Transcript Using man pages

Getting help
1.
Using man pages
2.
Using info
3.
Using other documentation and
troubleshooting resources (README files,
Web-based resources)
1.
Using man pages
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The man directory structure
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Manual sections
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Using man to view documentation
•The man Directory Structure
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On a SUSE Linux 10.1 system, the
MANPATH variable is set to the
/usr/local/man, /usr/share/man,
/usr/X11R6/man, and /opt/gnome/share/man
directories.
MANPATH= /usr/local/man: /usr/share/man:
/usr/X11R6/man: /opt/gnome/share/man
•The man Directory Structure
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You can check the value of the MANPATH
variable on your system by entering
env |more
at a shell prompt
• The man Directory Structure
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The “man” utility can be implemented in
different ways on different Linux distributions.
For example, the Fedora distribution doesn’t
use the MANPATH environment variable, by
default. Instead, it uses the MANPATH
directive in the /etc/man.config file to specify
the directories where man pages are stored.
• Using man to View Documentation
man ls
Most man pages will include the following:
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Title
NAME
SYNOPSIS
DESCRIPTION
AUTHOR
REPORTING BUGS
COPYRIGHT
SEE ALSO
Version Number and Revision Date
(The version of man included with Fedora doesn’t include a
status display.)
With a man page displayed, you can use the following
keystrokes to navigate around within the page:
Searching Within a man Page
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You can search for specific information within
a man page by entering a forwardslash (/)
followed by the search term you want to
search for.
For example, enter /long to search for the
text string “long” in the man page “man ls”
To find the next instance, simply press N
Searching Across man Pages
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Structure: man –k
EX: man –k remove
Apropos
EX, to search for man pages that have the
string “remove” in their text, you would enter
apropos remove
2.
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Use info
Structure: info the_name_of_the_command,
utility, service, or file you need to learn about
EX: info ls
Use info
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Using info to View System Documentation
To navigate within the info interface, you can
use the following keystrokes:
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One of the key differences between info and
man is the fact that info divides the
information up into nodes where man
displays all information related to the
particular utility or command in a single page.
If you scroll down in the ls info node, you’ll
see a menu containing links to other related
nodes. To jump to one of these nodes, arrow
down to the desired menu item and then
press Enter. To return back to the original
node, just press L
Searching for Information in info
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If you want to search for information within
the node displayed, press Ctrl-S
Pressing Ctrl-S again will jump to the next
instance of the string you entered.
Searching for Information in info
3. Use Other Documentation and
Troubleshooting Resources
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Using README files
Using Web-based resources
• Using README files
What’s in a README File?
Information contained in a typical README file could
include the following:
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Program Version Number
Program Description
Changes
Installation and Configuration Information
Known Issues
Bug Reporting
Copyright Information
• Using README files
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Locating README Files : Most README
files are stored in /usr/share/doc/packages
Also, be aware that the package directories
that contain the README files on a Fedora
system are located in /usr/share/doc instead
of /usr/share/doc/packages.
• Using Web-based resources
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Using The Linux Documentation Project Web
site
Using Linux vendor Web sites
Using search engines
- Using The Linux Documentation
Project Web site
http://tldp.org
http://fedoraproject.org/
http://www.gentoo.org/
http://www.ubuntu.com/
…
- Using Linux vendor Web sites
Most Linux vendors provide a wealth of
invaluable information on their Web sites that
you can leverage, including:
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Knowledgebases
Documentation
Support Forums
- Using Search Engines
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Google
Yahoo
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