weblint1.020(1L) Handmade (August 97) weblint1.020(1L)
NAME
weblint - pick fluff off web pages (HTML)
SYNOPSIS
weblint [ -d id ] [ -e id ] [ -f filename ] [ -i ] [ -l ] [
-s ] [ -stderr ] [ -t ] [ -todo ] [ -help ] [ -U ] [ -urlget
command ] [ -v ] [ -version ] [ -warnings ] [ -x extension ]
file1 .. fileN
DESCRIPTION
Weblint is a Perl script which picks fluff off HTML pages.
Files to be checked are passed on the command-line:
% weblint foobar.html ./dodgy-files/ index.html
If any of the arguments are directories weblint will recurse
in the directory, and check any HTML files found. If an
argument is a URL, then weblint will get the file using a
URL retrieval program, and then check the file:
% weblint http://www.foobar.com/
By default weblint will use lynx to retrieve URLs, but this
can be over-ridden. A filename of `-' specifies that
weblint should read from standard input:
% lynx -source http://www.foobar.com/ | weblint-
Warnings are generated a la lint:
home.html(9): unmatched </A> (no matching <A> seen).
Weblint includes the following features:
o by default checks for HTML 3.2 (Wilbur)
o 46 different checks and warnings
o Warnings can be enabled/disabled individually, as
per your preference
o basic structure and syntax checks
o warnings for use of unknown elements and element
attributes.
o context checks (where a tag must appear within a
certain element).
o overlapped or illegally nested elements.
o do IMG elements have ALT text?
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o flags obsolete elements.
o support for user and site configuration files
o stylistic checks
o checks for html which is not portable across all
browsers
o flags markup embedded in comments, since this can
confuse some browsers
o support for Netscape, and Microsoft HTML extensions
OPTIONS
-d warning-identifier
Disable the warning associated with the identifier.
Multiple identifiers can be specified, with a comma
between identifiers.
-e warning-identifier
Enable the warning associated with the identifier.
Multiple identifiers can be specified, with a comma
between identifiers.
-f config-file
Specify a weblint configuration file which should be
used in place of the user's default config file, or the
site configuration file.
-help
Show a short usage summary.
-i Ignore case of element tags.
-l When recursing in directories, ignore any files which
are symlinks (also known as soft links). This will
also cause files on the command-line to be ignored if
they are symlinks, unless only one file is given.
-pedantic
Turn on all warnings except the case-sensitive and
bad-link warnings.
-s Generate `short' warning messages, which do not include
the filename.
-stderr
Print warning messages to STDERR rather than STDOUT.
-t Enable terse warning mode, which is mainly useful for
the weblint testsuite.
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weblint1.020(1L) Handmade (August 97) weblint1.020(1L)-U Same as -help.
-urlget command
The command which should be used to retrieve HTML pages
specified by URL.
-v Display the version number.
-version
Display the version number.
-todo
This prints out the URL for the online version of the
weblint ToDo list. This includes known bugs, and
requested/planned features.
-warnings
List all supported warnings, with warning identifier,
and whether the warning is enabled.
-x extension
Include checks for the specified HTML extension;
multiple extensions can be specified, separated with a
comma. Currently the only extensions supported are
Netscape and Microsoft. This can also be set in your
weblint configuration file, described below.
HTML EXTENSIONS
Unless you specify otherwise, weblint assumes you are using
HTML 3.2. Weblint supports the Netscape and Microsoft HTML
extensions in addition. For example, weblint will complain
that the BLINK element is not known, unless you enable the
Netscape extension. The following extensions are currently
supported:
Netscape
The HTML extensions supported by the Netscape browser,
version 4.
Microsoft
The HTML extensions supported by Microsoft Internet
Explorer, version 4.
To enable an extension, you can either use the -x command-
line switch:
% weblint-x Netscape foobar.html
Or you can use the extension keyword in your .weblintrc:
# enable the Microsoft extensions
extension Microsoft
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CONFIGURATION FILE
Weblint can be configured using a file .weblintrc in your
home directory (or a file referenced by the WEBLINTRC
environment variable). This file can be used to enable or
disable specific warnings, set weblint variables, and
include HTML extensions, as described above. Each warning
has a short identifier string, used to refer to the warning
in config files, and from the command-line. For example, if
you want to enable the check for tags in upper-case, but
disable the check for obsolete elements, then you would
include the following lines in your .weblintrc:
# specify the command used to retrieve URLs (-urlget switch)
set url-get = lynx -source
# the style of warning message to generate (lint, short, or terse)
set message-style = lint
# enable warning for tags not in upper-case
enable upper-case
# disable the warning for obsolete tags
disable obsolete
# enable the Netscape HTML extensions
extension Netscape
# when recursing in a directory,
# ignore files which are symlinks (also known as soft links)
ignore symlinks
The keywords can be followed by any number of arguments,
separated by spaces or tabs. Anything following a `#' is
treated as a comment.
A sample configuration file is included in the weblint
distribution (as of version 1.004), which mirrors the
configuration built-in to weblint.
Weblint also supports a site configuration file. If a user
does not have a personal configuration file, then weblint
will check for a local site configuration file. To provide
such a file, create a directory such as /usr/local/weblint,
and create a file global.weblintrc. You need to edit the
weblint script and modify the $SITE_DIR variable, which you
will find near the top of the file. For example:
$SITE_DIR = '/usr/local/weblint';
At some point in the future there will be configuration
support for weblint, so you won't have to modify the script
directly yourself.
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If you have a site configuration file, then users can
inherit the site defaults by adding the following line at
the top of their .weblintrc file:
use global weblintrc
WARNINGS
All warnings generated by weblint are listed below, along
with the associated identifier, and whether the warning is
enabled or disabled by default.
TESTSUITE
A simple regression testsuite is included with weblint, in
the Perl script test.pl. You can run the testsuite with
either of the following commands:
% make test
% ./test.pl
The results are printed to STDERR, with a more complete
report generated in test.log.
All tests should pass. If any tests fail, please email
test.log to the address given in the AUTHOR section below.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
WEBLINTRC
If this variable is defined, and references a file,
then weblint will read the referenced file for the
user's configuration, rather than $HOME/.weblintrc.
TMPDIR
The directory where weblint will create temporary
working files. Defaults to /usr/tmp.
FILES
$HOME/.weblintrc
The user's configuration file. See the section
`CONFIGURATION FILE'.
SEE ALSO
perl(1)
VERSION
This man page describes weblint 1.020.
AVAILABILITY
ftp://ftp.cre.canon.co.uk/pub/weblint/weblint.tar.gz
http://www.cre.canon.co.uk/~neilb/weblint/
KNOWN BUGS
The list of known bugs can be found on the weblint home
page:
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http://www.cre.canon.co.uk/~neilb/weblint/todo/
Certain versions of Perl have bugs which are triggered by
weblint. You shouldn't experience problems if you have
4.036, or 5.002.
AUTHOR
Neil Bowers, Canon Research Centre Europe
neilb@cre.canon.co.uk
CONTRIBUTIONS
Lots of people have contributed to weblint, in the form of
suggestions, bug reports, fixes, and contributed code.
Please email me if your name should appear in the roll call
below.
Abigail <abigail@mars.ic.iaf.nl>; Anthony Thyssen
<anthony@cit.gu.edu.au>; Axel Boldt <axel@uni-paderborn.de>;
Barry Bakalor <barry@hal.com>; Bill Arnett
<billa@netcom.com>; Bob Friesenhahn
<bfriesen@simple.dallas.tx.us>; Mark Gates <mr-
gates@uiuc.edu>; Bruce Speyer <bspeyer@texas-one.org>; Chris
Siebenmann <cks@hawkwind.utcs.toronto.edu>; Clay Webster
<clay@unipress.com>; Dana Jacobsen <dana@acm.org>; David
Begley <david@bacall.nepean.uws.edu.au>; David J. MacKenzie
<djm@va.pubnix.com>; Douglas Brick
<dbrick@u.washington.edu>; Gil Citro; Eric de Mund
<ead@ixian.com>; Richard Finegold <goldfndr@eskimo.com>;
Joerg Heitkoetter <Joerg.Heitkoetter@germany.eu.net>; David
Koblas <koblas@homepages.com>; John Labovitz
<johnl@ora.com>; Eric Maryniak <E.Maryniak@rgd.nl>; John F.
Whitehead <jfw@wral-tv.com> Juergen Schoenwaelder
<schoenw@ibr.cs.tu-bs.de>; Frank Steinke
<fsteinke@zeta.org.au>; Larry Virden <lvirden@cas.org>; Paul
Black <black@lal.cs.byu.edu>; Doug Grinbergs
<dougg@qualcomm.com>; Philip Hallstrom <philip@wolfe.net>;
Craig Leres <leres@ee.lbl.gov>; Richard Lloyd
<R.K.Lloyd@csc.liv.ac.uk>; Charles F. Randall
<crandall@dmacc.cc.ia.us>; Robert Schmunk
<pcrxs@nasagiss.giss.nasa.gov>; Jeff Schave
<schave@engr.wisc.edu>; Jon Thackray <jrmt@uk.gdscorp.com>;
Jens Thordarson <thordurh@rhi.hi.is>; Ryan Waldron
<rew@nuance.com>; Thomas Leavitt <leavitt@webcom.com>; Tom
Neff <tneff@panix.com>; Victor Parada
<vparada@inf.utfsm.cl>; Erick Branderhorst
<branderhorst@fgg.eur.nl>; Bryan O'Sullivan
<bos@serpentine.com>; Alan J. Flavell
<FLAVELL@v2.ph.gla.ac.uk>; Raphael Manfredi
<Raphael_Manfredi@grenoble.hp.com>; Keith Iosso <a-
keithi@microsoft.com>; Chris Lambert
<lambertc@sharelink.com>; Tristan Savatier
<tristan@creative.net>; Phil Hooper
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<hooper@bcci.eng.sun.com>; Gerald Viers
<grviers@csupomona.edu>; Dean Brissinger
<brissing@bvsd.k12.co.us>; Dave Schmitt
<dschmi1@gl.umbc.edu>; John Van Essen
<vanes002@maroon.tc.umn.edu>; Brandon Bell
<brandon@arcs.bcit.bc.ca>; Fumio Moriya and Toshiaki Nomura
<dsfrsoft@oai6.yk.fujitsu.co.jp>; Vincent Lefevre
<vlefevre@ens-lyon.fr>; Jason Mathews
<mathews@nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov>; Lars Balker Rasmussen
<lbr@mjolner.dk>; Richard L. Hawes <rhawes@dmapub.dma.org>.
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