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eadcc84a | 1 | .\" Copyright (c) 1989, 1991 The Regents of the University of California. |
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2 | .\" All rights reserved. |
3 | .\" | |
eadcc84a | 4 | .\" %sccs.include.redist.roff% |
882cb044 | 5 | .\" |
b6c2c24a | 6 | .\" @(#)man.conf.5 5.7 (Berkeley) %G% |
882cb044 | 7 | .\" |
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8 | .Dd |
9 | .Dt MAN.CONF 5 | |
b6c2c24a | 10 | .Os |
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11 | .Sh NAME |
12 | .Nm man.conf | |
13 | .Nd configuration file for | |
14 | .Xr man 1 | |
15 | .Sh DESCRIPTION | |
16 | The | |
17 | .Xr man 1 , | |
18 | .Xr apropos 1 , | |
011519cd | 19 | and |
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20 | .Xr whatis 1 |
21 | commands | |
011519cd | 22 | search for manual pages or their database files as specified by the |
eadcc84a | 23 | .Nm man.conf |
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24 | file. |
25 | Manual pages are expected to be preformatted (see | |
eadcc84a | 26 | .Xr nroff 1 ) |
011519cd | 27 | and named with a trailing ``.0''. |
eadcc84a | 28 | .Pp |
882cb044 | 29 | The |
eadcc84a | 30 | .Nm man.conf |
011519cd | 31 | file contains two types of lines. |
eadcc84a | 32 | .Pp |
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33 | The first type of line is a ``section'' line, which contains a |
34 | section name followed by a directory path. | |
35 | Lines in this format specify that manual pages for the section | |
36 | may be found in the directory. | |
eadcc84a | 37 | .Pp |
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38 | Directories named with a trailing slash character (``/'') are expected |
39 | to contain subdirectories (see the keyword ``_subdir'' below) instead | |
40 | of manual pages. | |
41 | These subdirectories are searched instead of the directory. | |
eadcc84a | 42 | .Pp |
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43 | All directories (either explicitly specified or named with a trailing |
44 | slash) may contain subdirectories. | |
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45 | The |
46 | .Xr man 1 | |
47 | command | |
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48 | automatically searches any subdirectory with the same name as the |
49 | current machine type before the directory is searched. | |
50 | No specification of these subdirectories is necessary in the | |
eadcc84a | 51 | .Nm man.conf |
011519cd | 52 | file. |
eadcc84a | 53 | .Pp |
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54 | Section names are unrestricted except for the reserved words specified |
55 | below; in general, however, it is best to avoid anything beginning with | |
56 | an underscore (``_'') in order to avoid future incompatibilities. | |
eadcc84a | 57 | .Pp |
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58 | The section named ``_default'' is the list of directories to be |
59 | searched if no section is specified. | |
eadcc84a | 60 | .Pp |
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61 | The second type of line is preceded with a ``keyword''. |
62 | The possible keywords and their meanings are as follows: | |
eadcc84a | 63 | .Pp |
b6c2c24a | 64 | .Bl -tag -width "_version" |
eadcc84a | 65 | .It _subdir |
011519cd | 66 | The list (in search order) of subdirectories which will be searched in |
a201b3c4 | 67 | any directory named with a trailing slash (``/'') character. This |
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68 | list is also used when a path is specified by the |
69 | .Ev MANPATH | |
70 | environment | |
71 | variable or the | |
72 | .Fl M | |
73 | option. | |
74 | .It _version | |
011519cd | 75 | The version of the configuration file. |
eadcc84a | 76 | .It _whatdb |
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77 | The full pathname (not just a directory path) for a database to be used |
78 | by the | |
eadcc84a | 79 | .Xr apropos 1 |
011519cd | 80 | and |
eadcc84a | 81 | .Xr whatis 1 |
011519cd | 82 | commands. |
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83 | .El |
84 | .Pp | |
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85 | Multiple specifications for all types of lines (except for ``_version'') |
86 | are cumulative and the entries are used in the order listed in the file; | |
87 | multiple entries may be listed per line, as well. | |
eadcc84a | 88 | .Pp |
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89 | Empty lines or lines whose first non-whitespace character is a hash |
90 | mark (``#'') are ignored. | |
eadcc84a | 91 | .Sh EXAMPLES |
011519cd | 92 | Given the following |
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93 | .Nm man.conf |
94 | file: | |
95 | .Bd -literal -offset indent | |
96 | _version BSD.1 | |
011519cd | 97 | _subdir cat1 cat2 cat3 |
eadcc84a | 98 | _default /usr/share/man/ |
011519cd | 99 | sect3 /usr/share/man/cat3 |
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100 | .Ed |
101 | .Pp | |
011519cd | 102 | The default |
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103 | .Xr mktemp 3 |
104 | manual page should be stored in | |
105 | .Dq Pa /usr/share/man/cat3/mktemp.0 . | |
106 | Any | |
107 | .Tn VAX | |
108 | architecture specific version of it should be stored in | |
109 | .Dq Pa cat3/vax/mktemp.0 . | |
110 | .Pp | |
111 | The command | |
112 | .Dq Li man mktemp | |
113 | would search the subdirectories | |
114 | .Dq Pa cat1 | |
115 | .Dq Pa cat2 , | |
116 | and | |
117 | .Dq Pa cat3 , | |
118 | in | |
119 | .Dq Pa /usr/share/man , | |
120 | in that order, for | |
121 | .Dq Pa mktemp.0''. | |
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122 | If a subdirectory with the same name as the current machine type |
123 | existed in any of them, it would be searched as well. | |
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124 | .Pp |
125 | The command | |
126 | .Dq Li man sect3 mktemp | |
127 | would only search | |
128 | .Dq Li /usr/share/man/cat3 | |
011519cd | 129 | and any possible per machine subdirectory. |
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130 | .Sh FILES |
131 | .Bl -tag -width /etc/man.conf -compact | |
132 | .It Pa /etc/man.conf | |
133 | Standard manual directory search path. | |
134 | .El | |
135 | .Sh SEE ALSO | |
136 | .Xr apropos 1 , | |
137 | .Xr machine 1 , | |
138 | .Xr man 1 , | |
139 | .Xr whatis 1 , | |
140 | .Xr whereis 1 | |
141 | .Sh HISTORY | |
142 | The | |
143 | .Nm | |
b6c2c24a | 144 | file format is |
eadcc84a | 145 | .Ud . |