6 files changed, 26 insertions, 7 deletions

diff --git a/man.7 b/man.7
index da66fe9c..b3277b7c 100644
--- a/man.7
+++ b/man.7
@@ -809,8 +809,9 @@ arguments must be provided.
 The
 .Cm date
 argument should be formatted as described in
-.Sx Dates :
-if it does not conform, the current date is used instead.
+.Sx Dates ,
+but will be printed verbatim if it is not.
+If the date is not specified, the current date is used.
 The
 .Cm source
 string specifies the organisation providing the utility.
diff --git a/man.c b/man.c
index 654e84d3..330ac74e 100644
--- a/man.c
+++ b/man.c
@@ -146,6 +146,8 @@ man_free1(struct man *man)
 		free(man->meta.title);
 	if (man->meta.source)
 		free(man->meta.source);
+	if (man->meta.rawdate)
+		free(man->meta.rawdate);
 	if (man->meta.vol)
 		free(man->meta.vol);
 	if (man->meta.msec)
diff --git a/man.h b/man.h
index 8f71f329..3e43c3ad 100644
--- a/man.h
+++ b/man.h
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@ enum	man_type {
 struct	man_meta {
 	char		*msec;
 	time_t		 date;
+	char		*rawdate;
 	char		*vol;
 	char		*title;
 	char		*source;
diff --git a/man_action.c b/man_action.c
index baf4a3c2..b388e66f 100644
--- a/man_action.c
+++ b/man_action.c
@@ -136,8 +136,10 @@ post_TH(struct man *m)
 		free(m->meta.source);
 	if (m->meta.msec)
 		free(m->meta.msec);
+	if (m->meta.rawdate)
+		free(m->meta.rawdate);
 
-	m->meta.title = m->meta.vol = 
+	m->meta.title = m->meta.vol = m->meta.rawdate =
 		m->meta.msec = m->meta.source = NULL;
 	m->meta.date = 0;
 
@@ -155,14 +157,21 @@ post_TH(struct man *m)
 
 	/* TITLE MSEC ->DATE<- SOURCE VOL */
 
+	/*
+	 * Try to parse the date.  If this works, stash the epoch (this
+	 * is optimal because we can reformat it in the canonical form).
+	 * If it doesn't parse, isn't specified at all, or is an empty
+	 * string, then use the current date.
+	 */
+
 	n = n->next;
-	if (n) {
+	if (n && n->string && *n->string) {
 		m->meta.date = mandoc_a2time
 			(MTIME_ISO_8601, n->string);
 		if (0 == m->meta.date) {
 			if ( ! man_nmsg(m, n, MANDOCERR_BADDATE))
 				return(0);
-			m->meta.date = time(NULL);
+			m->meta.rawdate = mandoc_strdup(n->string);
 		}
 	} else
 		m->meta.date = time(NULL);
diff --git a/man_html.c b/man_html.c
index cfcc83d6..84ec64c6 100644
--- a/man_html.c
+++ b/man_html.c
@@ -308,7 +308,10 @@ man_root_post(MAN_ARGS)
 	struct tag	*t, *tt;
 	char		 b[DATESIZ];
 
-	time2a(m->date, b, DATESIZ);
+	if (m->rawdate)
+		strlcpy(b, m->rawdate, DATESIZ);
+	else
+		time2a(m->date, b, DATESIZ);
 
 	PAIR_CLASS_INIT(&tag[0], "footer");
 	bufcat_style(h, "width", "100%");
diff --git a/man_term.c b/man_term.c
index b65245cb..2d82a83b 100644
--- a/man_term.c
+++ b/man_term.c
@@ -864,7 +864,10 @@ print_man_foot(struct termp *p, const struct man_meta *meta)
 
 	term_fontrepl(p, TERMFONT_NONE);
 
-	time2a(meta->date, buf, DATESIZ);
+	if (meta->rawdate)
+		strlcpy(buf, meta->rawdate, DATESIZ);
+	else
+		time2a(meta->date, buf, DATESIZ);
 
 	term_vspace(p);
 	term_vspace(p);