Date: Wed, 3 Jan 2001 21:33:51 +0000 From: Ben Smithurst <ben@FreeBSD.org> To: Tim McMillen <timcm@umich.edu> Cc: freebsd-doc@freebsd.org Subject: Re: various man page additions Message-ID: <20010103213351.G85794@strontium.scientia.demon.co.uk> In-Reply-To: <0101031429260A.00440@tim.elnsng1.mi.home.com> References: <0101031429260A.00440@tim.elnsng1.mi.home.com>
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Tim McMillen wrote: > Hi, I'm new to the doc project and want to help. Welcome! > So some proposed fixes. > --have man(1) state what the default manpage search order is. > > a decent spot is: (but it is not perfectly correct, it needs help) > old: > You may also specify the order to search the sections for entries and > which preprocessors to run on the source files via command line options > or environment variables. If enabled by the system administrator, > formatted man pages will also be compressed with the `/usr/bin/gzip -c' > command to save space. > > new: > You may also specify the order to search the sections for entries and > which preprocessors to run on the source files via command line options > or environment variables. The default search order is sections "1", > "1aout", "8", "2", "3", "n", "4", "5", "6", "7", "9", "l". If enabled > by the system administrator, formatted man pages will also be > compressed with the `/usr/bin/gzip -c' command to save space. This seems like a reasonable idea. > --man(1) should state what the different man section names are. I'm sure I've seen a list of the section numbers and what they are somewhere, though I can't find it now... *shrug* man's manual page seems as good a place as any. > --in either man(1) or whatis(1) or probably both, should have something > like: > Ex. To get a list of the commands in a given section try > whatis 1 or whatis 8 > the output can be somewhat ugly, but useful. A better command would be > well, better. > This should probably also be in each intro page. Putting that into just whatis(1) gets my vote, see what others think... > --help should be a basic command and should be mentioned in the default > motd. > it could display a quick tutorial on how to use the basic resources > available. The FAQ, handbook and manpages. And how to install the > documentation locally if they don't have net access set up yet. I will > write the text and facilitate getting it made into an executeble. I > could just write it as a shell script, but there may be better ways. I'd say it's better to do it in C from the start, saves pain converting it to C later on if you find the program gets a bit too advanced for a shell script. :-) > I will post what I write on my website for comments. cool, let us know a URL. -- Ben Smithurst / ben@FreeBSD.org / PGP: 0x99392F7D To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-doc" in the body of the message
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