Reading downloaded man files as pure text files
 

Hi there,

I would like to compare the man files for tune2fs 1.42.13 (my installed version) and 1.43-WIP.2016.03.15 which I've downloaded.

I've created a text file from the installed 1.42.13 version by a simple

However the corresponding downloaded 1.43-WIP.2016.03.15 file, tune2fs.8.in appears to be in a ROFF format.

I read that the following command allows you to read ROFF man files:

That works great, but when I try

the resulting text in the file tune2fs has additional, presumably formatting characters, often between letters, and sometimes of the form e.g.

How do I generate a text file from tune2fs.8.in that will appear as it would if I installed 1.43-WIP.2016.03.15 (which I don't want to do) and piped man tune2fs to a text file?

Oops, I feel foolish. :)

did the trick.

I don't know of a direct solution as you are looking for, but thought, what if you temporarily copy the new man page to the appropriate directory and use man to open it?