https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=162.158.255.65&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-28T18:44:39ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1692:_Man_Page&diff=121758Talk:1692: Man Page2016-06-10T20:54:38Z<p>162.158.255.65: </p>
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I do not entirely understand how wikis work; however, I have attempted to add a transcript. I apologize if anything breaks. I also apologize if this is not how I should be apologizing.<br />
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[[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.135|108.162.241.135]] 04:27, 10 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
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The Pope flag is referencing the time of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avignon_Papacy Avignon Papacy] --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.243|108.162.237.243]] 04:56, 10 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
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:Would have frickin' loved Randall if he inserted a reference to Pope of Dope here. :D [[User:Todor|Todor]] ([[User talk:Todor|talk]]) 08:17, 10 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
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OK, -e -h -v doesn't seem to work, it keeps halting at an input line!<br />
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Also, -p "AVIGNON" only works if I specify -D -I, -O, or -jk.<br />
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Why isn't -x documented on this man page? -x seems to do ''something'' but I'm not sure what the value of it is.<br />
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-y just returns "CHROMOSOME MISMATCH".<br />
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-a -e -f -n -o -r -S works if I specify -g, but -R starts to return CloudFlare errors after the first few million sites.<br />
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-v -d seems to make debug.exe speak out loud, but eventually it just starts spouting seemingly random numbers, unless I use -q. Is this desired behavior, or a bug?<br />
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{{unsigned ip|255.255.255.0}}<br />
(-jk | off) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.8|108.162.221.8]] 20:19, 10 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
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The horrible thing about this comic is that somebody is sure to have implemented this program by the end of the day... {{unsigned ip|141.101.104.140}}<br />
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:Found one on Github: https://github.com/iKevinY/blerp . It has a man page file, but the program itself just outputs "bleep blerp" and doesn't implement any of the flags (yet?). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.141|141.101.104.141]] 08:05, 10 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
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"Behavior Not Defined" might be a reference to undefined behavior, where a program is allowed to do anything including make demons fly out your nose: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undefined_behavior [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.12|108.162.219.12]] 06:48, 10 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
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[[Special:Contributions/162.158.135.36|162.158.135.36]] 06:58, 10 June 2016 (UTC) Søren Mors<br />
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I thought Ansel was a deliberate misspelling of ANSI, the most common 8 bit codepage. {{unsigned ip|162.158.135.36}}<br />
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The commit "Revision as of 07:08, 10 June 2016" reverted an IMO good explanation for the debug option with a bad one. Consider changing it back. [[User:Todor|Todor]] ([[User talk:Todor|talk]]) 07:20, 10 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
:I agree. The bad explanation also mixed up {{w|Pipeline (Unix)|piping}} with {{w|Redirection (computing)|redirection}} --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.76|141.101.104.76]] 07:41, 10 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
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I don't think `blerp -a -d -t -p "AVIGNON"` is a valid call to blerp, because the syntax line syntax is utterly off. For example, the first line has an unclosed open [, whereas the second line – in addition to having the corresponding unmatched ] – plays with the fact that even though {} is usually used to list a set of required items, {} is also how `find` (which might do something similar to blerp, and is in fact mentioned in -v) denotes its results when passed to an exec. {{unsigned ip|141.101.104.30}}<br />
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Command line options do not normally use n-dashes; they use hyphens. Another problem with this option is that n-dashes and m-dashes cannot usually be displayed properly in the fixed-width fonts commonly used for command line terminals. The usual custom is to use two hyphens to represent a dash (which for proportional font display will often be converted to either an n-dash or m-dash).<br />
: In groff (GNU troff, the language in which man pages are written) the code for an m-dash is '''\(em'''. It will display as either two hyphens "'''--'''" or as an actual m-dash "'''—'''" depending on the character set specified in the locale environment variables. [[User:Locoluis|Locoluis]] ([[User talk:Locoluis|talk]]) 17:17, 10 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
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While "check whether input halts" clearly alludes to the halting problem, it may not actually be impossible, depending on what blerp actually does and what sort of input it accepts. (It says nothing about actually ''reporting'' the result, and it makes no guarantees that it will itself halt.)<br />
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—[[User:PhantomLimbic|PhantomLimbic]] ([[User talk:PhantomLimbic|talk]]) 07:30, 10 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
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:Indeed. Turing's proof for the halting theorem says that there is no algorithm that allows a Turing machine to determine whether any possible program/input combination will halt. However, this doesn't necessarily mean that it's impossible to develop an algorithm that determines whether a particular, fixed program will halt on an arbitrary input. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.141|141.101.104.141]] 08:14, 10 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
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Currently, there is no mention of the unmatched square brackets in the synopsis, or unmatched parenthesis in the title text. Presumably a reference to XKCD comic 859. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.77|141.101.98.77]] 07:51, 10 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
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Attack Mode might be a reference to the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yu-Gi-Oh!_Trading_Card_Game Yu-Gi-Oh Trading Card Game] [[Special:Contributions/162.158.85.117|162.158.85.117]] 08:23, 10 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
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In the description of -b the computer (Named "Hex") from discworld uses ants not bees.<br />
Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hex_(Discworld) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.125|141.101.98.125]] 09:13, 10 June 2016 (UTC)Bluewhelk<br />
:Hmm. Reading the wiki article further Hex uses a beehive for long term storage! My bad [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.125|141.101.98.125]] 09:20, 10 June 2016 (UTC)Bluewhelk<br />
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"Or best offer" doesn't need to reference a financial offer, it may also mean that anyone offering to reuse the article with an alternative license is allowed to do so. Attack Mode and Stealth Mode seem to me to be references to computer viruses. Stealth Mode is also an option in some applications that can hide their presence when run, often because of malicious behavior, such as remote access tools, keyloggers, etc. Piping is not only used in Unix, it is also common in MS-DOS. Opposite Day has a good explanation on Wikipedia. Literal quote from Wikipedia: "Once Opposite Day is declared, statements mean the opposite of what they usually mean.". --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.222.217|162.158.222.217]] 11:17, 10 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
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Is there any evidence that Opposite Day may refer to Cyanide & Happiness? Opposite Day is a fairly well-known concept (at least from what I know growing up in the U.S.), and I don't see any direct connections to the specific C&H video short. I think that speculation should be removed. [[User:Sayno2quat|Sayno2quat]] ([[User talk:Sayno2quat|talk]]) 14:33, 10 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
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I could be wrong, but I think the program is also "simulating" a man (a play with the words because it's a '''man''' page). If you think like that a lot more commands makes sense (especially, -D, -e, -f, -g, -jk, -R, -u). Just a penny for a thought. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.134|108.162.241.134]] 11:52, 10 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
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If someone wants a history of the useragent string (possibly a reference for that "citation needed"), then [http://webaim.org/blog/user-agent-string-history/|this might be of interest]. --[[User:Draco18s|Draco18s]] ([[User talk:Draco18s|talk]]) 16:12, 10 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
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The <code>-n</code> option might be a reference to <code>echo</code>, where it is an option often used but which does not work on all systems. <br><br />
Am I the only one to see the “k” capitalized in <code>-jK</code>? <br><br />
[[User:Ltrlg|Ltrlg]] ([[User talk:Ltrlg|talk]]) 18:55, 10 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
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I interpreted "CHECK WHETHER INPUT HALTS" as simply determining whether the input was a finite string. (while at the same time referencing the halting problem) --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.68.59|162.158.68.59]] 20:22, 10 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
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I think that "suppress bees" probably indicates a smoke situation, a situation where the magic smoke is let out of the computer, such as halt-catch-fire. Smoke is the way to suppress bees. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.158|108.162.249.158]] 20:24, 10 June 2016 (UTC)<br />
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What does "BSD 4(2)" mean? --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.65|162.158.255.65]] 20:54, 10 June 2016 (UTC)</div>162.158.255.65https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1692:_Man_Page&diff=1216121692: Man Page2016-06-10T04:53:34Z<p>162.158.255.65: </p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1692<br />
| date = June 10, 2016<br />
| title = Man Page<br />
| image = man_page.png<br />
| titletext = For even more info, see blarbl(2)(3) and birb(3ahhaha I'm kidding, just Google it like a normal person.<br />
}}<br />
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==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Initial draft/outline. As one of those comics, needs a section on each part. Needs an explanation of a man page for those unaware. Also needs fact-checking.}}<br />
This comic shows a GNU man page for a fictional program called "blerp". It details the command line options for this program, many of which are strange, annoying, or even impossible. These options are mostly in alphabetical order.<br />
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[Here is a short list of some thoughts on or explanations of the options.]<br />
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-a Like a robot or something similar. Strange for a command line program.<br />
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-b Nonsensical option.<br />
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-— Hard to tell the difference between en and em dashes. [Needs a short explanation for dashes.]<br />
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-c Most likely not useful.<br />
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-d Almost a standard option, but .exe is the weird part.<br />
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-D Useless.<br />
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-e Vague.<br />
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-f Strange and slightly ominous.<br />
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-g As an actual program flag, a bit hackjob-ish, but most likely relating to googling how this program works.<br />
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-h Completely impossible, by the Halting Theorem.<br />
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-i and -I Somewhat weird.<br />
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-jk A common acronym, not a program flag.<br />
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-n Possibly mathematically ominous? Otherwise useless.<br />
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-o Standard flag.<br />
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-O Strange flag.<br />
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-p Controlling reality. [Explanation regarding Popes needed? This one confuses me.]<br />
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-q Almost standard flag, but with a twist of implying that non-quiet mode is spoken.<br />
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-r Pointless and possibly damaging.<br />
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-R Could be harmful, may not halt depending on what blerp does.<br />
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-s [Needs explanation of symbolic links]<br />
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-S Similar to -a.<br />
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-t A laundry option.<br />
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-u [Explanation of ANSEL necessary.] UTF-8 is rather standard. Similar in this regard to -q.<br />
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-U Almost standard flag.<br />
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-v Almost standard flag, in ordinary programs the opposite of -q. This command prints the contents of all files in the filesystem tree. However, it will never complete, as certain device files never end (/dev/urandom contains random bytes). Note that the "find" command is missing <code>\;</code> and will not run, instead complaining <code>find: missing argument to `-exec'</code> .<br />
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-V Strange flag.<br />
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-y Meaningless.<br />
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Bug reports leads to a taxonomy site?<br />
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Copyright "or best offer" is humourous, needs explanation of individual parts.<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
[A terminal screen; the background is black and the text is white.]<br />
:NAME<br />
:blerp<br />
:SYNOPSIS<br />
:blerp {[ OPTION | ARGS]…[ ARGS … -F [FLAGS]…}<br />
:blerp {… DIRECTORY … URL | BLERP} OPTIONS ] - {}<br />
:DESCRIPTION<br />
:blerp FILTERS LOCAL OR REMOTE FILES OR RESOURCES USING PATTERNS DEFINED BY ARGUMENTS AND<br />
:ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES. THIS BEHAVIOR CAN BE ALTERED BY VARIOUS FLAGS.<br />
:OPTIONS<br />
:-a ATTACK MODE<br />
:-b SUPPRESS BEES<br />
:-— FLAGS USE EM DASHES<br />
:-c COUNT NUMBER OF ARGUMENTS<br />
:-d PIPES OUTPUT TO DEBUG.EXE<br />
:-D DEPRECATED<br />
:-e EXECUTE SOMETHING<br />
:-f FUN MODE<br />
:-g USE GOOGLE<br />
:-h CHECK WHETHER INPUT HALTS<br />
:-i IGNORE CASE (LOWER)<br />
:-l IGNORE CASE (UPPER)<br />
:-jk KIDDING<br />
:-n BEHAVIOR NOT DEFINED<br />
:-o OVERWRITE<br />
:-O OPPOSITE DAY<br />
:-p SET TRUE POPE; ACCEPTS \"ROME\" OR \"AVIGNON\"<br />
:-q QUIET MODE; OUTPUT IS PRINTED TO STDOUT INSTEAD OF<br />
:BEING SPOKEN ALOUD<br />
:-r RANDOMIZE ARGUMENTS<br />
:-R RUN RECURSIVELY ON http://*<br />
:-s FOLLOW SYMBOLIC LINKS SYMBOLICALLY<br />
:-S STEALTH MODE<br />
:-t TUMBLE DRY<br />
:-u UTF-8 MODE; OTHERWISE DEFAULTS TO ANSEL<br />
:-U UPDATE (DEFAULT: FACEBOOK)<br />
:-v VERBOSE; ALIAS TO find / -exec cat {}<br />
:-V SET VERSION NUMBER<br />
:-y YIKES<br />
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:SEE ALSO<br />
:blerp(1), blerp(3), blirb(8), blarb(51), blorp(501)(c)(3)<br />
:BUG REPORTS<br />
:http://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/46644-Hemiptera<br />
:COPYRIGHT<br />
:GPL(2)(3+) CC-BY/5.0 RV 41.0 LIKE GECKO/BSD 4(2) OR BEST OFFER<br />
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{{comic discussion}}</div>162.158.255.65