bugGNU roff - Bugs: bug #65654, [preconv] want a warning if code...

 
 

bug #65654: [preconv] want a warning if code '0xA0' is used in the input

Submitter:  Bjarni Ingi Gislason <bjarniig>
Submitted:  Sun 28 Apr 2024 06:58:35 PM UTC
   
 
Category:  Preprocessor preconv Severity:  1 - Wish
Item Group:  Warning/Suspicious behaviour Status:  Rejected
Privacy:  Public Assigned to:  gbranden
Open/Closed:  Closed Planned Release:  None
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Wed 01 May 2024 10:40:16 PM UTC, comment #3: 

Dave has convinced me.

If the input code point U+00A0, which is valid as groff input, is not desired in a source file, write a Makefile/shell script to detect it.

Same as if you wanted to compose a document without using, say, an asterisk.  (Good luck with string interpolations, though.)

Closing as rejected.

comment #2:

> ...there is no reason for preconv to warn about this.  The same issue exists no matter what Unix tool processes input containing both characters.  Users may choose to avoid U+00A0 in their input files for this reason, or they may use other strategies to deal with it.  It is not preconv's job to police this usage.  Users who desire such warnings can write a simple preprocessor (using grep or sed, perhaps) to emit them.
>
> Once you start down the rabbit hole of "warn the user about characters that are hard to visually tell apart," where do you stop?  In the monospace fonts used in most terminals, you'd be hard-pressed to distinguish U+2012 FIGURE DASH from U+2013 EN DASH.  Unicode has a plethora of space-like and dash-like characters.  Should preconv warn about all of these?  That seems absurd.

G. Branden Robinson <gbranden>
Group administrator
Mon 29 Apr 2024 01:27:23 AM UTC, comment #2: 

Bjarni is talking about input, not output.  But the example is still slightly confusing, because 0xA0 appears to refer to the Latin-1 character NO-BREAK SPACE (Unicode U+00A0)--but there is no reason to run preconv if the file is in Latin-1 encoding, as groff can read this directly.

Nonetheless, his point remains: many common Unix tools display the characters U+0020 and U+00A0 indistinguishably.

But there is no reason for preconv to warn about this.  The same issue exists no matter what Unix tool processes input containing both characters.  Users may choose to avoid U+00A0 in their input files for this reason, or they may use other strategies to deal with it.  It is not preconv's job to police this usage.  Users who desire such warnings can write a simple preprocessor (using grep or sed, perhaps) to emit them.

Once you start down the rabbit hole of "warn the user about characters that are hard to visually tell apart," where do you stop?  In the monospace fonts used in most terminals, you'd be hard-pressed to distinguish U+2012 FIGURE DASH from U+2013 EN DASH.  Unicode has a plethora of space-like and dash-like characters.  Should preconv warn about all of these?  That seems absurd.

Dave <barx>
Group Member
Sun 28 Apr 2024 08:43:52 PM UTC, comment #1: 

Changing item group because this is a request for a new diagnostic message.

I don't understand the request, though.

`\~` is "displayed" as a normal space, too, if filling is off, or, depending on circumstances (especially on terminals) if it's not adjusted sufficiently to be distinguishable from a normal space.

Not sure why this is something worth warning about.

I will take this opportunity to note that if I ever implement my "AT&T-compatible troff preconv output" flag, we should convert U+00A0 to `\ ` instead.

G. Branden Robinson <gbranden>
Group administrator
Sun 28 Apr 2024 06:58:35 PM UTC, original submission:  

Subject: preconv.cpp: Issue a warning if code '0xA0' is used in
the input and thus changed to '\~'

File: "src/preproc/preconv/preconv.cpp"
Subroutine: unicode_entity(int u)

  The code '0xA0' is displayed as a normal space, and is thus
visually the same as it.

  So authors better use '\~' directly in their files.

Bjarni Ingi Gislason <bjarniig>

 

(Note: upload size limit is set to 16384 kB, after insertion of the required escape characters.)

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    Follow 7 latest changes.

    Date Changed by Updated Field Previous Value => Replaced by
    2024-05-01 gbranden Severity3 - Normal 1 - Wish
    2024-05-01 gbranden Open/ClosedOpen Closed
    2024-05-01 gbranden StatusNeed Info Rejected
        Assigned toNone gbranden
        Summarypreconv.cpp: Issue a warning if code '0xA0' is used in the input and thus changed to '\~' [preconv] want a warning if code '0xA0' is used in the input
    2024-04-28 gbranden Item GroupLint Warning/Suspicious behaviour
        StatusNone Need Info

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