[perl #37322] Pod::Usage implementation of -sections disagrees with its documentation

# New Ticket Created by  mike@metalogue.com 
# Please include the string:  [perl #37322]
# in the subject line of all future correspondence about this issue. 
# <URL: https://rt.perl.org/rt3/Ticket/Display.html?id=37322 >



This is a bug report for perl from mike@metalogue.com,
generated with the help of perlbug 1.35 running under perl v5.8.7.


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[Please enter your report here]

The POD documentation of Pod::Usage indicates that the "-section" key
should be used in conjunction with the special verbosity level of 99
to indicate which sections should be displayed.  However, the actual
code in Pod/Usage.pm looks for a key by the name of "-sections" (note
the plural).

If the caller specifies the "-section" key as described in the
Pod::Usage documentation, the entire Pod documentation is displayed,
not just the requested section.

If the caller specifies the "-sections" key, only the requested
selection is displayed as the caller intended.

The code and documentation need to be brought in sync.  Arguably, it
is the documentation that should be changed (from "-section" to
"-sections") to avoid breaking any programs that either accidentally
or intentionally made use of the value implemented by the code.

[Please do not change anything below this line]
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---
Flags:
    category=library
    severity=low
---
Site configuration information for perl v5.8.7:

Configured by Debian Project at Mon Sep 12 05:15:10 EST 2005.

Summary of my perl5 (revision 5 version 8 subversion 7) configuration:
  Platform:
    osname=linux, osvers=2.4.27-ti1211, archname=i486-linux-gnu-thread-multi
    uname='linux kosh 2.4.27-ti1211 #1 sun sep 19 18:17:45 est 2004 i686 gnulinux '
    config_args='-Dusethreads -Duselargefiles -Dccflags=-DDEBIAN -Dcccdlflags=-fPIC -Darchname=i486-linux-gnu -Dprefix=/usr -Dprivlib=/usr/share/perl/5.8 -Darchlib=/usr/lib/perl/5.8 -Dvendorprefix=/usr -Dvendorlib=/usr/share/perl5 -Dvendorarch=/usr/lib/perl5 -Dsiteprefix=/usr/local -Dsitelib=/usr/local/share/perl/5.8.7 -Dsitearch=/usr/local/lib/perl/5.8.7 -Dman1dir=/usr/share/man/man1 -Dman3dir=/usr/share/man/man3 -Dsiteman1dir=/usr/local/man/man1 -Dsiteman3dir=/usr/local/man/man3 -Dman1ext=1 -Dman3ext=3perl -Dpager=/usr/bin/sensible-pager -Uafs -Ud_csh -Uusesfio -Uusenm -Duseshrplib -Dlibperl=libperl.so.5.8.7 -Dd_dosuid -des'
    hint=recommended, useposix=true, d_sigaction=define
    usethreads=define use5005threads=undef useithreads=define usemultiplicity=define
    useperlio=define d_sfio=undef uselargefiles=define usesocks=undef
    use64bitint=undef use64bitall=undef uselongdouble=undef
    usemymalloc=n, bincompat5005=undef
  Compiler:
    cc='cc', ccflags ='-D_REENTRANT -D_GNU_SOURCE -DTHREADS_HAVE_PIDS -DDEBIAN -fno-strict-aliasing -pipe -I/usr/local/include -D_LARGEFILE_SOURCE -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64',
    optimize='-O2',
    cppflags='-D_REENTRANT -D_GNU_SOURCE -DTHREADS_HAVE_PIDS -DDEBIAN -fno-strict-aliasing -pipe -I/usr/local/include'
    ccversion='', gccversion='4.0.2 20050821 (prerelease) (Debian 4.0.1-6)', gccosandvers=''
    intsize=4, longsize=4, ptrsize=4, doublesize=8, byteorder=1234
    d_longlong=define, longlongsize=8, d_longdbl=define, longdblsize=12
    ivtype='long', ivsize=4, nvtype='double', nvsize=8, Off_t='off_t', lseeksize=8
    alignbytes=4, prototype=define
  Linker and Libraries:
    ld='cc', ldflags =' -L/usr/local/lib'
    libpth=/usr/local/lib /lib /usr/lib
    libs=-lgdbm -lgdbm_compat -ldb -ldl -lm -lpthread -lc -lcrypt
    perllibs=-ldl -lm -lpthread -lc -lcrypt
    libc=/lib/libc-2.3.5.so, so=so, useshrplib=true, libperl=libperl.so.5.8.7
    gnulibc_version='2.3.5'
  Dynamic Linking:
    dlsrc=dl_dlopen.xs, dlext=so, d_dlsymun=undef, ccdlflags='-Wl,-E'
    cccdlflags='-fPIC', lddlflags='-shared -L/usr/local/lib'

Locally applied patches:
    

---
@INC for perl v5.8.7:
    /etc/perl
    /usr/local/lib/perl/5.8.7
    /usr/local/share/perl/5.8.7
    /usr/lib/perl5
    /usr/share/perl5
    /usr/lib/perl/5.8
    /usr/share/perl/5.8
    /usr/local/lib/site_perl
    /usr/local/lib/perl/5.8.4
    /usr/local/share/perl/5.8.4
    .

---
Environment for perl v5.8.7:
    HOME=/home/mike
    LANG (unset)
    LANGUAGE (unset)
    LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/tunepimp/lib
    LOGDIR (unset)
    PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/bin/X11:/usr/games:/home/mike/bin
    PERL_BADLANG (unset)
    SHELL=/bin/bash

• [perl #37322] Pod::Usage implementation of -sections disagrees with its documentation by Steven Schubiger via RT
• Re: [perl #37322] Pod::Usage implementation of -sections disagreeswith its documentation by Rafael Garcia-Suarez
• Re: [perl #37322] Pod::Usage implementation of -sections disagrees with its documentation by demerphq
• Re: [perl #37322] Pod::Usage implementation of -sections disagrees with its documentation by Steven Schubiger
• [perl #37322] Pod::Usage implementation of -sections disagrees with its documentation by mike @ metalogue . com