RE: Manpage interpreter

From: Sally Hines (shines_at_smaller.net)
Date: 12/24/04

  • Next message: David Benfell: "Re: Manpage interpreter" 
    To: "'Scott Emerson Longley'" <emerson@WPI.EDU>
Date: Thu, 23 Dec 2004 21:09:00 -0800

    Hi Scott,

    Thank you for the tips. This will be very helpful. I've instintively tried
    some of this, scanning through, seeing if anything in the detailed sections
    looks like it addresses any or my issues.

    Sally Hines

    -----Original Message-----
    From: Scott Emerson Longley [mailto:emerson@WPI.EDU]
    Sent: Thursday, December 23, 2004 8:42 PM
    To: Sally Hines
    Cc: 'Tyler Gee'; 'Mervin McDougall'; freebsd-newbies@freebsd.org
    Subject: RE: Manpage interpreter

    On Thu, 23 Dec 2004, Sally Hines wrote:

    > I want to thank everyone for offering me good information on
    > automating the ports update. My real question, though, is how to read
    > and understand manpages. Where is the interpreter? I know I am not the
    > only noob to ever have this problem? I can solve my own problems much
    > better if I can interpret the instructions.
    >
    > Thank you again,
    >
    > Sally Hines

    Finding good documentation can be a really big challenge. I've had success
    with a multi-pronged approach involving many sources. However, for those
    times when manpages are best, I've found that there are certain sections
    that are immediately useful, and they're mostly near the bottom. If there's
    an "examples" section, it's likely to prove relevant to simple queries. If
    you're not sure you're looking at the right page, skip straight to the "see
    also" section to get your bearings. --generally, if I don't see see
    something at the top that seems immediately relevant, I skip straight to all
    the little sections at the bottom before digging into the middle. Even a
    one-liner "history" section has occasionally given me some context that I
    needed. Also, try searching the manpage for words relevent to your question
    (type "/", then a word).

    Different Unix-derived sytems have similar commands, so it might also be
    useful to check out their manpages, if you have access to them.

    Having said all that, often, the right book will save lots of time. I figure
    that when someone has bothered to put a cohesive chapter together that
    covers the subject of your question, that's worth an awful lot. The FreeBSD
    Handbook is the obvious choice for a book (and a good choide, I believe). If
    you like examples (and have non-FreeBSD-specific questions), I highly
    reccomend "Unix Power Tools". Also, "Absolute BSD" provides a nice refrain
    from the often overly-detail-oriented nature of manpages.

    I hope my scatter-brained answer is helpful :-)

                            -Scott Longley

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