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<TITLE>The Answer Gang 84: read the manual!</TITLE>
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<H3 align="left"><img src="../../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif"
height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
>read the manual!</H3>
<p><strong>From Benjamin A. Okopnik, John Karns, Ashwin N
</strong></p>
<blockquote><IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather] A merry little thread wherein we got almost no data to work with,
got us giving such incredibly generic answers that this is the good
part.
</blockquote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
If i know the syntax of the command then i will be able
to use it in my c program through popen or system call.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
{{{
All of this information is available via the "man" program. The
Unix/Linux information infrastructure is tremendously powerful (although
admittedly rather non-intuitive for a new user.) I suggest that you make
it your friend.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
For more information on using it, see "man", "apropos", "whatis",
"whereis", and (if your tastes run to torturing small defenseless
animals and pushing old ladies under passing automobiles) "info".
{{{{
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [John]
As a person who generally avoids emacs ( xemacs is a step in right
direction, but hey, I'm already familiar with vim ) I've found the
lynx-like utility "pinfo" to be a painless way to view info files.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
{{{
Also,
make sure to check out the documentation that literally every installed
program places in "<TT>/usr/doc/&lt;program_name&gt;</TT>" or
"<TT>/usr/share/&lt;program_name&gt;</TT>" on your system; this is an additional
treasure trove of information.
{{{{
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Ashwin]
For users of <A HREF="http://www.kde.org/">KDE</A>/<A HREF="http://www.gnome.org/">GNOME</A> here are a couple of painless (and also colorful)
ways of viewing their manuals or info.
</blockQuote>
<h4 align="center"><br>KDE
</h4>
<blockQuote>
KDE users can use konqueror for viewing their docs.
Just type
</blockQuote>
<blockquote><code><font color="#000033"><br>man:/fortune
</font></code></blockquote>
<blockQuote>
in the addressbar to view the manpage of "fortune".
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Incase you need to access a particular section of a manpage,
</blockQuote>
<blockquote><code><font color="#000033"><br>man:/ip(7)
</font></code></blockquote>
<blockQuote>
should do it.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
To view info,
</blockQuote>
<blockquote><code><font color="#000033"><br>info:/gcc
</font></code></blockquote>
<h4 align="center"><br>GNOME
</h4>
<blockQuote>
For GNOME users there is gnome-help-browser.
Just type
</blockQuote>
<blockquote><code><font color="#000033"><br>man:fortune
</font></code></blockquote>
<blockQuote>
or
</blockQuote>
<blockquote><code><font color="#000033"><br>man:ip(7)
</font></code></blockquote>
<blockQuote>
in it's addressbar to get your manpages.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
And to view info files,
</blockQuote>
<blockquote><code><font color="#000033"><br>info:gcc
</font></code></blockquote>
<blockQuote>
The advantage with viewing man pages like this is that you can switch to
a particular manpage you see listed there by just clicking on it.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Similarly, info painlessly transforms into just simple HTML-like
browseable docs.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Ben]
The Linux documentation subsystem is large, accessible and very
helpful... <EM>if</EM> you know what you're doing. If you don't, Linux looks
like a difficult puzzle - "a maze of twisty passages, all alike". If
you're looking for information on a program, here is a quick way to the
treasure hoard:
</blockQuote>
<blockquote><em><font color="#000033"><br># I need to know about everything that deals with TIFF files.
<br>ben@Fenrir:~$ apropos TIFF
</font></em></blockquote>
<blockquote><em><font color="#000033"><br># Whoa, man! That was too much stuff! I just want _programs!_
<br>ben@Fenrir:~$ apropos TIFF | grep '(1'
</font></em></blockquote>
<blockquote><em><font color="#000033"><br># OK, I know which one I want ("ras2tiff"); how do I tell where it is?
<br>ben@Fenrir:~$ whereis ras2tiff
</font></em></blockquote>
<blockquote><em><font color="#000033"><br># I know the name of a program ("foo"), but not what it does. What now?
<br>ben@Fenrir:~$ whatis foo
</font></em></blockquote>
<blockquote><em><font color="#000033"><br># Naw, I want a _complete_ explanation, syntax, descriptions, etc.
<br>ben@Fenrir:~$ man foo
</font></em></blockquote>
<blockquote><em><font color="#000033"><br># But I *HATE* man pages! I want more structure, indexes, etc...
<br>ben@Fenrir:~$ info foo
</font></em></blockquote>
<blockquote><em><font color="#000033"><br># Command-line stuff, YUCK. Can I have a pretty GUI?
<br>ben@Fenrir:~$ tkman foo
</font></em></blockquote>
<blockquote><em><font color="#000033"><br># I meant for "info"!
<br>ben@Fenrir:~$ tkinfo foo
</font></em></blockquote>
<blockquote><em><font color="#000033"><br># "man" tells me that the program ("blarg") is undocumented. Help!
<br>ben@Fenrir:~$ blarg -?
<br>ben@Fenrir:~$ blarg -h
<br>ben@Fenrir:~$ blarg --help
<br>ben@Fenrir:~$ ls /usr/doc/blarg*
<br>ben@Fenrir:~$ ls /usr/share/doc/blarg*
<br>ben@Fenrir:~$ ls /usr/lib/blarg*
</font></em></blockquote>
<blockquote><em><font color="#000033"><br># What I *really* want is a Wind*ws help file, with pretty pictures and
<br># instructions for pressing the "any" key! And I want it to say "Your
<br># mouse is unplugged - click 'OK' to continue". And, and, I want a big
<br># juicy burger with onions and lots of cheese and just a little
<br># ketchup...
<br>ben@Fenrir:~$ export YOU_ARE_REALLY_GETTING_ON_MY_NERVES=1
<br>ben@Fenrir:~$ su -c 'slay -9 annoying_user'
<br>Password:
</font></em></blockquote>
<blockQuote>
Note: several of the programs mentioned above are not installed by
default on most distros. Download, install, and be joyful.
</blockQuote>
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<CENTER><SMALL><STRONG>
<h5>
<br>Copyright &copy; 2002
<br>Copying license <A HREF="">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A>
<BR>Published in Issue 84 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, November 2002</H5>
</STRONG></SMALL></CENTER>
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