The documentation for dmesg states that "A pager is enabled by default for --human output." However, if the less pager is not
installed, the output is not sent to a pager unless the PAGER variable is set.

This means that there is a hard-coded and undocumented dependency on the less package for correct behaviour. At the least, this
appears to be a violation of the Debian Policy Manual, section 3.5.
https://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-binary.html#dependencies

Possible solutions, not in any order:
- Default to the more pager (included in the same package as dmesg)
- Default to /etc/alternatives/pager
- Declare a dependency on sensible-utils, to use sensible-pager from that package
- Declare a dependancy on the less package
- Update documentation to reflect actual behaviour and suggest setting the PAGER variable

Temporary workaround:
- set PAGER to the preferred pager.

Hello,

Bug #1014368 in util-linux reported by you has been fixed in the
Git repository and is awaiting an upload. You can see the commit
message below and you can check the diff of the fix at:

https://salsa.debian.org/debian/util-linux/-/commit/edac2dfde23ccd3066ac54ad63550a408b4b9feb
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Use sensible-pager instead of less by default

Adds Recommends: sensible-utils, so sensible-pager is available in
default installations.

Closes: #1014368
Gbp-Dch: full
------------------------------------------------------------------------

(this message was generated automatically)
-- 
Greetings

https://bugs.debian.org/1014368

We believe that the bug you reported is fixed in the latest version of
util-linux, which is due to be installed in the Debian FTP archive.

A summary of the changes between this version and the previous one is
attached.

Thank you for reporting the bug, which will now be closed.  If you
have further comments please address them to 1014368@bugs.debian.org,
and the maintainer will reopen the bug report if appropriate.

Debian distribution maintenance software
pp.
Chris Hofstaedtler <zeha@debian.org> (supplier of updated util-linux package)

(This message was generated automatically at their request; if you
believe that there is a problem with it please contact the archive
administrators by mailing ftpmaster@ftp-master.debian.org)
Format: 1.8
Date: Thu, 14 Jul 2022 09:56:00 +0000
Source: util-linux
Architecture: source
Version: 2.38-5
Distribution: unstable
Urgency: medium
Maintainer: util-linux packagers <util-linux@packages.debian.org>
Changed-By: Chris Hofstaedtler <zeha@debian.org>
Closes: 1014368
Changes:
 util-linux (2.38-5) unstable; urgency=medium
 .
   * Use sensible-pager instead of less by default.
     Adds Recommends: sensible-utils, so sensible-pager is available in
     default installations. (Closes: #1014368)
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