Report forwarded to debian-devel@lists.debian.org, Alvar Bray <alvar@debian.org>:
Bug#3788; Package man.   debian-devel@lists.debian.orgAlvar Bray  Subject: Bug#3788: `apropos' matches only word-substrings even in page names Reply-To: Ian Jackson , 3788@bugs.debian.org Resent-From: Ian Jackson Resent-To: debian-devel@lists.debian.org Resent-CC: Alvar Bray Resent-Date: Tue, 16 Jul 1996 00:03:05 GMT Resent-Message-ID: Resent-Sender: iwj@debian.org X-Debian-PR-Package: man X-Debian-PR-Keywords: X-Loop: owner@bugs.debian.org Received: via spool by bugs@bugs.debian.org id=B.837474700243 (code B ref -1); Tue, 16 Jul 1996 00:03:05 GMT Message-Id: Date: Tue, 16 Jul 96 00:30 BST From: Ian Jackson To: Debian bugs submission address Package: man Version: 2.3.10-11 I've been trying to investigate why `man -k pbm', `man -k pnm', `man -k pnm' &c didn't produce the results I'd expected. I have come to the conclusion that the search term presented to apropos is matched against any substring consisting of a whole number of words in the `description', or against the entire page name at once (presumably because the name is always considered an entire word). Observe this in the transcript below. I think it would be much more useful for `man -k alternatives', `man -k pnm', `man -k dpkg' and similar incantations to give pages which contain the search term as any substring of the page name, even if this isn't a whole `word'. After all, if you want matching on the whole page name you can use `whatis' rather than `apropos'. The existing match-words-only behaviour wrt the description is probably useful. I'm (now, after having RTFM) aware that `whatis -w' can be used to do the search I want, with a suitable search term, but I think that `apropos' should do this by default. Thanks, Ian. -chiark:~> whatis dpkg dpkg (8) - a low-level package manager for Debian GNU/Linux -chiark:~> man -k dpkg dpkg (8) - a low-level package manager for Debian GNU/Linux -chiark:~> man -k pkg pkg: nothing appropriate. -chiark:~> man -k dpk dpk: nothing appropriate. -chiark:~> man -k gnu/ gnu/: nothing appropriate. -chiark:~> man -k GNU/ GNU/: nothing appropriate. -chiark:~> man -k 'package manager' dpkg (8) - a low-level package manager for Debian GNU/Linux -chiark:~> man -k Debian dpkg-name (1) - rename Debian packages to full package names start-stop-daemon (8) - Debian package installation tool dchanges (1) - build changes file for a Debian package update-alternatives (8) - Debian package installation tool deb (5) - Debian GNU/Linux binary package format dchanges (5) - debian package changes file deb-control (5) - Debian GNU/Linux packages' master control file format dpkg (8) - a low-level package manager for Debian GNU/Linux dpkg-deb (8) - Debian package archive (.deb) manipulation tool deb-old (5) - Debian GNU/Linux binary package old style format -chiark:~> man -k 'GNU/Linux' deb (5) - Debian GNU/Linux binary package format deb-control (5) - Debian GNU/Linux packages' master control file format dpkg (8) - a low-level package manager for Debian GNU/Linux deb-old (5) - Debian GNU/Linux binary package old style format -chiark:~> man -k packa packa: nothing appropriate. -chiark:~> man -k deb deb (5) - Debian GNU/Linux binary package format dpkg-deb (8) - Debian package archive (.deb) manipulation tool -chiark:~> man -k .deb dpkg-deb (8) - Debian package archive (.deb) manipulation tool -chiark:~> man -k alternatives alternatives: nothing appropriate. -chiark:~> man -k update-alternatives update-alternatives (8) - Debian package installation tool -chiark:~> man -k tool start-stop-daemon (8) - Debian package installation tool update-alternatives (8) - Debian package installation tool installit (1) - file/directory installation tool dpkg-deb (8) - Debian package archive (.deb) manipulation tool -chiark:~>   Acknowledgement sent to Ian Jackson <ian@chiark.chu.cam.ac.uk>:
New bug report received and forwarded. Copy sent to Alvar Bray <alvar@debian.org>.   -t  From: owner@bugs.debian.org (Ian Jackson) To: Ian Jackson Subject: Bug#3788: Acknowledgement (was: `apropos' matches only word-substrings even in page names) Message-ID: In-Reply-To: References: Thank you for the problem report you have sent regarding Debian Linux. This is an automatically generated reply, to let you know your message has been received. It is being forwarded to the developers' mailing list for their attention; they will reply in due course. Your message has been sent to the package maintainer(s): Alvar Bray If you wish to submit further information on your problem, please send it to 3788@bugs.debian.org (and *not* to bugs@bugs.debian.org). Please do not reply to the address at the top of this message, unless you wish to report a problem with the bug-tracking system. Ian Jackson (maintainer, Debian bug tracking system)   Received: (at submit) by bugs.debian.org; 15 Jul 1996 23:51:40 +0000 Received: (qmail-queue invoked from smtpd); 15 Jul 1996 23:31:33 -0000 Received: from artemis.chu.cam.ac.uk (root@131.111.131.1) by master.debian.org with SMTP; 15 Jul 1996 23:31:32 -0000 Received: from chiark.chu.cam.ac.uk ([131.111.131.114]) by artemis.chu.cam.ac.uk with smtp (ident root using rfc1413) id m0ufx6K-0002eGC (Debian /\oo/\ Smail3.1.29.1 #29.37); Tue, 16 Jul 96 00:30 BST Received: by chiark.chu.cam.ac.uk id m0ufx65-0004RCC (Debian /\oo/\ Smail3.1.29.1 #29.35); Tue, 16 Jul 96 00:30 BST Message-Id: Date: Tue, 16 Jul 96 00:30 BST From: Ian Jackson To: Debian bugs submission address Subject: `apropos' matches only word-substrings even in page names Package: man Version: 2.3.10-11 I've been trying to investigate why `man -k pbm', `man -k pnm', `man -k pnm' &c didn't produce the results I'd expected. I have come to the conclusion that the search term presented to apropos is matched against any substring consisting of a whole number of words in the `description', or against the entire page name at once (presumably because the name is always considered an entire word). Observe this in the transcript below. I think it would be much more useful for `man -k alternatives', `man -k pnm', `man -k dpkg' and similar incantations to give pages which contain the search term as any substring of the page name, even if this isn't a whole `word'. After all, if you want matching on the whole page name you can use `whatis' rather than `apropos'. The existing match-words-only behaviour wrt the description is probably useful. I'm (now, after having RTFM) aware that `whatis -w' can be used to do the search I want, with a suitable search term, but I think that `apropos' should do this by default. Thanks, Ian. -chiark:~> whatis dpkg dpkg (8) - a low-level package manager for Debian GNU/Linux -chiark:~> man -k dpkg dpkg (8) - a low-level package manager for Debian GNU/Linux -chiark:~> man -k pkg pkg: nothing appropriate. -chiark:~> man -k dpk dpk: nothing appropriate. -chiark:~> man -k gnu/ gnu/: nothing appropriate. -chiark:~> man -k GNU/ GNU/: nothing appropriate. -chiark:~> man -k 'package manager' dpkg (8) - a low-level package manager for Debian GNU/Linux -chiark:~> man -k Debian dpkg-name (1) - rename Debian packages to full package names start-stop-daemon (8) - Debian package installation tool dchanges (1) - build changes file for a Debian package update-alternatives (8) - Debian package installation tool deb (5) - Debian GNU/Linux binary package format dchanges (5) - debian package changes file deb-control (5) - Debian GNU/Linux packages' master control file format dpkg (8) - a low-level package manager for Debian GNU/Linux dpkg-deb (8) - Debian package archive (.deb) manipulation tool deb-old (5) - Debian GNU/Linux binary package old style format -chiark:~> man -k 'GNU/Linux' deb (5) - Debian GNU/Linux binary package format deb-control (5) - Debian GNU/Linux packages' master control file format dpkg (8) - a low-level package manager for Debian GNU/Linux deb-old (5) - Debian GNU/Linux binary package old style format -chiark:~> man -k packa packa: nothing appropriate. -chiark:~> man -k deb deb (5) - Debian GNU/Linux binary package format dpkg-deb (8) - Debian package archive (.deb) manipulation tool -chiark:~> man -k .deb dpkg-deb (8) - Debian package archive (.deb) manipulation tool -chiark:~> man -k alternatives alternatives: nothing appropriate. -chiark:~> man -k update-alternatives update-alternatives (8) - Debian package installation tool -chiark:~> man -k tool start-stop-daemon (8) - Debian package installation tool update-alternatives (8) - Debian package installation tool installit (1) - file/directory installation tool dpkg-deb (8) - Debian package archive (.deb) manipulation tool -chiark:~>   Bug reassigned from package `man' to `man-db'. Request was from Vincent Renardias <vincent@waw.com> to control@bugs.debian.org.   Received: (at control) by bugs.debian.org; 6 Jun 1997 20:52:50 +0000 Received: (qmail 6480 invoked from network); 6 Jun 1997 20:52:48 -0000 Received: from ns1.waw.com (HELO odin.waw.com) (vincent@194.51.88.250) by master.debian.org with SMTP; 6 Jun 1997 20:52:47 -0000 Received: (from vincent@localhost) by odin.waw.com (8.7.3/8.7.3/waw) id WAA04496; Fri, 6 Jun 1997 22:56:31 +0100 Date: Fri, 6 Jun 1997 22:56:31 +0100 (GMT+0100) From: Vincent Renardias To: Control Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII reassign 10297 xserver-vga16 reassign 10363 dpkg reassign 10261 kernel reassign 10194 doc-debian reassign 10106 man-db reassign 10069 boot-disks reassign 9919 libpam0 reassign 8171 libpam0 reassign 7725 libpam0 reassign 7647 libpam0 reassign 5132 libpam0 reassign 2969 man-db reassign 3739 man-db reassign 3766 man-db reassign 3788 man-db reassign 5360 man-db -- - ** Linux ** +-------------------+ ** WAW ** - - vincent@debian.org | RENARDIAS Vincent | vincent@waw.com - - Debian/GNU Linux +-------------------+ http://www.waw.com/ - - http://www.debian.org/ | WAW (33) 4 91 81 21 45 - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------   Information forwarded to Fabrizio Polacco <fpolacco@debian.org>:
Bug#3788; Package man-db.   Fabrizio Polacco  Subject: Bug#3788: Old bugs need to be looked at Reply-To: remco@blaakmeer.student.utwente.nl (Remco Blaakmeer), 3788-maintonly@bugs.debian.org Resent-From: remco@blaakmeer.student.utwente.nl (Remco Blaakmeer) Resent-To: Fabrizio Polacco Resent-Date: Sun, 01 Feb 1998 11:05:42 GMT Resent-Message-ID: Resent-Sender: iwj@debian.org X-Debian-PR-Message: report 3788 X-Debian-PR-Package: man-db X-Debian-PR-Keywords: X-Loop: owner@bugs.debian.org Received: via spool by 3788-maintonly@bugs.debian.org id=M3788.88633091029815 (code M ref 3788); Sun, 01 Feb 1998 11:05:42 GMT Message-Id: Date: Sun, 1 Feb 1998 12:00:33 +0100 (CET) From: remco@blaakmeer.student.utwente.nl (Remco Blaakmeer) To: 3788-maintonly@bugs.debian.org This is an automated message sent to all bugs older than one year. This bug is very old. Please take a look at it and see if you can fix it. If it has already been fixed, please close it. If you have problems fixing it or if you don't have the time to fix it, please ask the people on debian-devel@lists.debian.org for help, so that at least the oldest bugs can be solved before Debian 2.0 is released. Remco Blaakmeer   Acknowledgement sent to remco@blaakmeer.student.utwente.nl (Remco Blaakmeer):
Extra info received and forwarded to maintainer. Copy sent to Fabrizio Polacco <fpolacco@debian.org>.   -t  From: owner@bugs.debian.org (Ian Jackson) To: remco@blaakmeer.student.utwente.nl (Remco Blaakmeer) Subject: Bug#3788: Info received for maintainer only (was Old bugs need to be looked at) Message-ID: In-Reply-To: References: X-Debian-PR-Message: ack-info 3788 Thank you for the additional information you have supplied regarding this problem report. It has been forwarded to the developer(s) (but not to the mailing list) to accompany the original report. Your message has been sent to the package maintainer(s): Fabrizio Polacco If you wish to continue to submit further information on your problem, please send it to 3788-maintonly@bugs.debian.org, as before. Please do not reply to the address at the top of this message, unless you wish to report a problem with the bug-tracking system. Ian Jackson (administrator, Debian bugs database)   Received: (at 3788-maintonly) by bugs.debian.org; 1 Feb 1998 11:01:50 +0000 Received: (qmail 29812 invoked by uid 71); 1 Feb 1998 11:01:49 -0000 Received: from cal011205.student.utwente.nl (HELO blaakmeer.student.utwente.nl) (root@130.89.222.95) by debian.novare.net with SMTP; 1 Feb 1998 11:01:49 -0000 Received: by blaakmeer.student.utwente.nl id m0xyx8b-0013xTC (Debian Smail-3.2.0.100 1997-Dec-8 #2); Sun, 1 Feb 1998 12:00:33 +0100 (CET) Message-Id: Date: Sun, 1 Feb 1998 12:00:33 +0100 (CET) From: remco@blaakmeer.student.utwente.nl (Remco Blaakmeer) To: 3788-maintonly@bugs.debian.org Subject: Old bugs need to be looked at This is an automated message sent to all bugs older than one year. This bug is very old. Please take a look at it and see if you can fix it. If it has already been fixed, please close it. If you have problems fixing it or if you don't have the time to fix it, please ask the people on debian-devel@lists.debian.org for help, so that at least the oldest bugs can be solved before Debian 2.0 is released. Remco Blaakmeer