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catman(8)							     catman(8)

NAME
       catman  -  Creates or rebuilds formatted reference pages and the whatis
       database

SYNOPSIS
       /usr/sbin/catman [-M search_path] [-cnpvw] [section...]

OPTIONS
       Creates formatted versions of reference pages only in the set of direc‐
       tories specified by search_path.	 The search_path argument has the form
       of a colon-separated list of directory names. The default  search  path
       (assuming MANPATH has not been set) is the following:

	      /usr/share/man:/usr/dt/share/man:/usr/local/man

	      The -M option, unlike the MANPATH setting, overrides the default
	      placement of the whatis database (in /usr/share/man).  When  the
	      -M  option is included in a command that builds the whatis data‐
	      base,  catman  creates  the  database  in	 the  first  directory
	      included in search_path.

	      Refer  to	 the man(1) reference page for more information on the
	      MANPATH variable. See DESCRIPTION for a list  of	locale	direc‐
	      tives  that  can be included in search_path.  Uses the gzip com‐
	      mand to compress preformatted output files. The -c option has no
	      effect  when  used with the -w option.  Prevents creation of the
	      whatis database.	Displays what would be done instead  of	 doing
	      it.   Displays  the  name	 of  each reference page file as it is
	      being processed.	Causes only the whatis database to be created.
	      No reformatting is done.

OPERANDS
       Specifies  one  or  more	 reference  page  sections whose corresponding
       directories are to be searched for files. If you do  not	 specify  this
       parameter,  the command searches for reference page source files in all
       section directories encountered in its search path.

	      The section operand affects creation of preformatted files,  not
	      the  whatis  database.   The  catman command always searches all
	      section directories in its search path when creating the	whatis
	      database.

DESCRIPTION
       The  catman  command creates formatted versions of the online reference
       pages from the nroff source files. The command also  creates  from  the
       NAME  entries  in  source files the whatis database that is used by the
       whatis and apropos commands.

       When catman is invoked, each reference page is examined and those whose
       preformatted  versions  are missing or out of date are created by nroff
       using the -man macro package.  See man(5).

       An argument not starting with a - (single minus sign) is assumed to  be
       a  list	of  the reference sections to look in. If you do not specify a
       list, catman formats all reference pages in the search path.   In  gen‐
       eral,  sections are referenced by a single digit in the range 1 through
       8.  But, you can use any section allowed by the man command.  The  list
       of sections is applied to all reference page areas in the search path.

       If  a .../man/cat?  directory does not exist for a section, catman cre‐
       ates the directory.

       The command recognizes and appropriately processes either compressed or
       uncompressed  source  files.  By default, the command creates formatted
       files in uncompressed form; however, you can specify the -c  option  to
       direct  catman  to  compress its output files. When catman processes an
       uncompressed source file, any corresponding pointers are	 generated  as
       symbolic	 links.	  When	catman processes a compressed source file, any
       corresponding pointers are generated as hard links. Refer to man(1) for
       more  information,  including  restrictions, that apply to pointers and
       compressed files.

       A reference page source file can include a multicharacter  7-bit	 ASCII
       subsection  suffix  appended to its name, following the section charac‐
       ter. The subsection suffix, if it exists, must  start  with  a  letter.
       The  formatted  reference page file also includes the subsection suffix
       in its name.

       The catman command assumes that reference page source files can contain
       unprocessed  tables  and	 equations.   Therefore, it automatically pro‐
       cesses source files through tbl and neqn before invoking	 nroff.	  When
       catman  processes a compressed file, the command automatically executes
       the gunzip -c command to uncompress the file before  piping  output  to
       the other commands.

       Processing reference pages always invokes nroff with the -Tlp option to
       format output for the term(4) lp device. See RESTRICTIONS for  informa‐
       tion appropriate for printers and some display devices.

       When  you view preformatted reference page files directly with the more
       command, you should invoke more with the -svf options. The  vf  options
       ensure  that  the  pages	 display  properly in cases where the nroff lp
       device driver generates special device control codes.

       The following locale directives can be included	in  the	 pathnames  in
       search_path: The current locale name, for example, ja_JP.eucJP, that is
       defined for the LC_MESSAGES  environment	 variable.   The  same	as  %L
       except  that  any “@” modifier on the locale name is removed.  The lan‐
       guage element of the current locale name, for example, ja.  The	terri‐
       tory  element of the current locale name, for example, JP.  The codeset
       element from the current locale name, for example, eucJP.  A  single  %
       (percent sign) character.

	      These  directives allow catman to use the current locale setting
	      to find translated source files  and  create  translated	output
	      files  in an appropriate and predictable location.  Refer to the
	      i18n_intro(5) reference page for more information about  locales
	      and associated environment variables.

RESTRICTIONS
       The  following  subsections  discuss  restrictions associated with both
       catman and its input and output files.

   Reference Page Pointers
       Refer to man(1) for introductory information on reference page pointers
       and general pointer restrictions.

       When  processing	 reference  page files, the catman command changes its
       directory to each reference page area in the search path.  Some	refer‐
       ence  pages  assume this change of directory.  Therefore, an attempt to
       format uncompressed reference pages can fail if any directives specify‐
       ing partial pathnames do not start with man?/.

   Optional Section Directories
       The  /usr/share/man/man?	 directories for sections C, L, F, n, l, p, o,
       and 0 are optional.  Only your system administrator  can	 create	 them.
       Once  they  are	created, however, catman will create the corresponding
       .../man/cat?  directories whenever it receives a request to format ref‐
       erence pages in one of those sections.

   The whatis Database
       The  whatis  (man  -f)  and  apropos  (man -k) commands fail unless the
       whatis database exists in the /usr/share/man directory or, if the  com‐
       mand  includes  the  -M	option, in the search path specified with that
       option.

       The operating system can	 optionally  install  a	 /usr/share/man/whatis
       file  that  is  useful  during system configuration tasks. However, you
       must recreate this file manually if you install	reference  pages  that
       are  not	 included  in subsets for the operating system product; other‐
       wise, entries for the additional reference pages are  not  included  in
       the whatis database.

       You  create  or recreate the whatis file when you invoke catman without
       specifying the -n option. You can also specify the -w option to	create
       the  whatis  file  without  creating or updating preformatted reference
       pages in the cat?  directories.

       An update installation procedure or a setld command that processes ref‐
       erence  page  subsets  for  the operating system itself may selectively
       remove or add specific whatis database entries to help keep  the	 data‐
       base  up	 to  date.   However, this feature is of limited use in making
       sure that the whatis database remains current with respect to the  ref‐
       erence  pages  that  are	 actually available on the system.  As already
       mentioned, selective update is not supported by most  of	 the  optional
       software	 products  that	 can load reference pages to the system.  Fur‐
       thermore, selective update  has	database  location  dependencies.  For
       selective  update  to work, the whatis entries for all operating system
       product reference pages	(including  those  for	CDE)  must  reside  in
       /usr/share/man/whatis.	In  other words, automatic and selective revi‐
       sion of the whatis database does not work correctly if the whatis data‐
       base is rebuilt in a directory other than /usr/share/man or if the sys‐
       tem  administrator  creates  a  CDE-specific  whatis  database  in  the
       /usr/dt/share/man directory.

       Therefore,  do  not  rely on automatic update of the whatis database to
       ensure that its entries reflect the  current  set  of  reference	 pages
       installed on the system. It is strongly recommended that you always use
       the catman command to manually rebuild the database as  the  last  task
       following a completed series of software product installations.

   Default Formatting Is Not Appropriate for All Devices
       The catman command formats reference pages for the nroff lp device. The
       lp device driver, as supplied by the operating system, is set to gener‐
       ate output for Hewlett-Packard Company video terminals, but not for all
       printers or third-party terminals. If your system administrator changes
       the supplied setting for the lp device, all preformatted reference page
       files created by man or catman should be deleted and  then  reformatted
       for the new lp device.

       Preformatted reference pages may not be in a format suitable for print‐
       ing on your hardcopy printers.  To format a reference page for  a  spe‐
       cific printer, move to the reference page area and issue a command such
       as the following: % cd /usr/share/man %	gunzip	-c  man1/ls.1.gz  |tbl
       |neqn |nroff -Tdevice -man -h | lpr \ -Pmyprinter

       Replace	the  device argument with /usr/share/lib/term/tabdevice, where
       device is the name of a device listed in term(4). The lpr  device  set‐
       ting,  because  it supports primitive line printers, is least likely to
       cause problems that are related to escape  sequences  that  the	device
       cannot handle.  On the other hand, if the reference page has tables and
       the device is not capable of reverse  line  movements,  column  entries
       intended to be in the same row may not align correctly.

       Preformatted reference pages also might not be in a format suitable for
       display on video terminals from other vendors.  To format  a  reference
       page  for  a specific display device, move to the reference page direc‐
       tory and issue a command such as the following: % cd  /usr/share/man  %
       gunzip -c man1/ls.1 |tbl |neqn |nroff -Tdevice -man -h | more -svf

       Replace	the  device argument with /usr/share/lib/term/tabdevice, where
       device is the name of a device listed in term(4).

EXIT STATUS
       Success.	 An error occurred.

EXAMPLES
       To create or update compressed preformatted files for  reference	 pages
       and  also  create  or  rebuild the whatis database, enter: catman -c To
       create uncompressed preformatted files only for sections 1, 2,  and  3,
       enter: catman 123

	      This  command  also creates or rebuilds the whatis database. The
	      new database contains entries for reference pages	 in  all  sec‐
	      tions  (not just 1, 2, and 3) that are found in the search path.
	      To create or rebuild the whatis  database	 without  creating  or
	      updating	formatted files, enter: catman -w To create compressed
	      preformatted files for all reference pages in  the  search  path
	      but not rebuild the whatis database, enter: catman -c -n

FILES
       Main  reference	page area Directories containing source files for most
       reference pages Directories containing preformatted files for most ref‐
       erence  pages  Reference	 page  area for the Common Desktop Environment
       (CDE) Directories containing  source  files  for	 CDE  reference	 pages
       Directories containing preformatted files for CDE reference pages Local
       (site-specific) reference page area Directories containing source files
       for local reference pages Directories containing preformatted files for
       local reference pages The whatis database created or modified by catman
       unless  the  -M	option	is specified Command script to make the whatis
       database Program used by the mkwhatis command to extract data from ref‐
       erence pages

SEE ALSO
       Commands: man(1), neqn(1), nroff(1), tbl(1)

       Files: term(4), man(5), rsml(5)

								     catman(8)
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