(ITS#4994) Clarify -y option in man pages

[rra@stanford.edu]

Full_Name: Russ Allbery
Version: 2.3.35
OS: Debian
URL: 
Submission from: (NULL) (171.64.19.147)


A Debian user was confused by the -y option and its inclusion of whitespace in
the password.  The current man page text does explain this, but it doesn't make
a point of it, and I think a bit more explanation would be useful.  Here's a
patch for the ldapcompare.1 man page; if you think this is a good idea, similar
changes could be made to all the other command-line utilities that take the -y
option.

--- ldapcompare.1       (revision 805)
+++ ldapcompare.1       (working copy)
@@ -106,8 +106,12 @@
 Use \fIpasswd\fP as the password for simple authentication.
 .TP
 .BI \-y \ passwdfile
-Use complete contents of \fIpasswdfile\fP as the password for
-simple authentication.
+Use complete contents of \fIpasswdfile\fP, including any leading or
+trailing whitespace and any final newlines, as the password for
+simple authentication.  If the password does not contain a newline,
+be careful when creating this file.  Many editors and commands like
+\fBecho\fP will add a trailing newline, which will then be taken as part
+of the password.
 .TP
 .BI \-H \ ldapuri
 Specify URI(s) referring to the ldap server(s); only the protocol/host/port