The file(1) and magic(5) man pages' groff source makes references to undefined strings: \*[Am], \*[Lt], and \*[Gt]. These are intended to display as &, <, and > respectively. These characters are critical in magic(5). Additionally, in the synopsis of file(1), there is a line: \*[Am]... that really should be: \&... (preventing the elipsis from being interpreted as a command). file(1) is maintained by Cristos Zoulas and is distributed from <ftp://ftp.astron.com/pub/file/file-X.YY.tar.gz>. There are currently two versions there: 3.41 and 4.04. 3.41 still has the problems but 4.04 does not. The following definitions, added near the top of each file, would solve the first problem: .ds Am & .ds Lt < .ds Gt >
this should be fixed in file-4.06-1 packages in rawhide.