Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!bionet!ig!ames!haven!mimsy!chris From: chris@mimsy.UUCP (Chris Torek) Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions Subject: Re: man page organization (-more-) Message-ID: <18593@mimsy.UUCP> Date: 17 Jul 89 20:16:35 GMT References: <1070@hydra.gatech.EDU> Organization: U of Maryland, Dept. of Computer Science, Coll. Pk., MD 20742 Lines: 50 In article <1070@hydra.gatech.EDU> rh26@prism.gatech.EDU (Howard,Robert L) writes: [odd sort of first name, has a comma in it :-)] >What are the manl and mann directories under /usr/man for? (I understand >the structure of the man[1-8] directories) The system under consideration >is a Sun 386i running SunOS 4.0.1. The manual organisation in SunOS 2.*, 3.*, and 4.0.* is based on that in 4.2BSD. The scheme was as follows: /usr/man top level directory /man[1-8ln] n/troff source for manuals /cat[1-8ln] preformatted editions The `sections' 1-8, l, and n were for: 1 commands 2 system calls 3 library routines 4 devices (/dev) 5 file formats 6 games 7 miscellaneous 8 maintenance and administrative commands l local commands (/usr/local/*) n `new' commands (/usr/new/*) This scheme is not a particularly good one and is largely being abandoned. Besides the problem of separating the manual n/troff sources from the programs and files they document, its major failing is that it lumps `local' and `new' into single categories. What we here at UMCP CSD are using (which is not to say that Berkeley are doing quite the same thing%) is this: /usr/src/{bin,lib,...,man}/*... n/troff sources for manuals /usr/man/man[1-8] n/troff slaves /usr/man/cat[1-8] preformatted entries /usr/local/man/man[1-8] n/troff slaves for local things /usr/local/man/cat[1-8] preformatted entries (/usr/new does not fit, but /usr/new is an abomination. If it must exist, it should be called /usr/contrib, or something similar, and should be arranged like / (bin, lib, libdata, text, ...). ----- % In particular, Berkeley have eliminated /usr/man/man[1-8] and /etc/catman entirely. This makes printing a complete edition of the manuals somewhat difficult. . . . -- In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Univ of MD Comp Sci Dept (+1 301 454 7163) Domain: chris@mimsy.umd.edu Path: uunet!mimsy!chris