ways to prevent endless loops
* CGI issues
************************************************************************
+ - Inspect httpd(8) logs on man.openbsd.org and consider
+ whether logging can be improved, where bad syntax comes from,
+ and what needs to be done to get rid of COMPAT_OLDURI.
- Enable HTTP compression by detecting gzip encoding and filtering
output through libz.
- Privilege separation (see OpenSSH).
- Enable caching support via HTTP 304 and If-Modified-Since.
- - Have Mac OSX systems automatically disable -static compilation of the
- CGI: -static isn't supported.
************************************************************************
* to improve in the groff_mdoc(7) macros
************************************************************************
+- delete OS release verification from .Dx, .Fx, .Nx, .Ox etc.
+ https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=629161
+ also Branden Robinson 18 Dec 2019 00:59:52 +1100
+
+- Can the distinction between .Vt and .Va be made stricter,
+ recommending .Vt extern char * Ns Va optarg ; ?
+ What about the block macro properties of .Vt in the SYNOPSIS?
+ zeurkous 25 Dec 2019 08:48:36 +0100
+
- .Cd # arch1, arch2 in section 4 pages:
find better way to indicate multiple architectures, maybe:
allow .Dt vgafb 4 "macppc sparc64"
git.ckatri.com / mandoc.git / blobdiff