[PATCH 1/3] gnu: man-db: Pass --with-col to configure.

[Alex Kost]

Quote from "man man":

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
Normally, when output is not being directed to a terminal (such as to a
file or a pipe), formatting characters are discarded to make it easier
to read the result without special tools.
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

However it does not happen with the current "man", as may be checked for
example by evaluating the following in Emacs:

(let ((buf (get-buffer-create "*man true*")))
  (with-current-buffer buf
    (call-process "man" nil t nil "true"))
  (pop-to-buffer buf))

As you can see there are escape sequences (such as "^[[1m") there, which
shouldn't happen.  Configuring man-db "--with-col" fixes the issue (at
least for me).

BTW (a note for Ludovic), the current man behaviour "breaks" completions
of many commands provided by "pcmpl-args" emacs package, because
'pcmpl-args-extract-argspecs-from-manpage' can't parse a man page to find
completions.  For example, "sudo --<TAB>" (in shell-mode) doesn't complete
anything.  After this patch it should work.

0001-gnu-man-db-Pass-with-col-to-configure.patch
Description: Text Data