catman Command

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Purpose

Creates the cat files for the manual.

Syntax

catman [ -n | -p | -w ] [ -M Path ] [ Section... ]

Description

The catman command creates the preformatted versions of the online manual from the nroff command input files. The catman command examines each manual page and re-creates those pages whose preformatted versions are missing or out of date. If any changes are made, the catman command re-creates the command whatis database.

Flags

Item Description
-M Path Updates manual pages located in the set of directories specified by the Path variable (the /usr/share/man directory by default).The Path variable has the form of a colon (:) separated by a list of directory names. For example: 
'/usr/local/man:/usr/share/man'

If the environment variable MANPATH is set, its value is used for the default path. If the nroff command source file contains a line such as:

' .so manx/yyy.x'

a symbolic link is made in the catx directory to the appropriate preformatted manual page. This allows easy distribution of the preformatted manual pages among a group of associated machines using the rdist command.

The nroff command sources need not be distributed to all machines, thus saving the associated disk space.

For example, a local network of five machines (called mach1 through mach5) has mach3 with the manual page nroff command sources. Every night, mach3 runs the catman command by using the cron daemon and later runs the rdist command with a distfile file that looks like the following:

MANSLAVES = (mach1 mach2 mach4 mach5)
MANUALS = (/usr/share/man/cat[1-8no] /usr/share/man/whatis)
${MANUALS}    ->    ${MANSLAVES}
install -R;
notify root;
-n Prevents creation of the whatis command database.
-p Prints the names of the manual pages that need to be recreated or updated without recreating or updating them.
-w Reads the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) style manual pages in the /usr/share/man/cat?/*.* and /usr/share/man/man?/*.* files, and then reads the hypertext information bases and creates the /usr/share/man/whatis database.

Tip: If the base EN_US documentation fileset is installed on the system, set the ilocale to en_US to build a complete whatis database.

Examples

To update manual sections 1, 2, and 3 only, enter: 

catman 123

Files

Item Description
/usr/lbin/getNAME Contains the command to create the whatis database.
/usr/share/man Specifies the default manual directory location.
/usr/share/man/man?/*.* Contains the raw (the nroff command input) manual sections.
/usr/share/man/cat?/*.* Contains preformatted manual pages.
/usr/share/man/whatis Contains the whatis command database.
/usr/lbin/mkwhatis Contains the command script to make the whatis command database.