doc: howto-man-page.txt: Use font macros instead of font escapes

Use font macros instead of font escapes (\f[BIPR]).

  The escape '\c' ("connect to next input text")
is used to join the output of two macros without a space character.
This is similar to the '\' escape at the end of a line.

  Font escapes make the text more difficult to read.

###
  Changes based on:

  Use a macro to change to the italic font,
instead of \fI [1], if possible.
  The macros have the italic corrections,
but "\c" removes the "\/" part.

  Or

add the italic corrections.
[1] man-pages(7) [Debian package "manpages"]

###

Change a HYPHEN-MINUS (code 0x55, 2D) to a minus (\-), if in front of a

1) name for an option

2) negative number to be printed.

###

Wrong distance between sentences or protect the indicator.

a) Separate the sentences and subordinate clauses;
each begins on a new line.
See man-pages(7) [package "manpages"] and "info groff".

Or

b) Adjust space between sentences (two spaces),

c) or protect the indicator by adding "\&" after it.

The "indicator" is an "end-of-sentence character" (.!?).

  The amount of space between sentences in the output can then be
controlled with the ".ss" request.

Signed-off-by: Bjarni Ingi Gislason <bjarniig@rhi.hi.is>
This commit is contained in:
Bjarni Ingi Gislason 2019-12-16 22:20:32 +00:00 committed by Karel Zak
parent 1c4c602427
commit 37f26093c9
1 changed files with 18 additions and 10 deletions

View File

@ -30,10 +30,13 @@ Each manual page needs some sort of description of the command.
Write such here.
.SH OPTIONS
.TP
\fB\-n\fR, \fB\-\-no\-argument\fR
.BR \-n ,\ \-\-no\-argument
.\" \fB\-n\fR, \fB\-\-no\-argument\fR
This option does not use an argument.
.TP
\fB\-\-optional\fR[\fI=argument\fR]
.BR \-\-optional [ =\c
.IR argument ]
.\" \fB\-\-optional\fR[\fI=argument\fR]
Tell in this description that the
.I argument
is optional, and what happens when it is or is not given. Notice that the word
@ -59,18 +62,22 @@ to be the same, but in fact the former is two separate options while the
later will use
.B n
as option argument of
.BR -o .
.BR \-o .
So it is best to avoid short forms of optional options altogether.
.TP
\fB\-r\fR, \fB\-\-required\fR \fIargument\fR
.BR \-r ,\ \-\-required\ \c
.I argument
.\"\fB\-r\fR, \fB\-\-required\fR \fIargument\fR
Tell in this description that the
.I argument
is required.
.TP
\fB\-V\fR, \fB\-\-version\fR
.BR \-V ", " \-\-version
.\"\fB\-V\fR, \fB\-\-version\fR
Display version information and exit.
.TP
\fB\-h\fR, \fB\-\-help\fR
.BR \-h ,\ \-\-help
.\"\fB\-h\fR, \fB\-\-help\fR
Display help text and exit.
.SH NOTES
Tell details that users might need to know. For example, kernel feature or
@ -105,7 +112,8 @@ one.
.\"
.PP
When in the source a new sentence begins somewhere midline, it should use a
double space before its initial letter. This is done because \fBgroff\fR
double space before its initial letter. This is done because
.B groff
uses a double space after a sentence when this sentence ends at the end of
an input line and the next sentence begins on the next line.
Unless a double space is used before other sentence starts as well, the
@ -139,10 +147,10 @@ Another file.
Write typical and/or clever use examples here. The below examples are stupid,
and you should never write them in a real man page.
.TP
.B example -h
.B example \-h
Output help screen.
.TP
.B example -V
.B example \-V
Output version information.
.SH "EXIT STATUS"
This section can be left out if the command has only two return values,
@ -171,7 +179,7 @@ etc
.RE
.SH AUTHORS
.MT rjh@\:example.org
Random J. Hacker
Random J.\& Hacker
.ME
.br
.MT fred@\:example.com