MAN.CONF(5)MAN.CONF(5)NAME
man.conf - man command's configuration file
DESCRIPTIONMan(1), apropos(1), and whatis(1) search for manual pages or their
database files as specified by the man.conf file. Manual pages are
expected to be preformatted (see nroff(1)) and named with a trailing
``.0''.
The man.conf file contains two types of lines.
The first type of line is a ``section'' line, which contains a section
name followed by a directory path. Lines in this format specify that
manual pages for the section may be found in the directory.
Directories named with a trailing slash character (``/'') are expected
to contain subdirectories (see the keyword ``_subdir'' below) instead
of manual pages. These subdirectories are searched instead of the
directory.
All directories (either explicitly specified or named with a trailing
slash) may contain subdirectories. Man(1) automatically searches any
subdirectory with the same name as the current machine type before the
directory is searched. No specification of these subdirectories is
necessary in the man.conf file.
Section names are unrestricted except for the reserved words specified
below; in general, however, it is best to avoid anything beginning with
an underscore (``_'') in order to avoid future incompatibilities.
The section named ``_default'' is the list of directories to be
searched if no section is specified.
The second type of line is preceded with a ``keyword''. The possible
keywords and their meanings are as follows:
_subdir
The list (in search order) of subdirectories which will be
searched in any directory named with a trailing slash (``/'')
character. This list is also used when a path is specified by
the MANPATH environment variable or the -M option.
_version
The version of the configuration file.
_whatdb
The full pathname (not just a directory path) for a database to
be used by the apropos(1) and whatis(1) commands.
Multiple specifications for all types of lines (except for ``_ver‐
sion'') are cumulative and the entries are used in the order listed in
the file; multiple entries may be listed per line, as well.
Empty lines or lines whose first non-whitespace character is a hash
mark (``#'') are ignored.
EXAMPLES
Given the following man.conf file:
_version BSD.1
_subdir cat1 cat2 cat3
_default /usr/share/man/
sect3 /usr/share/man/cat3
The default mktemp(3) manual page should be stored in
``/usr/share/man/cat3/mktemp.0''. Any VAX architecture specific ver‐
sion of it should be stored in ``cat3/vax/mktemp.0''.
The command ``man mktemp'' would search the subdirectories ``cat1''
``cat2'', and ``cat3'', in ``/usr/share/man'', in that order, for
``mktemp.0''. If a subdirectory with the same name as the current
machine type existed in any of them, it would be searched as well.
The command ``man sect3 mktemp'' would only search
``/usr/share/man/cat3'' and any possible per machine subdirectory.
FILES
/etc/man.conf standard manual directory search path
SEE ALSOapropos(1), machine(1), man(1), whatis(1), whereis(1)
June 28, 1990 MAN.CONF(5)