following fields table missing in man page

[docwhat]

The manpage isn't right for me. The "following fields" table is missing.

I'm using scdoc version 1.11.1 on the develop branch (49315df) and there are no errors when building.

When I view the page, I get this:

❯ man nvimpager        
/usr/bin/tbl:<standard input>:106: unrecognised format `T'
/usr/bin/tbl:<standard input>:106: giving up on this table

The macOS man uses the builtin version of /usr/bin/tbl which is GNU tbl (groff) version 1.19.2.

[lucc]

I have trouble reproducing this. I do not have macos (which version btw?) and so I was looking for a way to install this version of groff in some VM or container. This is what I found:

1. The version of groff that you use is very old (16 years): https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/groff.git/refs/
2. It looks like there are very view systems/repositories that have such an old version of groff: https://repology.org/project/groff/versions (Is there a page that shows us the version info of different software packages for macos versions? Like this preinstalled groff and so on.)
3. my first try was a podman cotainer with centos6 but the repos for centos6 are dead so I not install man on the container

I am now wandering: Maybe you can just install a newer version of groff (with homebrew or macports or so) and this could be solved?

[docwhat]

I have macOS 11.6

macOS comes with that version of groff 1.19.2. I can (and did) install a newer groff via Homebrew.

You can look these up here https://opensource.apple.com – Note, 11.6 isn't there yet... it can take a while for it all to clear their review. 11.5 is "close enough" I suspect.

[lucc]

so what happens with the newer groff?

[docwhat]

The binary /usr/bin/man on macOS has hardcoded paths to tools like /usr/bin/tbl, so I can't upgrade it.

❯ strings =man | grep /usr/bin/
/usr/bin/mandoc
/usr/bin/apropos
/usr/bin/whatis
/usr/bin/groff -Tps -mandoc -c
/usr/bin/groff -Wall -mtty-char -Tascii -mandoc -c
/usr/bin/groff -Tnippon -mandocj -c
/usr/bin/eqn -Tps
/usr/bin/eqn -Tascii
/usr/bin/eqn -Tnippon
/usr/bin/tbl
/usr/bin/refer
/usr/bin/pic
/usr/bin/less -is
/usr/bin/cmp -s

Sorry I took song long to reply.

[docwhat]

I have trouble reproducing this. I do not have macos (which version btw?) and so I was looking for a way to install this version of groff in some VM or container.

You can create a GitHub action (or other CI system) that uses macOS as the worker. This would let you see what errors, etc. come out the other end.

[lucc]

We are actually already running the tests on osx: https://github.com/lucc/nvimpager/blob/develop/.travis.yml#L30-L34

I am wondering what command could be used to test what you experience. I can display the man page but that does not fail and one has to look at the test output to see the problem: https://app.travis-ci.com/github/lucc/nvimpager/jobs/544681386

[docwhat]

Maybe use a multi-line regexp to look for a lack of a table via perl?

[lucc]

@docwhat I created the test/osx-man-page branch. Can you please check if that works for you.

[docwhat]

Looks good! The table is all there. There is no wrapping, but I think that's how it is meant to be.

macOS: 13beta scdoc: 1.11.2

[lucc]

What do you mean "The table is all there"? I thought the whole point of this issue is that the table is not shown on macOS.

[docwhat]

In the generated man page:

• The table exists.
• The table looks correct; it contains everything I would expect based on the source.

Yay! 🎉

[lucc]

I am very confused. Can you help me understand what exactly is goiing on?

1. which branch/commit of nvimpager are you using?
2. how do you build the man page? make clean nvimpager.1 or make clean nvimpager.1 LEGACY_ROFF=true (only applicable on the test/osx-man-page branch)
3. what version of groff or tbl is your man executable using (are you using the one from macOS or did you install a different version of man/groff/tbl with brew or nix)?

[lucc]

I am asking because I would just throw away the branch test/osx-man-page if everything now works without it on macOS. I am not very keen on maintaining different versions of the man page with some fragile conversion code.

[lucc]

@docwhat is this resolved? I am still unsure about your last comment.

By accident I found a possible workaround to have the macOS version of man use a newer groff: https://tkurtbond.github.io/posts/2021/07/26/making-a-newer-version-of-groff-work-with-man-and-emacs-on-macos/

[docwhat]

It is resolved: