Bug 1542883 - cal man page uses incorrect synopsis syntax
Summary: cal man page uses incorrect synopsis syntax
Keywords:
Status: CLOSED UPSTREAM
Alias: None
Product: Fedora
Classification: Fedora
Component: util-linux
Version: 27
Hardware: Unspecified
OS: Unspecified
unspecified
low
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Karel Zak
QA Contact: Fedora Extras Quality Assurance
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2018-02-07 09:36 UTC by Wayne Pollock
Modified: 2018-02-07 10:15 UTC (History)
2 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed: 2018-02-07 09:53:26 UTC
Type: Bug
Embargoed:


Attachments (Terms of Use)

Description Wayne Pollock 2018-02-07 09:36:05 UTC
Description of problem:
The cal man page uses "<" and ">" for grouping.  The standard since forever (and still documented in the current SUS/POSIX standard) is to use "{" and "}" for grouping when one of several items is required.

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):


How reproducible:


Steps to Reproduce:
1. man cal
2.
3.

Actual results:
 cal [options] <timestamp|monthname>

Expected results:
 cal [ options ] { timestamp | monthname }

Additional info:
The Fedora 27 man(1) and man-pages(7) don't document any grouping syntax, except for "[" and "]".  They should probably have a sentence added; let me know if the assignee needs me to create a separate bug for those man pages.


(I realize this is extremely low priority, but should be a very quick painless fix.  Correct documentation syntax is important to new users.)

Comment 1 Karel Zak 2018-02-07 09:53:26 UTC
Good point. We do not use '{ }' in util-linux. It seems better to use

  cal [ options ] [timestamp|monthname]

to be compatible with another our man pages. I'll fix it in upstream tree. Thanks!

Comment 2 Karel Zak 2018-02-07 10:15:59 UTC
Note that timestamp and monthname are not required, all is optional.


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