Date: Tue, 11 Aug 2009 02:21:27 -0700 From: George Davidovich <freebsd@optimis.net> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Trying to Install Man Page Message-ID: <20090811092127.GA31920@marvin.optimis.net> In-Reply-To: <200908102059.n7AKxha1075178@dc.cis.okstate.edu> References: <200908102059.n7AKxha1075178@dc.cis.okstate.edu>
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On Mon, Aug 10, 2009 at 03:59:43PM -0500, Martin McCormick wrote: > There is a test man page I am trying to install and the system is not > finding it. I put it in /usr/local/man/man1 and think I should at > least get complaints about the page as it is the start of a man page, > not the whole thing. I named it testpage If your testpage manpage is located in a man1 directory, it has to be named testpage.1 (or gzipped as testpage.1.gz). For a man2 directory, the suffix is .2, and so on. Rename the file and I'm sure things will work fine. > , compressed it with gzip and when I type > > man testpage, it just says that there is no manual entry for testpage. > > Is there a data base I forgot to remake after adding the page? I did > make sure the ownership and permissions are the same as other pages in > the directory. I also did a man on one of the other pages in that same > directory and it came right up. Thank you. >From man(1): By default, man uses manpath(1) (which is built into the man binary) to determine the path to search. This option overrides the MANPATH environment variable. You can read manpath(1) for a full description of how things work (the configuration file used is /etc/manpath.config), but be sure to read man(1) in its entirety if you're going to get in the habit of writing your own manpages. More specifically, it describes the -w or -d options you can use for debugging fun, and the sometimes useful -M option[1]. As a side note, if the manpage is for your own use, I'd suggest using a hierarchy rooted in ~/man instead of /usr/local/man. That can offer numerous[2] benefits. ---------------------- 1. On Linux systems where you've installed FreeBSD manpages to improve your chances of finding more useful information than what's typically provided in the horrible info pages. 2. Aside from portability, it's especially useful on Windows systems where Cygwin is installed, but you're writing manpages for Windows (where the documentation is even more sparse than what's found in info pages, and no less clumsy to use). -- George
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