proposed change to rpm man page (was Re: finger in 4.1?)

[http://dummy.us.eu.org/robert (robert)]

 > From: http://dummy.us.eu.org/robert (robert)
 > Date: Tue  Mar  4, 11:09am
 >
 >  > From: Paul A Sand <http://www.hopper.unh.edu/~pas>
 >  > Date: Tue  Mar  4,  1:46pm
 >  >
 >  > > . . .  I admit that I have not found a way to query or list the contents
 >  > > of an uninstalled package using the "rpm" command.
 >  > 
 >  > To list the contents of an uninstalled packages:
 >  > 
 >  > 	rpm -qilp whatever.rpm
 >  > 
 >  > I think both these answers can be extracted from the man page
 >  > for rpm.
 > 
 > I tried looking at the man page and on www.redhat.com and I could not find
 > a way to list the contents of an uninstalled package.  I thought that "rpm
 > -q -i -l" would've done it from what I saw in the man page, but it didn't
 > work.  Thanks for your help!

I propose this patch to the rpm man page:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*** /usr/man/man8/rpm.8.orig	Tue Dec 24 06:07:58 1996
--- /usr/man/man8/rpm.8	Wed Mar  5 10:33:35 1997
***************
*** 145,163 ****
  Package selection options:
  .br
  .IP "\fB\fI<package_name>\fP"
! Query package named \fB\fI<package_name>\fP.
  .IP "\fB\-a\fP"
! Query all packages
  .IP "\fB\-whatrequires \fI<capability>\fP"
! Query all packages that requires \fI<capability>\fP for proper functioning.
  .IP "\fB\-whatprovides \fI<virtual>\fP"
! Query all packages that provide the \fI<virtual>\fP capability.
  .IP "\fB\-f \fI<file>\fP"
! Query package owning \fI<file>\fP.
  .IP "\fB\-F\fP"
  Like \fB\-f\fP but read file names from stdin.
  .IP "\fB\-p \fI<package_file>\fP"
! Query an (uninstalled) package \fI<package_file>\fP. 
  The <package_file> may be specified as an ftp style URL, in which case
  the package header will be downloaded and queried. See \fBFTP
  OPTIONS\fP for information on RPM's built in ftp support.
--- 145,164 ----
  Package selection options:
  .br
  .IP "\fB\fI<package_name>\fP"
! Query an installed package named \fB\fI<package_name>\fP.
  .IP "\fB\-a\fP"
! Query all installed packages
  .IP "\fB\-whatrequires \fI<capability>\fP"
! Query all installed packages that requires \fI<capability>\fP for proper
! functioning.
  .IP "\fB\-whatprovides \fI<virtual>\fP"
! Query all installed packages that provide the \fI<virtual>\fP capability.
  .IP "\fB\-f \fI<file>\fP"
! Query an installed package owning \fI<file>\fP.
  .IP "\fB\-F\fP"
  Like \fB\-f\fP but read file names from stdin.
  .IP "\fB\-p \fI<package_file>\fP"
! Query an uninstalled package \fI<package_file>\fP. 
  The <package_file> may be specified as an ftp style URL, in which case
  the package header will be downloaded and queried. See \fBFTP
  OPTIONS\fP for information on RPM's built in ftp support.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I think this change could clear up some confusion, such as the one I had.

Does this seem reasonable?