man-pages-6.17 released

Gidday!

I'm proud to announce:

man-pages-6.17 - manual pages for GNU+Linux

Tarball download:
<https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/docs/man-pages/>
Git repository:
<https://git.kernel.org/cgit/docs/man-pages/man-pages.git/>
Online PDF book:
<https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/docs/man-pages/book/>

Thanks to all the contributors to this release (in BCC)! And thanks to our sponsors!

	$ cat SPONSORS;
	Google               <https://opensource.google/>
	Hudson River Trading <https://www.hudsonrivertrading.com/>
	Meta                 <https://www.meta.com/>

Regarding sponsorship, please read
<https://lore.kernel.org/linux-man/aYprOnLo5WSP8Ljh@devuan/T/#u>.
Maintenance is guaranteed until 2026-10-31, but we need more money to continue past that date. And that's only counting one maintainer, but I really would like to have a couple of co-maintainers. The bus factor of this project is quite worrying, given the importance of our documentation.

You are receiving this message either because:

a) (BCC) You contributed to this release.

b) You are subscribed to <[email protected]>, <[email protected]>, or <[email protected]>.

c) (BCC) I have information (possibly inaccurate) that you are the maintainer of a translation of the manual pages, or are the maintainer of the manual pages set in a particular distribution, or have expressed interest in helping with man-pages maintenance, or have otherwise expressed interest in being notified about man-pages releases.
If you don't want to receive such messages from me, or you know of some other translator or maintainer who may want to receive such notifications, send me a message. If you want to be added to this list (which I store encrypted), send me a message.

Special shout out to Seth McDonald, who authored a large part (1/5) of the commits in this release!

	$ git shortlog -s man-pages-6.16..HEAD | sort | tail -n3
	     4	Mark Harris
	   125	Seth McDonald
	   474	Alejandro Colomar

He's been updating the HISTORY and STANDARDS sections of manual pages, to document with precision conformance to new standards, and also the history of APIs in old standards and historic systems. These sections are now much more useful thanks to his contributions. And we have only started with these improvements.

==================== NEWS =========================================

This release adds several new programs. We recommend that distributions package all of our src/bin/ scripts in a separate binary package, called something like manpages-utils (this happens to be the name I'd suggest specifically for Debian, for consistency with manpages and manpages-dev).

-  src/bin/grepc
-  src/bin/grepc_c
-  src/bin/grepc_mk
-  src/bin/mansectf

The grepc(1) program is something that originated in this project, as it helped me find code quickly in glibc and the Linux kernel. However, I've found it incredibly useful outside of this project. I'll take some space to announce it, as it's much more than just a tool for writing manual pages, and I expect it to be useful to most --if not all-- C programmers.

It is a command-line tool that finds C source code (for example, a function definition) in arbitrary projects. It doesn't use any indexing mechanism (unlike ctags and similar tools). This means that it can be used right after cloning some repository, without having to first generate an index.

Moreover, it works as a Unix filter: it reads stdin (or files, if specified) and prints to stdout. This means it can be combined with arbitrary tools.

Here's an example of use that I'm using quite regularly, and which I find very useful. The following command diffs the implementation of creat(2) between two arbitrary version of the Linux kernel (I chose to compare v5.0 with git HEAD):

	$ diff -U10 \
		<(git show v5.0:fs/open.c | grepc -h -tfld creat) \
		<(grepc -h -tfld creat fs/open.c);
	--- /dev/fd/63	2026-02-11 18:35:33.069409927 +0100
	+++ /dev/fd/62	2026-02-11 18:35:33.073409962 +0100
	@@ -1,4 +1,8 @@
	 SYSCALL_DEFINE2(creat, const char __user *, pathname, umode_t, mode)
	 {
	-	return ksys_open(pathname, O_CREAT | O_WRONLY | O_TRUNC, mode);
	+	int flags = O_CREAT | O_WRONLY | O_TRUNC;
	+
	+	if (force_o_largefile())
	+		flags |= O_LARGEFILE;
	+	return do_sys_open(AT_FDCWD, pathname, flags, mode);
	 }

And the command is quite fast. Within the Linux kernel, it takes just a few seconds to find anything (in this example, the creat(2) function):

	$ time grepc -tf creat .
	./include/linux/syscalls.h:asmlinkage long sys_creat(const char __user *pathname, umode_t mode);
	./fs/open.c:SYSCALL_DEFINE2(creat, const char __user *, pathname, umode_t, mode)
	{
		int flags = O_CREAT | O_WRONLY | O_TRUNC;

		if (force_o_largefile())
			flags |= O_LARGEFILE;
		return do_sys_open(AT_FDCWD, pathname, flags, mode);
	}

	real	0m10.549s
	user	0m11.126s
	sys	0m0.454s

But most projects are much smaller, so it usually takes under a second to search stuff in not-so-huge projects. It's PCRE2-based, so in the end, just a dandified grep(1) --actually, pcre2grep(1)--.

==================== Linux Software Map ===========================

Begin4

Title:          Linux man-pages
Version:        6.17
Entered-date:   2026-02-11
Description:    Manual pages for GNU+Linux.  This package contains
                manual pages for sections 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7, and
                subsections of those.  Only a few pages are provided in
                sections 1, 6, and 8, and none in 9.
Keywords:       man pages
Maintained-by:  Alejandro Colomar <[email protected]>
Primary-site:   http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/docs/man-pages
                2.7M  man-pages-6.17.tar.gz

Copying-policy: several; the pages are all freely distributable as long as
nroff source is provided
End

==================== Changes in man-pages-6.17 ====================

Released: 2026-02-11, Aldaya

New and rewritten pages
-----------------------

man1/

	grepc.1
	grepc_c.1
	mansectf.1

man2const/

	F_GETDELEG.2const
	IPPROTO_IP.2const			(previously, ip(7))
	IPPROTO_IPV6.2const			(previously, ipv6(7))
	IPV6_ADDRFORM.2const			(previously, ipv6(7))
	IPV6_ADD_MEMBERSHIP.2const		(previously, ipv6(7))
	IPV6_MTU.2const				(previously, ipv6(7))
	IPV6_MTU_DISCOVER.2const		(previously, ipv6(7))
	IPV6_MULTICAST_HOPS.2const		(previously, ipv6(7))
	IPV6_MULTICAST_IF.2const		(previously, ipv6(7))
	IPV6_MULTICAST_LOOP.2const		(previously, ipv6(7))
	IPV6_RECVERR.2const			(previously, ipv6(7))
	IPV6_RECVPKTINFO.2const			(previously, ipv6(7))
	IPV6_ROUTER_ALERT.2const		(previously, ipv6(7))
	IPV6_RTHDR.2const			(previously, ipv6(7))
	IPV6_UNICAST_HOPS.2const		(previously, ipv6(7))
	IPV6_V6ONLY.2const			(previously, ipv6(7))
	IP_ADD_MEMBERSHIP.2constA		(previously, ip(7))
	IP_ADD_SOURCE_MEMBERSHIP.2const		(previously, ip(7))
	IP_BIND_ADDRESS_NO_PORT.2const		(previously, ip(7))
	IP_BLOCK_SOURCE.2const			(previously, ip(7))
	IP_DROP_MEMBERSHIP.2const		(previously, ip(7))
	IP_DROP_SOURCE_MEMBERSHIP.2const	(previously, ip(7))
	IP_FREEBIND.2const			(previously, ip(7))
	IP_HDRINCL.2const			(previously, ip(7))
	IP_LOCAL_PORT_RANGE.2const		(previously, ip(7))
	IP_MSFILTER.2const			(previously, ip(7))
	IP_MTU.2const				(previously, ip(7))
	IP_MTU_DISCOVER.2const			(previously, ip(7))
	IP_MULTICAST_ALL.2const			(previously, ip(7))
	IP_MULTICAST_IF.2const			(previously, ip(7))
	IP_MULTICAST_LOOP.2const		(previously, ip(7))
	IP_MULTICAST_TTL.2const			(previously, ip(7))
	IP_NODEFRAG.2const			(previously, ip(7))
	IP_OPTIONS.2const			(previously, ip(7))
	IP_PASSSEC.2const			(previously, ip(7))
	IP_PKTINFO.2const			(previously, ip(7))
	IP_RECVERR.2const			(previously, ip(7))
	IP_RECVOPTS.2const			(previously, ip(7))
	IP_RECVORIGDSTADDR.2const		(previously, ip(7))
	IP_RECVTOS.2const			(previously, ip(7))
	IP_RECVTTL.2const			(previously, ip(7))
	IP_RETOPTS.2const			(previously, ip(7))
	IP_ROUTER_ALERT.2const			(previously, ip(7))
	IP_TOS.2const				(previously, ip(7))
	IP_TRANSPARENT.2const			(previously, ip(7))
	IP_TTL.2const				(previously, ip(7))
	IP_UNBLOCK_SOURCE.2const		(previously, ip(7))
	SO_PEERSEC.2const			(previously, ip(7))
	in_pktinfo.2type			(previously, ip(7))
	ip_mreq_source.2type			(previously, ip(7))
	ip_mreqn.2type				(previously, ip(7))

man3/

	_Maxof.3
	aligned_alloc.3				(previously, posix_memalign(3))
	memalign.3				(previously, posix_memalign(3))
	getopt.3				(split into many pages)
	getopt_long.3				(previously, getopt(3))
	getopt_long_only.3			(previously, getopt(3))
	snprintf.3				(previously, printf(3))
	sprintf.3				(previously, printf(3))
	posix_memalign.3			(split into many pages)
	printf.3				(split into many pages)
	pvalloc.3				(previously, posix_memalign(3))
	valloc.3				(previously, posix_memalign(3))

man3attr/
gnu::warning.3attr

man5/

	proc_sys_net_ipv4.5			(previously, ip(7))

man7/

	ip.7					(split into many pages)
	ipv6.7					(split into many pages)

Newly documented interfaces in existing pages
---------------------------------------------

man2/

	clone.2
		E2BIG
	madvise.2
		PR_THP_DISABLE_EXCEPT_ADVISED
	mount.2
		ENOSPC
	ptrace.2
		PTRACE_SET_SYSCALL_INFO
		struct ptrace_syscall_info::reserved
		struct ptrace_syscall_info::flags

man2const/
PR_GET_THP_DISABLE.2const
PR_SET_THP_DISABLE.2const
PR_THP_DISABLE_EXCEPT_ADVISED

man3/
timespec_get.3
TIME_MONOTONIC
TIME_ACTIVE
TIME_THREAD_ACTIVE

man7/

	feature_test_macros.7
		_ISOC23_SOURCE
		_ISOC2X_SOURCE
	operator.7
		_Maxof(3)
		_Minof(3)
	rtnetlink.7
		.ifi_change
	standards.7
		K&R
		Unix/TS 4
		C94, C95, C96, C17, C23
		POSIX.1-2004, POSIX.1-2013, POSIX.1-2024
		SUSv5

New and changed links
---------------------

man2const/

	F_SETDELEG.2const			(F_GETDELEG(2const))
	IPV6_AUTHHDR.2const			(IPV6_RTHDR(2const))
	IPV6_DROP_MEMBERSHIP.2const		(IPV6_ADD_MEMBERSHIP(2const))
	IPV6_DSTOPTS.2const			(IPV6_RTHDR(2const))
	IPV6_FLOWINFO.2const			(IPV6_RTHDR(2const))
	IPV6_HOPLIMIT.2const			(IPV6_RTHDR(2const))
	IPV6_HOPOPTS.2const			(IPV6_RTHDR(2const))

man2type/

	ip_mreq.2type				(ip_mreqn(2type))

man3/

	_Countof.3				(countof(3))
	_Minof.3				(_Maxof(3))
	vsnprintf.3				(snprintf(3))
	vsprintf.3				(sprintf(3))

Global changes
--------------

- CONSTRIBUTING.d/

   -  Add guidelines banning AI for contributing.
   -  Document guidelines about In-Reply-To: header field.
   -  Document guidelines about Fixes: trailed field.

- README.d/
- Document dependencies of the project.
- share/mk/
- Add help-list-* targets.
- man/
- HISTORY, STANDARDS
- Document new and old standards with precision.
- src/bin/
- grepc, grepc_c, grepc_mk
Add new scripts to inspect C source code.
- */
- Restore some old copyright notices.

Changes to individual files
---------------------------

The manual pages and other files in the repository have been improved beyond what this changelog covers. To learn more about changes applied to individual pages, or the authors of changes, use git(1).

<https://www.alejandro-colomar.es>

Hi,

On 2026-02-11T18:57:19+0100, Alejandro Colomar wrote:
[...]

Oh, and possibly overlooked in the release announcement: no AI.

We have a strong policy regarding use of AI in the project. See <CONTRIBUTING.d/ai> for more details, but in short: no AI.

And this is also interesting to other projects. We "standardized"
a unambiguous machine-parseable format for 'Fixes:' trailer fields that
is resistant to collisions. See <CONTRIBUTING.d/patches/trailer> and <CONTRIBUTING.d/git>, and also the commit
a8aa0eaf6bad (2026-02-08; "CONTRIBUTING.d/: Document format of 'Fixes:' trailer fields"), which address the concerns from <https://lwn.net/Articles/1003797/>.

Cheers,
Alex

<https://www.alejandro-colomar.es>

Hi,

[...]

<https://www.alejandro-colomar.es>