Re: QUESTION: man pages

From: Alan Connor (zzzzzz_at_xxx.yyy)
Date: 05/26/04 

Date: Tue, 25 May 2004 22:53:18 GMT

On Tue, 25 May 2004 22:15:26 +0000 (UTC), Eli the Bearded <*@eli.users.panix.com> wrote:
>
>
> In comp.os.linux.misc, Alan Connor <xxxx@yyy.zzz> wrote:
>> On Fri, 21 May 2004 13:38:08 -0500, John Hasler <john@dhh.gt.org> wrote:
>> > Alan Connor writes:
>> >> A man page is supposed to be a cheat sheet, not a manual. The name is a
>> >> misnomer.
>> > No it isn't. "Man page" means "page from the manual", the manual being the
>> > Unix manual.
>> Semantical problem here. I am referring to the difference, for example,
>> between man slrn and /usr/share/doc/slrn/manual.txt, which is considerable.
>
> No, just an implementation problem. slrn has a cheat sheet instead of
> a man page.
>

You are simply wrong. A man page is a cheat sheet written for and by experts,
which is why they drive newbies crazy. They are *synopses* of the manuals.

They are not actually manuals, which are much larger and more detailed, and
are found elsewhere, usually in a directory like /usr/share/doc/whatever. These
are often referred to at the bottom of the man pages.

Many of them also say so at the bottom of the man page:

SEE ALSO
       The full documentation for mv is maintained as a Texinfo
       manual. If the info and mv programs are properly
       installed at your site, the command

              info mv

       should give you access to the complete manual.

endquote

I am very tired of repeating the obvious to alleged experts. Thanks for your
help with *roff, Eli. I'm killfiling this thread out of boredom.

AC 

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