When generating manpages output, we no longer report anything if

the refentry source is missing date or pubdate content. In
practice, many users intentionally omit the date from the source
because they explicitly want it to be generated.

diff --git a/xsl/common/refentry.xsl b/xsl/common/refentry.xsl
index 892b9fb72c7f7c72a821b21a9a22fdf0e009d7d9..c6fa1455337c135157d0c6d310b8c1f69f19debb 100644 (file)
--- a/xsl/common/refentry.xsl
+++ b/xsl/common/refentry.xsl
@@ -375,24 +375,38 @@
     <!-- * We couldn't find a date, so we generate a date. -->
     <!-- * And we make it an appropriately localized date. -->
     <xsl:otherwise>
-      <xsl:if test="$refentry.meta.get.quietly = 0">
-        <xsl:call-template name="log.message">
-          <xsl:with-param name="level">Note</xsl:with-param>
-          <xsl:with-param name="source" select="$refname"/>
-          <xsl:with-param name="context-desc">meta date</xsl:with-param>
-          <xsl:with-param name="message">
-            <xsl:text>no date; using generated date</xsl:text>
-          </xsl:with-param>
-        </xsl:call-template>
-        <xsl:call-template name="log.message">
-          <xsl:with-param name="level">Note</xsl:with-param>
-          <xsl:with-param name="source" select="$refname"/>
-          <xsl:with-param name="context-desc">meta date</xsl:with-param>
-          <xsl:with-param name="message">
-            <xsl:text>see http://docbook.sf.net/el/date</xsl:text>
-          </xsl:with-param>
-        </xsl:call-template>
-      </xsl:if>
+      <!-- * The following block is commented out because: -->
+      <!-- *  -->
+      <!-- * - having a missing date in the source doesn’t result in -->
+      <!-- *   any information being missing from the generated man -->
+      <!-- *   page (since we generate the needed date) -->
+      <!-- *  -->
+      <!-- * - experience has shown the many users omit the date -->
+      <!-- *   intentionally, because they want to be it generated -->
+      <!-- *  -->
+      <!-- * - in practice it’s not really a condition that most users -->
+      <!-- *   want reported to them -->
+      <!-- *  -->
+      <!-- * ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -->
+      <!-- * <xsl:if test="$refentry.meta.get.quietly = 0"> -->
+        <!-- * <xsl:call-template name="log.message"> -->
+          <!-- * <xsl:with-param name="level">Note</xsl:with-param> -->
+          <!-- * <xsl:with-param name="source" select="$refname"/> -->
+          <!-- * <xsl:with-param name="context-desc">meta date</xsl:with-param> -->
+          <!-- * <xsl:with-param name="message"> -->
+            <!-- * <xsl:text>no date; using generated date</xsl:text> -->
+          <!-- * </xsl:with-param> -->
+        <!-- * </xsl:call-template> -->
+        <!-- * <xsl:call-template name="log.message"> -->
+          <!-- * <xsl:with-param name="level">Note</xsl:with-param> -->
+          <!-- * <xsl:with-param name="source" select="$refname"/> -->
+          <!-- * <xsl:with-param name="context-desc">meta date</xsl:with-param> -->
+          <!-- * <xsl:with-param name="message"> -->
+            <!-- * <xsl:text>see http://docbook.sf.net/el/date</xsl:text> -->
+          <!-- * </xsl:with-param> -->
+        <!-- * </xsl:call-template> -->
+      <!-- * </xsl:if> -->
+      <!-- * ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -->
       <xsl:call-template name="datetime.format">
         <xsl:with-param name="date">
           <xsl:choose>