A harmful example of a code in the tag-page for "manpage-has-errors-from-man"
7. October 2015
The web-page "lintian.debian.org" has a tag-page named
"manpage-has-errors-from-man". The shown example to check for errors
is false and harmful
LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8 MANROFFSEQ='' MANWIDTH=80 \
man --warnings -E UTF-8 -l -Tutf8 -Z <file> >/dev/null
1) the option '--warnings' reports only a default warning, namely "mac"
2) the option '-Z' prohibits the output of errors.
This behaviour is shown by "man" versions 2.6.7.1, 2.7.0.2, and 2.7.3.
When was this (harmful) example first published?
When was it tested for correctness?
Where will the cause of this blunder be documented and explained?
Where can people learn from the mistakes (errors) of others?
The number of errors in this category is from about 4500 one year ago
to about 6500 now.
###
"Since breaking out of bad habits, rather than acquiring new
ones, is the toughest part of learning we must expect from that
system permanent mental damage for most students exposed to
it."
P. xxxvii in:
On the Cruelty of Really Teaching Computing Science
Edsger W. Dykstra (Dijkstra)
SIGCSE Bulletin 1989, 21(1), bls. xxv-xxxix.
Also "www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/"
#
"The problems of the real world are primarily those you are
left with when you refuse to apply their effective solutions."
P. xxxviii in:
On the Cruelty of Really Teaching Computing Science
Edsger W. Dykstra (Dijkstra)
SIGCSE Bulletin 1989, 21(1), bls. xxv-xxxix.
Also "www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/"
#
It is necessary to consider all consequences of
the proposed action in all states of nature.
There are lots of consequences of any given action. Many of the
problems of society today are at least partly due to the failure
to realize that the "obvious" action taken had so many bad side
effects.
Herman Rubin in the Usenet group "misc.education.science".
#
There is a saying,
Any fool can learn from his own experience,
The wise man learns from the experience of others.
Too many students show that the first line is not correct.
But the second is very important, and is the basis of
the setting up of an educational program.
Herman Rubin in the Usenet group "misc.education".
--
Bjarni I. Gislason
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