.. -*- coding: utf-8; -*-
===========
Man pages
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.. contents::
:local:
Man sections
============
::
1 Executable programs or shell commands.
2 System calls (functions provided by the kernel).
3 Library calls (functions within program libraries).
4 Special files (usually found in /dev).
5 File formats and conventions eg /etc/passwd.
6 Games.
7 Miscellaneous (including macro packages and conventions).
8 System administration commands (usually only for root).
Invoking man
============
Search for prog, func, conf file::
$ man [<section>] <item>
Search by specific keywords::
$ man -k <keywords>
Viewing inside Emacs::
M-x man RET [<section>] <item>
M-x man RET -k SPACE <keywords>
Sections order
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::
NAME - brief prog description
SYNOPSIS (USAGE) - command line options in BNF
DESCRIPTION - long prog description
OPTIONS - long option descriptions
... misc sections ...
EXAMPLES
EXIT STATUS
ENVIRONMENT
AVAILABILITY - whare search source, where home page
FILES - list of files that has effect on program working
AUTHORS
COPYRIGHT
SEE ALSO
BUGS - know issue, how report bug
HISTORY
Man page showing
================
TODO
Bolt by print char, back one char and print same char.
Underscore by printing undescore, back one char and print char.
Development tools
=================
To preview local man page::
$ groff -man -Tascii foo.1 # 7-bit char
$ groff -man -Tlatin1 foo.1 # 8-bit char
$ groff -man -Tlatin1 foo.1 | less
$ groff -a -mandoc -Tlatin1 e.1
$ groff -man -Tutf8 foo.1
$ man ./foo.1 # if slashes in path - use file
$ mkdir man1
$ cp foo.1 man1
$ man -M . 1 foo # without slashes search in MANPATH item
# and add /man1 to each item
Output format
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Plain text::
$ man foo | col -b >.foo.txt
PostScript::
$ groff -Tps foo >foo.ps
DVI::
$ groff -Tdvi foo >foo.dvi