commit 980e62e250ba67b8a2e89cf4160b85aa9c14372e
parent 474755078e89cc8f29f4eb1a493b7ed114fa50cc
Author: Anders Damsgaard <anders@adamsgaard.dk>
Date: Sun, 12 Sep 2021 12:33:47 +0200
rangetest.1: improve description text and elaborate example
Diffstat:
1 file changed, 20 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)
diff --git a/rangetest.1 b/rangetest.1
@@ -11,7 +11,8 @@
.Ar max_val
.Sh DESCRIPTION
.Nm
-performs a binary search to test exit status from a
+performs a binary search to test the exit status from a child program
+invoked with
.Ar cmd ,
where the first occurance of a string @VAL@ is substituted for
floating-point values in the search range from
@@ -21,7 +22,8 @@ to
The search range is iteratively narrowed down to find a close
approximation of the threshold value where the
.Ar cmd
-transitions between succes to failure, as judged by its exit status.
+transitions between succes to failure, as judged by the child program
+exit status.
.Pp
The behavior of
.Ar cmd
@@ -44,18 +46,29 @@ The output of
is also shown, unless it is surpressed by redirecting its output
with ">/dev/null 2>&1".
.Sh EXAMPLES
-Given an example program "condfail" which always fails when its
-first argument is less than 1.5, show all parameter values which
-result in a successful invocation of
-.Ar cmd :
+Given an example program "condfail", which always fails when its first
+argument is equal or greater than 1.5,
+.Nm
+shows all parameter values which result in a successful invocation:
.Pp
-.Dl $ rangetest './condfail @VAL@' 0.0 10.0
+.Dl $ rangetest './condfail @VAL@' 0.0 10.0 2>/dev/null
.Dl 0
.Dl 1.25
.Dl 1.40625
.Dl 1.48438
.Dl 1.49414
.Pp
+The values associated with failed invocations are printed in standard error:
+.Pp
+.Dl $ rangetest './condfail @VAL@' 0.0 10.0 >/dev/null
+.Dl 10
+.Dl 5
+.Dl 2.5
+.Dl 1.875
+.Dl 1.5625
+.Dl 1.52344
+.Dl 1.50391
+.Pp
While the above values all result in a successful invocation of
.Ar cmd ,
.Nm
