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On-line Manuals, /usr/man

On-line man pages are stored below /usr/man , at least for programs in /bin and /usr/bin . Programs installed elsewhere (e.g. /usr/local ) often get their man pages installed similarly elsewhere as well, but not always.

man pages are divided into eight numbered chapters (after the chapters in the original manuals). Each chapter has a subdirectory below /usr/man , called man 0 where 0 stands for the number of the chapter, and a man page is installed into the appropriate subdirectory. (Man page directories in other places, e.g. /usr/local/man , usually have a similar organization.)

META:
linux has chapter 9 as well? some man pages need -mandoc instead of -man

In addition to the troff(1) source code for the man page in /usr/man/man? , its formatted version (formatted for a simple printer or a text screen) is stored into /usr/man/cat 0 , where 0 again stands for the chapter. This way, if you need the source (in order to print it on a laser printer, for example), you can get it from /usr/man/man? , and if you are satisfied with the pre-formatted version, you can get it quickly from /usr/man/cat? . The man(1) command uses the correct one automatically: the formatted one if it exists, else it formats the unformatted one on the fly, saving the formatted version in the appropriate place.

Man pages can easily take up a lot of space, so they are sometimes stored in compressed format. On some systems, the man program understands compressed files and automatically uncompresses the man page while it is read.

Another way to save space is to not have both formatted and unformatted man pages installed. (Or to not have them installed at all, of course.)



next up previous contents
Next: More Manuals/usr/info Up: Directory Tree Overview Previous: Administrativia/usr/adm



Ross Biro
Mon May 22 09:14:56 PDT 1995