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Old 04-27-2016, 02:01 PM   #1
hydrurga
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Registered: Nov 2008
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Distribution: Linux Mint 21 MATE
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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

Code:
man tune2fs > tune2fs
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:

Code:
groff -man -Tascii < ./tune2fs.8 | less
That works great, but when I try

Code:
groff -man -Tascii < ./tune2fs.8 > tune2fs
the resulting text in the file tune2fs has additional, presumably formatting characters, often between letters, and sometimes of the form e.g.

Code:
ttuunnee22ffss
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?
 
Old 04-27-2016, 02:31 PM   #2
hydrurga
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Oops, I feel foolish.

Code:
man ./tune2fs.8 > tune2fs
did the trick.
 
Old 04-27-2016, 02:32 PM   #3
grail
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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?
 
  


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