rework the wording in these man pages (mainly in man.conf.5) based on
some old notes I found to make it clearer and easier to understand how the man stuff works (hopefully!).
This commit is contained in:
chuck
parent
ec94ced902
commit
82ad9348f2
@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
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.\" $NetBSD: man.1,v 1.18 2003/08/07 11:15:10 agc Exp $
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.\" $NetBSD: man.1,v 1.19 2006/04/10 14:02:57 chuck Exp $
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.\"
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.\" Copyright (c) 1989, 1990, 1993
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.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
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@ -58,12 +58,8 @@
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The
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.Nm
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utility
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displays the
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.Bx
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man pages entitled
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.Ar name .
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.Pp
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The options are as follows:
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displays the manual pages named on the command line.
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Its options are as follows:
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.Bl -tag -width indent
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.It Fl a
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Display all of the man pages for a specified
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@ -88,9 +84,10 @@ This is done by default if the standard output is not a terminal device.
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.It Fl h
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Display only the
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.Dq Tn SYNOPSIS
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lines of the requested man pages,
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in the same manner as
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.Xr whatis 1 .
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lines of the requested man pages.
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For commands, this is typically the command line usage information.
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For library functions, this is usually the required include files
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and function prototypes.
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.It Fl k
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Display the header lines for any man pages matching
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.Ar keyword Ns Pq s ,
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@ -137,7 +134,7 @@ configuration file.
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.It Fl s
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Restrict the directories that
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.Nm
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will search.
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will search to the specified section.
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The
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.Nm
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configuration file (see
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@ -146,8 +143,8 @@ specifies the possible
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.Ar section
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values that are currently available.
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.It Fl S
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Display only man pages that have the specified string in their
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filenames.
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Display only man pages that have the specified string in the directory
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part of their filenames.
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This allows the man page search process criteria to be
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narrowed without having to change the MANPATH or
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.Dq _default
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@ -168,7 +165,7 @@ option is not specified,
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there is more than one argument,
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the
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.Ql Fl k
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option is not used and the first argument is a valid section, that
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option is not used, and the first argument is a valid section, then that
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argument will be used as if specified by the
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.Ql Fl s
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option.
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@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
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.\" $NetBSD: man.conf.5,v 1.16 2003/08/07 11:15:10 agc Exp $
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.\" $NetBSD: man.conf.5,v 1.17 2006/04/10 14:02:57 chuck Exp $
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.\"
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.\" Copyright (c) 1989, 1991, 1993
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.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
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@ -34,140 +34,113 @@
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.Os
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.Sh NAME
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.Nm man.conf
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.Nd configuration file for
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.Xr man 1
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.Nd configuration file for manual pages
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.Sh DESCRIPTION
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The
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.Nm
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file contains the default configuration used by
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.Xr man 1 ,
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.Xr apropos 1 ,
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.Xr whatis 1
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.Xr whatis 1 ,
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.Xr catman 8 ,
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and
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.Xr makewhatis 8
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commands
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search for manual pages or their database files as specified by the
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.Nm
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file.
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Manual pages are normally expected to be preformatted (see
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.Xr nroff 1 )
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and named with a trailing
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.Dq \.0 .
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.Xr makewhatis 8
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to find manual pages and information about manual pages (e.g. the
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whatis database).
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.Pp
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Manual pages are located by searching an ordered set of directories
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called the
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.Dq man path
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for a file that matches the name of the requested page.
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Each directory in the search path usually has a set of subdirectories
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in it (though this is not required).
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When subdirectories are used, there are normally two subdirectories
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for each section of the manual.
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One subdirectory contains formatted copies of that section's manual
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pages that can be directly displayed to a terminal, while the other
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section subdirectory contains unformatted copies of the pages (see
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.Xr nroff 1
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and
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.Xr mandoc 7 ) .
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Formatted manual pages are normally named with a trailing
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.Dq \.0
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suffix.
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.Pp
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The
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.Nm
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file contains two types of lines.
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.Pp
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The first type of line is a
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.Dq section
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line, which contains a
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section name followed by one or more directory paths.
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The directory paths may contain the normal shell globbing characters,
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including curly braces
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.Pq Dq {} ;
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to escape a shell globbing character,
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precede it with a backslash
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.Pq Dq \e .
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Lines in this format specify that manual pages for the section
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may be found in the following directories.
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.Pp
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Section lines may contain either absolute directory paths or relative
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directory paths (but not both).
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Relative directory paths are treated
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as a list of subdirectories to append to the current directory search
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path.
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Section lines with absolute directory paths (starting with
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.Dq / )
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completely replace the current directory search path with their
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content.
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Absolute directory paths named with a trailing slash
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character are expected to contain subdirectories of manual pages, (see
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the keyword
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.Dq _subdir
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below) instead of man pages.
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These
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subdirectories are searched instead of the directory.
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.Pp
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Before searching any directory for a manual page, the
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.Xr man 1
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command always searches the subdirectory with the same name
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as the current machine type, if it exists.
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No specification of these subdirectories is necessary in the
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.Nm
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file.
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.Pp
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Section names are unrestricted except for the reserved words specified
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below; in general, you should avoid anything with a leading underscore
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.Pq Dq _
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to avoid future incompatibilities.
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.Pp
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The section named
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.Dq _default
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is the list of directories that will
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be searched if no section is specified by the user.
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.Pp
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The second type of line is preceded with a
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.Dq keyword .
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The possible keywords and their meanings are as follows:
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.Pp
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file contains comment and configuration lines. Comment lines start with
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the
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.Dq #
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character.
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Blank lines are also treated as comment lines.
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Configuration lines consist of a configuration keyword followed by a
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configuration string.
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There are two types of configuration keywords: control keywords and
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section keywords.
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Control keywords must start with the
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.Dq _
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character.
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The following control keywords are currently defined:
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.Bl -tag -width "_version"
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.It _build
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Man file names, regardless of their format, are expected to end in
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a
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identifies the set of suffixes used for manual pages that must be
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formatted for display and the command that should be used to format
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them. Manual file names, regardless of their format, are
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expected to end in a
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.Dq \.*
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pattern, i.e. a
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.Dq \&\.
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followed by some suffix.
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The first field of a _build line lists a suffix which indicates
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files which need to be reformatted or manipulated in some way before
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being displayed to the user.
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The suffix may contain the normal shell globbing characters (NOT
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including curly braces
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The first field of a _build line contains a man page suffix specification.
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The suffix specification may contain the normal shell globbing characters
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(NOT including curly braces
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.Pq Dq {} ) .
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The rest of the line must be a shell command line, the standard
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output of which is the manual page in a format which may be directly
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displayed to the user.
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The rest of the _build line is a shell command line whose standard
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output is a formatted manual page that can be directly displayed to
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the user.
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Any occurrences of the string
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.Dq %s
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in the shell command line will
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be replaced by the name of the file which is being reformatted.
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be replaced by the name of the file which is being formatted.
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.It _crunch
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The
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.Dq _crunch
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section is used by catman to know how to crunch cat pages
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used by
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.Xr catman 8
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to determine how to crunch formatted pages
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which originally were compressed man pages: The first field lists a suffix
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which indicates what kind of compression were used to compress the man page.
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The rest of the line must be a shell command line, used to compress the
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formatted pages.
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.It _default
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contains the system-wide default man path used to search for man pages.
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.It _subdir
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The list (in search order) of subdirectories which will be searched in
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any directory named with a trailing slash
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contains the list (in search order) of section subdirectories which will
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be searched in any man path directory named with a trailing slash
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.Pq Dq /
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character.
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This list is also used when a path is specified to the
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This list is also used, even if there is no trailing slash character,
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when a path is specified to the
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.Xr man 1
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utility by the user, using the
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utility by the user, by the
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.Ev MANPATH
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environment variable or the
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environment variable, or by the
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.Fl M
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and
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.Fl m
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options.
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.It _suffix
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Man file names, regardless of their format are expected to end in
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a
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.Dq \.*
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pattern, i.e. a
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.Dq \&\.
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followed by some suffix.
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Each field of a _suffix line is a suffix which indicates
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files which do not need to be reformatted or manipulated
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in any way, but which may be directly displayed to the user.
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identifies the set of suffixes used for formatted man pages
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(the
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.Dq \.0
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suffix is normally used here).
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Formatted man pages can be directly displayed to the user.
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Each suffix may contain the normal shell globbing characters (NOT
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including curly braces
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.Pq Dq {} ) .
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.It _version
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The version of the configuration file.
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contains the version of the configuration file.
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.It _whatdb
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The full pathname (not just a directory path) for a database to be used
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defines the full pathname (not just a directory path) for a database to
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be used
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by the
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.Xr apropos 1
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and
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@ -181,18 +154,60 @@ precede it with a backslash
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.Pq Dq \e .
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.El
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.Pp
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Multiple specifications for all types of lines are cumulative and the
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entries are used in the order listed in the file; multiple entries may
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be listed per line, as well.
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Section configuration lines in
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.Nm
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consist of a section keyword naming the section and a configuration
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string that defines the directory or subdirectory path that the section's
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manual pages are located in.
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The path may contain the normal shell globbing characters,
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including curly braces
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.Pq Dq {} ;
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to escape a shell globbing character,
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precede it with a backslash
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.Pq Dq \e .
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Section keywords must not start with the
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.Dq _
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character.
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.Pp
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Empty lines or lines whose first non-whitespace character is a hash
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mark
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.Pq Dq #
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are ignored.
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A section path may contain either a list of absolute directories or
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a list of or relative directories (but not both).
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Relative directory paths are treated as a list of subdirectories that
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are appended to the current man path directory being searched.
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Section configuration lines with absolute directory paths (starting with
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.Dq / )
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completely replace the current man search path directory with their
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content.
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.Pp
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Section configuration lines with absolute directory paths ending
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with a trailing slash character are expected to contain subdirectories
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of manual pages, (see the keyword
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.Dq _subdir
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above).
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The
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.Dq _subdir
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subdirectory list is not applied to absolute section directories
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if there is no trailing slash.
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.Pp
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In addition to the above rules, the
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.Xr man 1
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command also always checks in each directory that it searches for
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a subdirectory with the same name as the current machine type.
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If the machine-specific directory is found, it is also searched.
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This allows the manual to contain machine-specific man pages.
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Note that the machine subdirectory does not need to be specified
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in the
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.Nm
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file.
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.Pp
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Multiple specifications for all types of
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.Nm
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configuration lines are
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cumulative and the entries are used in the order listed in the file;
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multiple entries may be listed per line, as well.
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.Sh FILES
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.Bl -tag -width /etc/man.conf -compact
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.It Pa /etc/man.conf
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Standard manual directory search path.
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Standard manual configuration file.
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.El
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.Sh EXAMPLES
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Given the following
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Loading…
Reference in New Issue
Block a user