Bug#281646: [Logcheck-devel] Bug#281646: bug in logtail regarding command line options

[maximilian attems]

tags 281646 pending
thanks

On Thu, 18 Nov 2004, john at interflora.com.au wrote:

> At 02:41 PM 18/11/2004, you wrote:
> >> I note that the -f switch is no longer in brackets on the man page,
> >> indicating that the author of the man page believes this switch to be
> >> mandatory.  In previous versions, this switch was optional.  I suspect 
> >that
> >> the man page was wrong, and now the utility has been reimplemented to 
> >match
> >> the man page, thus breaking scripts which previously worked.
> >
> >thanks for your hint,
> >no the author is a morron when having to deal with manpages.
> 
> Hmm, I think that I understand your self-deprecating humour here.
> 
> >so the manpge shouldn't have brackets around the -o switch,
> >but brackets around the -f switch?
> >strange in normal life i always considered to put unimportant stuff
> >under brackets or whatever.
> 
> The brackets on a man page syntax entry indicate that the item is optional.
> Lack of brackets indicate that the item is mandatory.

fixed in current cvs of logcheck,
logtail(8) has now the correct denotations. :)

i'll add soon a News.Debian item for logtail, so that the changed
interface gets better documanted for the upgrade path.
 
> This goes back to the syntax diagrams developed for Algol, which is often 
> considered
> the grandfather of C.  More details available in the manual ("man man").

thanks for your hints, read.

--
maks