tldr-pages · kbdharun · Nov 30, 2023 · Nov 16, 2023 · Nov 17, 2023 · Nov 17, 2023
@@ -1,12 +1,11 @@
 # tldr-pages client specification
 
-**Current Specification Version:** 2.0
+**Current Specification Version:** 2.1
 
-This document contains the official specification for tldr-pages clients. It is _not_ a specification of the format of the pages themselves - only a specification of how a user should be able to interface with an official client. For a list of previous versions of the specification, see the [changelog section](#Changelog) below.
+This document contains the official specification for tldr-pages clients. It is _not_ a specification of the format of the pages themselves - only a specification of how a user should be able to interface with an official client. For a list of previous versions of the specification, see the [changelog section](#changelog) below.
 
 The keywords "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED",  "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC 2119](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2119).
 
-
 ## Terminology
 
 This section defines key terms that are relevant for understanding this specification document.
@@ -24,7 +23,6 @@ If a page is common across multiple platforms, but slightly different on a given
 
 For example, if the command `foo` is common to `mac`, `windows`, and `linux` but functions differently on `windows`, then the main page will be stored in `common`, and a copy will be placed in `windows` that's altered to match the different functionality.
 
-
 ## Command-line interface
 
 This section describes the standardised command-line interface (CLI) for clients implementing one. Clients that do not provide a CLI can ignore this section.
@@ -78,12 +76,12 @@ This section documents the directory structure that contains the pages themselve
 
 The main version of every page is stored inside (but not directly) the `pages` directory. Inside this directory, there is a folder for each platform - for example `windows`, `linux`, and the special `common` platform:
 
- - `pages/`
-   - `common/`
-   - `linux/`
-   - `windows/`
-   - `osx/`
-   - ...etc.
+- `pages/`
+  - `common/`
+  - `linux/`
+  - `windows/`
+  - `osx/`
+  - ...etc.
 
 It is RECOMMENDED that clients support `macos` as an alias for `osx`.
 
@@ -97,23 +95,21 @@ Command name    | Mapped name     | Filename
 `git checkout`  | `git-checkout`  | `git-checkout.md`
 `tar`           | `tar`           | `tar.md`
 
-
 ### Translations
 
 Other directories sit alongside the main `pages` directory, and contain translations of the main versions of every page - though pages MAY NOT have a translation available for a given language yet. Furthermore, a given language MAY NOT have a folder yet either. The format of these directories is `pages.<locale>`, where `<locale>` is a [POSIX Locale Name](https://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/manual/html_node/Locale-Names.html#Locale-Names) in the form of `<language>_<country>`, where:
 
- - `<language>` is the shortest [ISO 639](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_639) language code for the chosen language (see [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ISO_639-2_codes) for a complete list).
- - `<country>` is the two-letter [ISO 3166-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-1) country code for the chosen region (see [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-1_alpha-2#Officially_assigned_code_elements) for a complete list).
+- `<language>` is the shortest [ISO 639](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_639) language code for the chosen language (see [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ISO_639-2_codes) for a complete list).
+- `<country>` is the two-letter [ISO 3166-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-1) country code for the chosen region (see [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-1_alpha-2#Officially_assigned_code_elements) for a complete list).
 
 Some examples:
 
- - Chinese (Taiwan): `pages.zh_TW`.
- - Portuguese (Brazil): `pages.pt_BR`.
- - Italian: `pages.it`.
+- Chinese (Taiwan): `pages.zh_TW`.
+- Portuguese (Brazil): `pages.pt_BR`.
+- Italian: `pages.it`.
 
 The structure inside these translation folders is identical to that of the main `pages` folder.
 
-
 ## Page structure
 
 Although this specification is about the interface that clients must provide, it is also worth noting that pages are written in standard [CommonMark](https://commonmark.org/), with the exception of the non-standard `{{` and `}}` placeholder syntax, which surrounds values in an example that users may edit. Clients MAY highlight the placeholders and MUST remove the surrounding curly braces. Clients MUST NOT treat them as the placeholder syntax if they are escaped using `\` (i.e. `\{\{` and `\}\}`) and MUST instead display literal braces, without backslashes. Placeholder escaping applies only when both braces are escaped (e.g. in `\{` or `\{{`, backslashes MUST be displayed). Clients MUST NOT break if the page format is changed within the _CommonMark_ specification.
@@ -122,21 +118,21 @@ Although this specification is about the interface that clients must provide, it
 
 - `ping {{example.com}}` MUST be rendered as "ping example.com"
 - `docker inspect --format '\{\{range.NetworkSettings.Networks\}\}\{\{.IPAddress\}\}\{\{end\}\}' {{container}}` MUST be rendered as "docker inspect --format '{{range.NetworkSettings.Networks}}{{.IPAddress}}{{end}}' container"
-- `mount \\{{computer_name}}\{{share_name}} Z:` MUST be rendered as "mount \\computer_name\share_name Z:"
-
+- `mount \\{{computer_name}}\{{share_name}} Z:` MUST be rendered as "mount \\\\computer_name\share_name Z:"
 
 ## Page resolution
 
 This section defines the algorithm by which a client can decide which page a user has requested.
 
 After transparently replacing spaces (` `) with dashes (`-`) and lowercasing the name, clients have several decisions to make:
 
- - The language of a page to display to a client
- - The platform to display a page from
+- The language of a page to display to a client
+- The platform to display a page from
 
 ### Platform
 
 Clients MUST default to displaying the page associated with the platform on which the client is running.
+
 For example, a client running on _Windows 11_ will default to displaying pages from the `windows` platform.
 Clients MAY provide a user-configurable option to override this behaviour, however.
 
@@ -155,6 +151,8 @@ Steps #3 and #4 may be done in either order.
 
 It is possible that due to this page resolution logic, the client may show a page which does not belong to the host platform because a page can reside in `common`, and not be present on the host platform. Clients must not assume that a given command is always executable on the host platform.
 
+It is RECOMMENDED that clients detect new platforms added to the relevant `pages` directory automatically.
+
 #### If a page is not found
 
 If a page cannot be found in _any_ platform, then it is RECOMMENDED that clients display an error message with a link to create a new issue against the `tldr-pages/tldr` GitHub repository. Said link might take the following form:
@@ -169,7 +167,6 @@ where `{command_name}` is the name of the command that was not found. Clients th
 
 If multiple versions of a page were found for different platforms, then a client MAY choose to display a notice to the user notifying them of this.
 
-
 ## Language
 
 Pages can be written in multiple languages. If a client has access to environment variables, it MUST use them to derive the preferred user language as described in the next paragraphs. If not, then clients MUST make reasonable assumptions based on the information provided by the environment in which they operate (e.g. consulting `navigator.languages` in a browser, etc.).
@@ -205,20 +202,21 @@ The [`LC_MESSAGES` environment variable](https://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/ma
 
 Here's an example of how the lookup should be done on `linux` having set `LANG=it` and `LANGUAGE="it:fr:en"`:
 
-    1. pages.it/linux/some-page.md  -> does not exist
-    2. pages.fr/linux/some-page.md  -> does not exist
-    3. pages/linux/some-page.md     -> does not exist
-    4. pages.it/common/some-page.md -> does not exist
-    5. pages.fr/common/some-page.md -> does not exist
-    6. pages/common/some-page.md    -> FOUND!
+Step  | Path checked         | Outcome
+------|--------------------------------|-----------------------
+1   | pages.it/linux/some-page.md | does not exist
+2   | pages.fr/linux/some-page.md | does not exist
+3   | pages/linux/some-page.md    | does not exist
+4   | pages.it/common/some-page.md | does not exist
+5   | pages.fr/common/some-page.md | does not exist
+6   | pages/common/some-page.md   | FOUND!
 
 ## Caching
 
 If appropriate, it is RECOMMENDED that clients implement a cache of pages. If implemented, clients MUST download the entire archive either as a whole from **[https://tldr.sh/assets/tldr.zip](https://tldr.sh/assets/tldr.zip)** (Which redirects to [https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tldr-pages/tldr-pages.github.io/main/assets/tldr.zip](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tldr-pages/tldr-pages.github.io/main/assets/tldr.zip)) or download language-specific translation archives in the format `https://tldr.sh/assets/tldr-pages.{{language-code}}.zip` (Which redirects to [https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tldr-pages/tldr-pages.github.io/main/assets/tldr-pages.{{language-code}}.zip](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tldr-pages/tldr-pages.github.io/main/assets)), along with the archive for English from **[https://tldr.sh/assets/tldr-pages.zip](https://tldr.sh/assets/tldr-pages.zip)** (It redirects to [https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tldr-pages/tldr-pages.github.io/main/assets/tldr-pages.zip](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tldr-pages/tldr-pages.github.io/main/assets/tldr-pages.zip)).
 
 Caching SHOULD be done according to the user's language configuration (if any), to not waste unneeded space for unused languages. Additionally, clients MAY automatically update the cache regularly.
 
-
 ## Changelog
 
 <!--
@@ -232,35 +230,40 @@ including the changes. NOTE: tagging of the commit with a new version tag (in
 the form `vX.Y`) should be done immediately AFTER merging the version bump, as
 the commit hash changes when merging with squash or rebase.
 -->
- - Unreleased
-
- - [v2.0, September 10th 2023](https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr/blob/v2.0/CLIENT-SPECIFICATION.md) ([#10148](https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr/pull/10148))
-   - Add recommendation to support `macos` alias for `osx` ([#7514](https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr/pull/7514))
-   - Drop the special "all" platform from the `--list` flag ([#7561](https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr/pull/7561))
-   - Drop the `master` branch from the assets link. ([#9668](https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr/pull/9668))
-   - Require support for long options ([#9651](https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr/pull/9651))
-   - Add recommendation to support caching individual translation archives ([#10148](https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr/pull/10148))
-
- - [v1.5, March 17th 2021](https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr/blob/v1.5/CLIENT-SPECIFICATION.md) ([#5428](https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr/pull/5428))
-   - Add requirement for converting command names to lowercase before running the page resolution algorithm.
-   - Use HTTPS for archive links.
-
- - [v1.4, August 13th 2020](https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr/blob/v1.4/CLIENT-SPECIFICATION.md) ([#4246](https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr/pull/4246))
-   - Add requirement for CLI clients to use non-zero exit code on failing to find a page.
-
- - [v1.3, June 11th 2020](https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr/blob/v1.3/CLIENT-SPECIFICATION.md) ([#4101](https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr/pull/4101))
-   - Clarified fallback to English in the language resolution algorithm.
-   - Update the `LANG` and `LANGUAGE` environment variables to conform to the GNU spec.
-
- - [v1.2, July 3rd 2019](https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr/blob/v1.2/CLIENT-SPECIFICATION.md) ([#3168](https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr/pull/3168))
-   - Addition of a new `-L, --language` recommended command-line option.
-   - Rewording of the language section, also encouraging the use of configuration files for language.
-   - Shift from BCP-47 to POSIX style locale tags, with consequent **deprecation of previous versions of the spec**.
-   - Clearer clarification about the recommended caching functionality.
-   - Correction of the usage of the term "arguments" in the homonym section.
-
- - [v1.1, April 1st 2019](https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr/blob/v1.1/CLIENT-SPECIFICATION.md) (deprecated) ([#2859](https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr/pull/2859))
-   - Clarified platform section.
-
- - [v1.0, January 23rd 2019](https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr/blob/v1.0/CLIENT-SPECIFICATION.md) (deprecated) ([#2706](https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr/pull/2706))
-   - Initial release.
+
+- Unreleased
+
+- [v2.1, November 30th 2023](https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr/blob/v2.1/CLIENT-SPECIFICATION.md) ([#11523](https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr/pull/11523))
+  - Add requirement to support escaping the placeholder syntax in certain pages ([#10730](https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr/pull/10730))
+  - Add suggestion to detect new platforms added to the relevant `pages` directory automatically ([#11523](https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr/pull/11523))
+
+- [v2.0, September 10th 2023](https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr/blob/v2.0/CLIENT-SPECIFICATION.md) ([#10148](https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr/pull/10148))
+  - Add recommendation to support `macos` alias for `osx` ([#7514](https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr/pull/7514))
+  - Drop the special "all" platform from the `--list` flag ([#7561](https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr/pull/7561))
+  - Drop the `master` branch from the assets link. ([#9668](https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr/pull/9668))
+  - Require support for long options ([#9651](https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr/pull/9651))
+  - Add recommendation to support caching individual translation archives ([#10148](https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr/pull/10148))
+
+- [v1.5, March 17th 2021](https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr/blob/v1.5/CLIENT-SPECIFICATION.md) ([#5428](https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr/pull/5428))
+  - Add requirement for converting command names to lowercase before running the page resolution algorithm.
+  - Use HTTPS for archive links.
+
+- [v1.4, August 13th 2020](https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr/blob/v1.4/CLIENT-SPECIFICATION.md) ([#4246](https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr/pull/4246))
+  - Add requirement for CLI clients to use non-zero exit code on failing to find a page.
+
+- [v1.3, June 11th 2020](https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr/blob/v1.3/CLIENT-SPECIFICATION.md) ([#4101](https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr/pull/4101))
+  - Clarified fallback to English in the language resolution algorithm.
+  - Update the `LANG` and `LANGUAGE` environment variables to conform to the GNU spec.
+
+- [v1.2, July 3rd 2019](https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr/blob/v1.2/CLIENT-SPECIFICATION.md) ([#3168](https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr/pull/3168))
+  - Addition of a new `-L, --language` recommended command-line option.
+  - Rewording of the language section, also encouraging the use of configuration files for language.
+  - Shift from BCP-47 to POSIX style locale tags, with consequent **deprecation of previous versions of the spec**.
+  - Clearer clarification about the recommended caching functionality.
+  - Correction of the usage of the term "arguments" in the homonym section.
+
+- [v1.1, April 1st 2019](https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr/blob/v1.1/CLIENT-SPECIFICATION.md) (deprecated) ([#2859](https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr/pull/2859))
+  - Clarified platform section.
+
+- [v1.0, January 23rd 2019](https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr/blob/v1.0/CLIENT-SPECIFICATION.md) (deprecated) ([#2706](https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr/pull/2706))
+  - Initial release.