Bugzilla Bug 20747

The ntp distribution does not come with manual pages to install. 
Instead it only contains HTML documentation. However, the HTML
docs are sufficiently similar to normal manual pages so that an
automatic conversion is possible.


Reproducible: Always
Steps to Reproduce:





I've put together an XSL stylesheet that does the transformation
from HTML (

The ntp distribution does not come with manual pages to install. 
Instead it only contains HTML documentation. However, the HTML
docs are sufficiently similar to normal manual pages so that an
automatic conversion is possible.


Reproducible: Always
Steps to Reproduce:





I've put together an XSL stylesheet that does the transformation
from HTML (á la ntp) to troff (i.e. man page format). The
conversion then be performed with the following command:

xsltproc --html --stringparam version $VERSION --output $MANFILE ntp.xsl $HTMLFILE
gzip $MANFILE

The stylesheet has been tested for ntpdate, ntpdc, ntpd, ntpq,
ntptime, ntptrace & tickadj. It does not work for ntp-genkeys 
due to malformed HTML in the source document (probably possible
to patch).

The result is not perfect, as the HTML format is not really a
suitable base format for conversion to manual files. Also, had
the HTML source files used stylesheets to a higher degree the
conversion could have been much simplified.

Created an attachment (id=11756) [details]
XSL stylesheet for creating man pages

It looks like the issue with missing man pages will never be fixed
upstream. This is what David L. Mills wrote to me on the issue 
(although it sounds like a boiler-plate answer):

> Please read my lips very carefully. This issue has come up numerous
> times before on this list and several private messages.
>
> The pages that I myself prepare for the official software distribution
> are in HTML format, none other.
>
> I will not agree to publish them in any other format in the official
> software distribution that leaves here. The reason for this is that
> conversion to other formats may unintentionally distort or hide the
> information on those pages leading to misunderstanding and
> miscommunication.
>
> You are welcome to convert them in any format, language, font and serif
> you wish. I have no objection whatsoever if a bona fide format converter
> is included in the documentation package, but the official documents
> cited in correspondence, bug reports, etc., must be the HTML pages.
> 
> I say again. Many agains as a matter of fact. The official language of
> the documentation is HTML. Think of it as asking the IETF to publishing
> RFCs in PostScript.

I don't quite understand what he refers to as "documentation package", 
but then I guess that package sure isn't coming from him... :)

FYI. This bug is related to the previously resolved #17405.

the point you made is a good one.  ntp is blinking mysterious!

ok, i made a custom tarball of the manpages generated by your xsl template ...

http://cvs.gentoo.org/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/gentoo-x86/net-misc/ntp/ntp-4.1.1b-r6.ebuild?rev=1.1&content-type=text/vnd.viewcvs-markup

thanks :)

*** Bug 55742 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Created an attachment (id=34654) [details]
XSL stylesheet for ntp man pages

Replaced the old XSL stylesheet with a new and improved version (for ntp
4.2.0).

Created an attachment (id=34655) [details]
Shell script for creating the ntp man pages

Fixed the issues for ntp 4.2.0 by creating a shell script that preprocesses the
HTML files slightly. The XSL stylesheet has also been improved and now works
for all the ntp commands. Please modify the hardcoded constants at the top of
the script to adjust configuration settings.

awesome, i'll get the manpages added again :)

thanks Per for the update :)

added back in to 4.2.0-r2

Thanks a lot. When I get my system working I'll look for what I can do to help
Gentoo. The response at all times was awesome and professional.

Thanks,

David