Input file is alsactl.1

  Any program (person), that produces man pages, should check the output
for defects by using (both groff and nroff)

[gn]roff -mandoc -t -ww -b -z -K utf8  <man page>

  The same goes for man pages that are used as an input.

  For a style guide use

  mandoc -T lint

-.-

  So any 'generator' should check its products with the above mentioned
'groff', 'mandoc',  and additionally with 'nroff ...'.

  This is just a simple quality control measure.

  The 'generator' may have to be corrected to get a better man page,
the source file may, and any additional file may.

  Common defects:

  Input text line longer than 80 bytes.

  Not removing trailing spaces (in in- and output).
  The reason for these trailing spaces should be found and eliminated.

  Not beginning each input sentence on a new line.
Lines should thus be shorter.

  See man-pages(7), item 'semantic newline'.

-.-

The difference between the formatted output of the original and patched file
can be seen with:

  nroff -mandoc <file1> > <out1>
  nroff -mandoc <file2> > <out2>
  diff -u <out1> <out2>

and for groff, using

"printf '%s\n%s\n' '.kern 0' '.ss 12 0' | groff -mandoc -Z - "

instead of 'nroff -mandoc'

  Add the option '-t', if the file contains a table.

  Read the output of 'diff -u' with 'less -R' or similar.

-.-.

  If 'man' (man-db) is used to check the manual for warnings,
the following must be set:

  The option "-warnings=w"

  The environmental variable:

export MAN_KEEP_STDERR=yes (or any non-empty value)

  or

  (produce only warnings):

export MANROFFOPT="-ww -b -z"

export MAN_KEEP_STDERR=yes (or any non-empty value)


-.-.

Output from "mandoc -T lint  alsactl.1 ": (shortened list)

      2 input text line longer than 80 bytes
      2 whitespace at end of input line

-.-.

Output from "test-groff -mandoc -t -ww -b -z alsactl.1 ": (shortened list)

      2 trailing space in the line

-.-.

Output from "mandoc -T lint  alsactl.1 ":

mandoc: alsactl.1:93:20: STYLE: whitespace at end of input line
mandoc: alsactl.1:110:92: STYLE: input text line longer than 80 bytes: Select the boot / ho...
mandoc: alsactl.1:226:10: STYLE: whitespace at end of input line
mandoc: alsactl.1:231:83: STYLE: input text line longer than 80 bytes: <abramo@alsa\-projec...

-.-.

Remove space characters at the end of lines.

Use "git apply ... --whitespace=fix" to fix extra space issues, or use
global configuration "core.whitespace".

93:\fI\-h, \-\-help\fP 
226:.SH BUGS 

-.-.

Add a comma (or \&) after "e.g." and "i.e.", or use English words
(man-pages(7)).
Abbreviation points should be protected against being interpreted as
an end of sentence, if they are not, and that independent of the
current place on the line.

214:necessary for some soundcard features (e.g. enabling/disabling

-.-.

Wrong distance between sentences in the input file.

  Separate the sentences and subordinate clauses; each begins on a new
line.  See man-pages(7) ("Conventions for source file layout") and
"info groff" ("Input Conventions").

  The best procedure is to always start a new sentence on a new line,
at least, if you are typing on a computer.

Remember coding: Only one command ("sentence") on each (logical) line.

E-mail: Easier to quote exactly the relevant lines.

Generally: Easier to edit the sentence.

Patches: Less unaffected text.

Search for two adjacent words is easier, when they belong to the same line,
and the same phrase.

  The amount of space between sentences in the output can then be
controlled with the ".ss" request.

17:soundcard drivers. It supports multiple soundcards. If your card has
25:The \fI<card>\fP argument is optional. If no soundcards are specified,
36:configuration file. If restoring fails (eventually partly), the init
46:This command tries to initialize all devices to a default state. If device
76:The optional element identifiers are accepted as a filter. One extra
106:Select the configuration file to use. The default is /var/lib/alsa/asound.state.
110:Select the boot / hotplug ALSA configuration directory to use. The default is /var/lib/alsa.
133:Used with store, restore and init commands. Do not show 'No soundcards found'
152:Save restore and init state to this file. The file will contain only errors.
167:The configuration file for init. By default, PREFIX/share/alsa/init/00main
196:Execute also the 'defaults' section from the UCM configuration. The standard
201:Skip the UCM init even if available. It may be useful for the test the
207:soundcards. The settings include all the usual soundcard mixer
213:\fBalsactl store\fP. Editing the configuration file by hand may be
214:necessary for some soundcard features (e.g. enabling/disabling
231:<abramo@alsa\-project.org>. This document is by Paul Winkler <zarmzarm@erols.com>.

-.-.

Split lines longer than 80 characters into two or more lines.
Appropriate break points are the end of a sentence and a subordinate
clause; after punctuation marks.

Line 7, length 93

\fBalsactl\fP [\fIoptions\fP] [\fIstore\fP|\fIrestore\fP|\fIinit\fP] <card # or id or device>

Line 110, length 92

Select the boot / hotplug ALSA configuration directory to use. The default is /var/lib/alsa.

Line 231, length 82

<abramo@alsa\-project.org>. This document is by Paul Winkler <zarmzarm@erols.com>.


-.-.

Use \(en (en-dash) for a dash between space characters,
not a minus (\-) or a hyphen (-), except in the NAME section.

alsactl.1:162:ALSA_CONFIG_PATH to read different or optimized configuration - may be

-.-.

Name of a manual is set in bold, the section in roman.
See man-pages(7).

223:alsactl_init(7)

-.-.

Put a parenthetical sentence, phrase on a separate line,
if not part of a code.
See man-pages(7), item "semantic newline".

alsactl.1:36:configuration file. If restoring fails (eventually partly), the init
alsactl.1:120:file (including the global state file).
alsactl.1:188:Set the process priority (see 'man nice')

-.-.

Two or more space charaters between printable characters.

When the distance is between sentences,
start the beginning of the second one on a separate line
("semantic newline").

128:Used with restore command.  Try to restore the matching control elements
129:as much as possible.  This option is set as default now.
138:Used with restore command.  Don't restore mismatching control elements.
143:Don't initialize cards if restore fails.  Since version 1.0.18,
145:as default.  But this can cause incompatibility with the older version.
147:exists.  This option takes the restore behavior back to the older
208:settings.  More importantly, alsactl is

-.-.

Output from "test-groff  -mandoc -t -K utf8 -rF0 -rHY=0 -ww -b -z ":

troff: backtrace: file '<stdin>':93
troff:<stdin>:93: warning: trailing space in the line
troff: backtrace: file '<stdin>':224
troff:<stdin>:224: warning: trailing space in the line