Re: [Docutils-develop] Test failure: manpage writer

[Guenter M. <mi...@us...>]

Dear Branden,

thank you for the fast and comprehensive answer.

On 2023-11-03, G. Branden Robinson wrote:
> At 2023-11-03T18:15:33-0000, Guenter Milde via Docutils-develop wrote:


>> running the test suite with r9464 resulted in a failure

>> FAIL: test_publish (test_writers.test_manpage.WriterPublishTestCase)
>>       (id="totest['table'][0]")
> [...]
>> It this the intended output?
>> Is it tested with groff?

> The output of groff in 1.23.0 changed slightly here.
> Here's some 1.22.4/1.23.0 comparison on my system.  UTF-8 output
> follows.

...

> A.  Fewer blank lines in the output after the page header; and
> B.  There is now a space after the left border of the table.

My patch adapts the "expected" output to what Docutils' manpage writer emits
since the recent changes.

If I understand this right, then the changes work as intended,
we can change the "expected" output sample and
by this endorse the new manpage writer behaviour.

...

> Further, if you want a table where every cell is boxed, that's what the
> "allbox" option is for.  You can use that instead of putting "|" in your
> row descriptions and adding rows consisting solely of "_".

> tbl(1):
>      allbox          Enclose each table entry in a box; implies box.

This would be even cleaner and the preferred solution for tables

* if it is supported by all relevant workflows
* if support is not too new.

Thanks again,

Günter