Groups | Search | Server Info | Keyboard shortcuts | Login | Register [http] [https] [nntp] [nntps]

Groups > comp.os.linux.misc > #77434 > unrolled thread

My 2 favorite tools for reading Linux manual pages the easy way

Back to article view | Back to comp.os.linux.misc

Contents

  My 2 favorite tools for reading Linux manual pages the easy way Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2025-11-12 23:20 +0000
    Re: My 2 favorite tools for reading Linux manual pages the easy way Nuno Silva <nunojsilva@invalid.invalid> - 2025-11-12 23:51 +0000
      Re: My 2 favorite tools for reading Linux manual pages the easy way Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2025-11-13 20:05 +0000
    Re: My 2 favorite tools for reading Linux manual pages the easy way Chris Ahlstrom <OFeem1987@teleworm.us> - 2025-11-13 08:29 -0500
      Re: My 2 favorite tools for reading Linux manual pages the easy way vallor <vallor@vallor.earth> - 2025-11-13 14:46 +0000
        Re: My 2 favorite tools for reading Linux manual pages the easy way Chris Ahlstrom <OFeem1987@teleworm.us> - 2025-11-13 11:35 -0500
    Re: My 2 favorite tools for reading Linux manual pages the easy way "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2025-11-13 14:56 +0100
      Re: My 2 favorite tools for reading Linux manual pages the easy way vallor <vallor@vallor.earth> - 2025-11-13 14:54 +0000
        Re: My 2 favorite tools for reading Linux manual pages the easy way "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2025-11-13 23:14 +0100
      Re: My 2 favorite tools for reading Linux manual pages the easy way Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2025-11-13 20:03 +0000
        Re: My 2 favorite tools for reading Linux manual pages the easy way vallor <vallor@vallor.earth> - 2025-11-13 20:12 +0000
          Re: My 2 favorite tools for reading Linux manual pages the easy way "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2025-11-13 22:23 +0100
            Re: My 2 favorite tools for reading Linux manual pages the easy way not@telling.you.invalid (Computer Nerd Kev) - 2025-11-15 07:25 +1000
              Re: My 2 favorite tools for reading Linux manual pages the easy way "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2025-11-14 22:58 +0100
                Re: My 2 favorite tools for reading Linux manual pages the easy way "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2025-11-15 00:00 +0100
                  Re: My 2 favorite tools for reading Linux manual pages the easy way Joerg Walther <joerg.walther@magenta.de> - 2025-11-15 09:50 +0100
                    Re: My 2 favorite tools for reading Linux manual pages the easy way Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2025-11-15 22:09 +0000
                      Re: My 2 favorite tools for reading Linux manual pages the easy way "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2025-11-16 00:00 +0100
                        Re: My 2 favorite tools for reading Linux manual pages the easy way Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2025-11-16 00:32 +0000
                          Re: My 2 favorite tools for reading Linux manual pages the easy way "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2025-11-16 03:01 +0100
                            Re: My 2 favorite tools for reading Linux manual pages the easy way Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2025-11-16 02:33 +0000
                              Re: My 2 favorite tools for reading Linux manual pages the easy way "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2025-11-16 23:09 +0100
                                Re: My 2 favorite tools for reading Linux manual pages the easy way Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2025-11-16 22:41 +0000
                        Re: My 2 favorite tools for reading Linux manual pages the easy way Joerg Walther <joerg.walther@magenta.de> - 2025-11-16 11:32 +0100
                    Re: My 2 favorite tools for reading Linux manual pages the easy way "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2025-11-16 00:26 +0100
                  fmpeg drift (1) "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2025-11-16 00:29 +0100
                    Re: fmpeg drift (1) Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2025-11-16 00:39 +0000
                      Re: fmpeg drift (1) "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2025-11-16 03:00 +0100
                        Re: fmpeg drift (1) Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2025-11-16 02:33 +0000
                          Re: fmpeg drift (1) "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2025-11-16 15:03 +0100
                            Re: fmpeg drift (1) Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2025-11-16 21:25 +0000
                              Re: fmpeg drift (1) "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2025-11-17 12:48 +0100
                                Re: fmpeg drift (1) Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2025-11-18 01:00 +0000
                                  Re: fmpeg drift (1) "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2025-11-18 07:22 +0100
                  fmpeg drift (2) "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2025-11-16 00:34 +0100
                    Re: fmpeg drift (2) "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2025-11-16 15:19 +0100
                      Re: fmpeg drift (2) - solved? "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2025-11-16 23:56 +0100
                        Re: fmpeg drift (2) - solved? Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2025-11-17 00:49 +0000
                          Re: fmpeg drift (2) - solved? "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2025-11-17 03:17 +0100
                            Re: fmpeg drift (2) - solved? Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2025-11-17 02:39 +0000
                    Re: fmpeg drift (2) Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2025-11-16 21:21 +0000
                Re: My 2 favorite tools for reading Linux manual pages the easy way Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2025-11-15 02:35 +0000
                  Re: My 2 favorite tools for reading Linux manual pages the easy way Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2025-11-15 02:37 +0000
              Re: My 2 favorite tools for reading Linux manual pages the easy way Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2025-11-15 02:33 +0000
                Re: My 2 favorite tools for reading Linux manual pages the easy way not@telling.you.invalid (Computer Nerd Kev) - 2025-11-16 07:31 +1000
                  Re: My 2 favorite tools for reading Linux manual pages the easy way Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2025-11-15 22:08 +0000
                    Re: My 2 favorite tools for reading Linux manual pages the easy way not@telling.you.invalid (Computer Nerd Kev) - 2025-11-17 07:00 +1000
    Re: My 2 favorite tools for reading Linux manual pages the easy way candycanearter07 <candycanearter07@candycanearter07.nomail.afraid> - 2025-11-13 18:50 +0000
      Re: My 2 favorite tools for reading Linux manual pages the easy way Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2025-11-13 20:12 +0000
        Re: My 2 favorite tools for reading Linux manual pages the easy way Nuno Silva <nunojsilva@invalid.invalid> - 2025-11-13 23:32 +0000

Page 1 of 3  [1] 2 3  Next page →

#77434 — My 2 favorite tools for reading Linux manual pages the easy way

For those who prefer a GUI approach to viewing man pages
<https://www.zdnet.com/article/my-2-favorite-tools-for-reading-linux-manual-pages-the-easy-way/>:
both GNOME and KDE offer help-centre apps that can display them.

Also, I long ago discovered that KDE Konqueror (the all-encompassing
web/file/whatnot browser) and its less-ambitious alternative Dolphin,
can both view man pages via “man://” URLs, and also GNU info pages via
“info://” URLs.

And, within one of these Linux groups -- I forget which one -- we
recently discussed how to put together a command line that will
display a nicely typeset PDF view of a man page. I tried looking for
an obvious equivalent to that for info pages, but couldn’t see one.

[toc] | [next] | [standalone]

#77437

On 2025-11-12, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:

> For those who prefer a GUI approach to viewing man pages
> <https://www.zdnet.com/article/my-2-favorite-tools-for-reading-linux-manual-pages-the-easy-way/>:
> both GNOME and KDE offer help-centre apps that can display them.
>
> Also, I long ago discovered that KDE Konqueror (the all-encompassing
> web/file/whatnot browser) and its less-ambitious alternative Dolphin,
> can both view man pages via “man://” URLs, and also GNU info pages via
> “info://” URLs.
>
> And, within one of these Linux groups -- I forget which one -- we
> recently discussed how to put together a command line that will
> display a nicely typeset PDF view of a man page. I tried looking for
> an obvious equivalent to that for info pages, but couldn’t see one.

comp.unix.shell, I think. (so actually a Unix group :-P)

news://news.blueworldhosting.com/10ee0ba$15hst$1@news.xmission.com

For info, from source there'd be at least texinfo generating PDFs (or
otherwise passing it through TeX). Can this be done with installed info
files too somehow?

-- 
Nuno Silva

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#77496

On 13 Nov 2025 11:01:55 GMT, Stefan Ram wrote:

> ... the subject reminds me of an article I read the other day that
> deals with the question of formatting manpages and stresses how
> important it is that they be easy to read (that there is a good
> manpage viewer):

It can be handy to test your man pages by viewing them in different ways 
-- i.e. not just in a regular text terminal, but also in typeset form.

This helps to make sure you are keeping your “-” vs “\-” straight, for 
example.

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#77476

Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote this post by blinking in Morse code:

> For those who prefer a GUI approach to viewing man pages
> <https://www.zdnet.com/article/my-2-favorite-tools-for-reading-linux-manual-pages-the-easy-way/>:
> both GNOME and KDE offer help-centre apps that can display them.
>
> Also, I long ago discovered that KDE Konqueror (the all-encompassing
> web/file/whatnot browser) and its less-ambitious alternative Dolphin,
> can both view man pages via “man://” URLs, and also GNU info pages via
> “info://” URLs.
>
> And, within one of these Linux groups -- I forget which one -- we
> recently discussed how to put together a command line that will
> display a nicely typeset PDF view of a man page. I tried looking for
> an obvious equivalent to that for info pages, but couldn’t see one.

I have a script (haven't used it in awhile):

#!/bin/bash
#
# Converts a man page to a nice PDF.  Print it using evince (for example).

PSTOPDF=$(which ps2pdf)
SWITCHES="-"

if [ $? == 1 ] ; then

   PSTOPDF=$(which pstopdf)
   SWITCHES="-i -o"

fi

if [ $? == 0 ] ; then

   if [ $# -eq 1 ] ; then

      NAME="$1"

#     man -t $NAME > $NAME.ps ; ps2pdf $NAME.ps $NAME.pdf ; rm $NAME.ps
      man -t "$NAME" | "$PSTOPDF" $SWITCHES "$NAME.pdf" 

   else
      echo "Incorrect number of parameters."
      echo
      echo "Usage:  man2pdf appname"
   fi

else
   echo "? This script requires pstopdf or ps2pdf to be installed."
   echo "  On Debian this is the 'ghostscript' package."
fi

-- 
The History of every major Galactic Civilization tends to pass through
three distinct and recognizable phases, those of Survival, Inquiry, and
Sophistication, otherwise known as the How, Why, and Where phases.  For
instance, the first phase is characterized by the question "How can we eat?"
the second by "Why do we eat?" and the third by "Where shall we have lunch?".
		-- Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#77479

At Thu, 13 Nov 2025 08:29:12 -0500, Chris Ahlstrom <OFeem1987@teleworm.us> wrote:

> Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote this post by blinking in Morse code:
> 
> > For those who prefer a GUI approach to viewing man pages
> > <https://www.zdnet.com/article/my-2-favorite-tools-for-reading-linux-manual-pages-the-easy-way/>:
> > both GNOME and KDE offer help-centre apps that can display them.
> >
> > Also, I long ago discovered that KDE Konqueror (the all-encompassing
> > web/file/whatnot browser) and its less-ambitious alternative Dolphin,
> > can both view man pages via “man://” URLs, and also GNU info pages via
> > “info://” URLs.
> >
> > And, within one of these Linux groups -- I forget which one -- we
> > recently discussed how to put together a command line that will
> > display a nicely typeset PDF view of a man page. I tried looking for
> > an obvious equivalent to that for info pages, but couldn’t see one.
> 
> I have a script (haven't used it in awhile):
> 
> #!/bin/bash
> #
> # Converts a man page to a nice PDF.  Print it using evince (for example).
> 
> PSTOPDF=$(which ps2pdf)
> SWITCHES="-"
> 
> if [ $? == 1 ] ; then
> 
>    PSTOPDF=$(which pstopdf)
>    SWITCHES="-i -o"
> 
> fi
> 
> if [ $? == 0 ] ; then
> 
>    if [ $# -eq 1 ] ; then
> 
>       NAME="$1"
> 
> #     man -t $NAME > $NAME.ps ; ps2pdf $NAME.ps $NAME.pdf ; rm $NAME.ps
>       man -t "$NAME" | "$PSTOPDF" $SWITCHES "$NAME.pdf" 
> 
>    else
>       echo "Incorrect number of parameters."
>       echo
>       echo "Usage:  man2pdf appname"
>    fi
> 
> else
>    echo "? This script requires pstopdf or ps2pdf to be installed."
>    echo "  On Debian this is the 'ghostscript' package."
> fi

What's wrong with the gropdf driver?

$ sudo apt install groff # ensuring you have the whole package
$ man -Tpdf man > man.pdf
$ evince man.pdf

(groff is awesome.  I'm using the "MOM" macro package to
typeset a book.)

-- 
-v ASUS TUF DASH F15 x86_64 NVIDIA RTX 3060 Mobile 6G
   OS: Linux 6.14.0-35-generic D: Mint 22.2 DE: Xfce 4.18 
   NVIDIA: 510.47.03 Mem: 15.9G
   "Farfignewton: a long way til the next cookie."

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#77484

vallor wrote this post by blinking in Morse code:

> At Thu, 13 Nov 2025 08:29:12 -0500, Chris Ahlstrom <OFeem1987@teleworm.us> wrote:
>
>> Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote this post by blinking in Morse code:
>> 
>> > For those who prefer a GUI approach to viewing man pages
>> > <https://www.zdnet.com/article/my-2-favorite-tools-for-reading-linux-manual-pages-the-easy-way/>:
>> > both GNOME and KDE offer help-centre apps that can display them.
>> >
>> > Also, I long ago discovered that KDE Konqueror (the all-encompassing
>> > web/file/whatnot browser) and its less-ambitious alternative Dolphin,
>> > can both view man pages via “man://” URLs, and also GNU info pages via
>> > “info://” URLs.
>> >
>> > And, within one of these Linux groups -- I forget which one -- we
>> > recently discussed how to put together a command line that will
>> > display a nicely typeset PDF view of a man page. I tried looking for
>> > an obvious equivalent to that for info pages, but couldn’t see one.
>> 
>> I have a script (haven't used it in awhile):
>> 
>> #!/bin/bash
>> #
>> # Converts a man page to a nice PDF.  Print it using evince (for example).
>> 
>> PSTOPDF=$(which ps2pdf)
>> SWITCHES="-"
>> 
>> if [ $? == 1 ] ; then
>> 
>>    PSTOPDF=$(which pstopdf)
>>    SWITCHES="-i -o"
>> 
>> fi
>> 
>> if [ $? == 0 ] ; then
>> 
>>    if [ $# -eq 1 ] ; then
>> 
>>       NAME="$1"
>> 
>> #     man -t $NAME > $NAME.ps ; ps2pdf $NAME.ps $NAME.pdf ; rm $NAME.ps
>>       man -t "$NAME" | "$PSTOPDF" $SWITCHES "$NAME.pdf" 
>> 
>>    else
>>       echo "Incorrect number of parameters."
>>       echo
>>       echo "Usage:  man2pdf appname"
>>    fi
>> 
>> else
>>    echo "? This script requires pstopdf or ps2pdf to be installed."
>>    echo "  On Debian this is the 'ghostscript' package."
>> fi
>
> What's wrong with the gropdf driver?

Nothing. I did not know about it at the time I wrote this script
(a forgotten number of years ago). 

> $ sudo apt install groff # ensuring you have the whole package
> $ man -Tpdf man > man.pdf
> $ evince man.pdf
>
> (groff is awesome.  I'm using the "MOM" macro package to
> typeset a book.)

I embarrass mine:

-- 
If parents would only realize how they bore their children.
		-- G. B. Shaw

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#77478

On 2025-11-13 00:20, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:
> And, within one of these Linux groups -- I forget which one -- we
> recently discussed how to put together a command line that will
> display a nicely typeset PDF view of a man page. I tried looking for
> an obvious equivalent to that for info pages, but couldn’t see one.

What's the advantage of reading man pages as PDFs?

There are no font niceties, no pictures, no hyperlinks.

-- 
Cheers, Carlos.
ES🇪🇸, EU🇪🇺;

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#77480

At Thu, 13 Nov 2025 14:56:12 +0100, "Carlos E.R."
<robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:

> On 2025-11-13 00:20, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:
> > And, within one of these Linux groups -- I forget which one -- we
> > recently discussed how to put together a command line that will
> > display a nicely typeset PDF view of a man page. I tried looking for
> > an obvious equivalent to that for info pages, but couldn’t see one.
>
> What's the advantage of reading man pages as PDFs?
>
> There are no font niceties, no pictures, no hyperlinks.

Rather than having colorful terminal output, you get *bold*
and /italic/ fonts.

-- 
-v ASUS TUF DASH F15 x86_64 NVIDIA RTX 3060 Mobile 6G
   OS: Linux 6.14.0-35-generic D: Mint 22.2 DE: Xfce 4.18 
   NVIDIA: 510.47.03 Mem: 15.9G
   "Any given program will expand to fill available memory."

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#77502

On 2025-11-13 15:54, vallor wrote:
> At Thu, 13 Nov 2025 14:56:12 +0100, "Carlos E.R."
> <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
> 
>> On 2025-11-13 00:20, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:
>>> And, within one of these Linux groups -- I forget which one -- we
>>> recently discussed how to put together a command line that will
>>> display a nicely typeset PDF view of a man page. I tried looking for
>>> an obvious equivalent to that for info pages, but couldn’t see one.
>>
>> What's the advantage of reading man pages as PDFs?
>>
>> There are no font niceties, no pictures, no hyperlinks.
> 
> Rather than having colorful terminal output, you get *bold*
> and /italic/ fonts.

Terminals can do bold and italic.


I can suggest to try "pinfo" for reading both man pages and info pages 
in the terminal. It creates hotlinks in man pages to other man pages in 
the text, and uses limited colour.

-- 
Cheers, Carlos.
ES🇪🇸, EU🇪🇺;

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#77495

On Thu, 13 Nov 2025 14:56:12 +0100, Carlos E.R. wrote:

> What's the advantage of reading man pages as PDFs?
> 
> There are no font niceties, no pictures, no hyperlinks.

You don’t realize that man pages are written in a full-quality typesetting 
markup language?

Here’s the example I posted in that other discussion:

    gunzip -c $(man -w bash) | groff -ktman -Tpdf | okular - &

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#77498

At Thu, 13 Nov 2025 20:03:24 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

> On Thu, 13 Nov 2025 14:56:12 +0100, Carlos E.R. wrote:
> 
> > What's the advantage of reading man pages as PDFs?
> > 
> > There are no font niceties, no pictures, no hyperlinks.
> 
> You don’t realize that man pages are written in a full-quality typesetting 
> markup language?
> 
> Here’s the example I posted in that other discussion:
> 
>     gunzip -c $(man -w bash) | groff -ktman -Tpdf | okular - &

This works too, assuming you have the full groff package
installed:

man -Tpdf bash | okular - &

BTW, both commands yield a pdf with an index to the sections
thoughtfully placed on the left.

-- 
-v System76 Thelio Mega v1.1 x86_64 NVIDIA RTX 3090Ti 24G
   OS: Linux 6.18.0-rc5 D: Mint 22.2 DE: Xfce 4.18 
   NVIDIA: 580.105.08 Mem: 258G
   "Reality is an obstacle to hallucination."

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#77500

On 2025-11-13 21:12, vallor wrote:
> At Thu, 13 Nov 2025 20:03:24 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
> 
>> On Thu, 13 Nov 2025 14:56:12 +0100, Carlos E.R. wrote:
>>
>>> What's the advantage of reading man pages as PDFs?
>>>
>>> There are no font niceties, no pictures, no hyperlinks.
>>
>> You don’t realize that man pages are written in a full-quality typesetting
>> markup language?
>>
>> Here’s the example I posted in that other discussion:
>>
>>      gunzip -c $(man -w bash) | groff -ktman -Tpdf | okular - &
> 
> This works too, assuming you have the full groff package
> installed:
> 
> man -Tpdf bash | okular - &
> 
> BTW, both commands yield a pdf with an index to the sections
> thoughtfully placed on the left.

I get thumbnails, but not an index.

Both methods work in my machine. Yes, I see the bash man page with some 
bold strings. What I don't get is links. For instance, in the text:

«Execute commands from file instead of the standard personal 
initialization file  ̃/.bashrc if the shell is interactive (see 
INVOCATION below).»

I would expect in a good help system in the XXI century that clicking on 
"INVOCATION" would automatically go there.


However, if I type "pinfo bash" I get the info page instead, which has 
some colour, and most importantly, an index and hot links.


-- 
Cheers, Carlos.
ES🇪🇸, EU🇪🇺;

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#77553

Carlos E.R. <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
> Both methods work in my machine. Yes, I see the bash man page with some 
> bold strings. What I don't get is links. For instance, in the text:
> 
> <<Execute commands from file instead of the standard personal 
> initialization file  ?/.bashrc if the shell is interactive (see 
> INVOCATION below).>>
> 
> I would expect in a good help system in the XXI century that clicking on 
> "INVOCATION" would automatically go there.
> 
> 
> However, if I type "pinfo bash" I get the info page instead, which has 
> some colour, and most importantly, an index and hot links.

I misread this and thought it indexed man pages, but I see it
doesn't do that so it's only better if the program has docs in info
format.

But really more often than headings I'd like an index of specific
command-line argument. Typing the regex "^[[:blank:]]*-t " just to
find the doc for the -t argument in Ffmpeg's man page, for example,
without getting all other uses of "-t" in the text, is a bit of a
mouthful. Pressing a key and getting an index of arguments to
browse through would be ideal.

-- 
__          __
#_ < |\| |< _#

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#77556

On 2025-11-14 22:25, Computer Nerd Kev wrote:
> Carlos E.R. <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
>> Both methods work in my machine. Yes, I see the bash man page with some
>> bold strings. What I don't get is links. For instance, in the text:
>>
>> <<Execute commands from file instead of the standard personal
>> initialization file  ?/.bashrc if the shell is interactive (see
>> INVOCATION below).>>
>>
>> I would expect in a good help system in the XXI century that clicking on
>> "INVOCATION" would automatically go there.
>>
>>
>> However, if I type "pinfo bash" I get the info page instead, which has
>> some colour, and most importantly, an index and hot links.
> 
> I misread this and thought it indexed man pages, but I see it
> doesn't do that so it's only better if the program has docs in info
> format.
> 
> But really more often than headings I'd like an index of specific
> command-line argument. Typing the regex "^[[:blank:]]*-t " just to
> find the doc for the -t argument in Ffmpeg's man page, for example,
> without getting all other uses of "-t" in the text, is a bit of a
> mouthful. Pressing a key and getting an index of arguments to
> browse through would be ideal.

The ffmpeg man page is the perfect example of why man pages are horrible 
as documentation of a program.

-- 
Cheers, Carlos.
ES🇪🇸, EU🇪🇺;

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#77559

On 2025-11-14 23:12, Stefan Ram wrote:
> "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote or quoted:
>> The ffmpeg man page is the perfect example of why man pages are horrible
>> as documentation of a program.
> 
>    Ffmpeg is just huge and super complex, like an operating system
>    or a programming language. Many options would need their own man
>    page. A good ffmpeg tutorial would have, like, 1000 pages. Who's
>    gonne write it? How does this person make up for his costs? And
>    who's going to update it when the next version of ffmpeg comes out?
> 
>    But when you want to do something specific with ffmpeg, either a
>    web search engine or an AI chatbot will often help you . . .

The same size of man page, organized, with indexes and links, would be 
much better than the current thing. A contents section, too. In info 
format should be easy to do.

Yes, I tried chatgpt to do a video conversion. I have no sound in the 
converted file, and we tried several concoctions. The mail list did not 
help, either. They get angry at people, too.

-- 
Cheers, Carlos.
ES🇪🇸, EU🇪🇺;

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#77571

Carlos E.R. wrote:

>Yes, I tried chatgpt to do a video conversion. I have no sound in the 
>converted file, and we tried several concoctions. 

I did a similar thing - extract subtitles from a video file, translate
them into English and put them back into the file. I got it working in
the 4th attempt. It is important to tell ChatpGPT exactly what kind of
video file you are trying to convert, which probably includes some codec
analysis on the command line, and in which track of the file the sound
can be found. The latter info is probably what ChatGPT was missing. 

OTOH: For simple video conversion you could always use Handbrake. :)

-jw-
-- 
And now for something completely different...

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#77592

On Sat, 15 Nov 2025 09:50:18 +0100, Joerg Walther wrote:

> OTOH: For simple video conversion you could always use Handbrake. :)

I thought Handbrake would just be a GUI frontend onto the ffmpeg command. 
But it appears it has forked its own copy of the FFmpeg libraries.

Somehow I don’t think that’s wise ...

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#77597

On 2025-11-15 23:09, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:
> On Sat, 15 Nov 2025 09:50:18 +0100, Joerg Walther wrote:
> 
>> OTOH: For simple video conversion you could always use Handbrake. :)
> 
> I thought Handbrake would just be a GUI frontend onto the ffmpeg command.
> But it appears it has forked its own copy of the FFmpeg libraries.
> 
> Somehow I don’t think that’s wise ...

It ensures a stable API, that would be my guess. It is very difficult to 
create a GUI for ffmpeg if they are constantly changing the syntax

-- 
Cheers, Carlos.
ES🇪🇸, EU🇪🇺;

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#77603

On Sun, 16 Nov 2025 00:00:50 +0100, Carlos E.R. wrote:

> On 2025-11-15 23:09, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:
>>
>> On Sat, 15 Nov 2025 09:50:18 +0100, Joerg Walther wrote:
>> 
>>> OTOH: For simple video conversion you could always use Handbrake. :)
>> 
>> I thought Handbrake would just be a GUI frontend onto the ffmpeg
>> command. But it appears it has forked its own copy of the FFmpeg
>> libraries.
>> 
>> Somehow I don’t think that’s wise ...
> 
> It ensures a stable API, that would be my guess. It is very
> difficult to create a GUI for ffmpeg if they are constantly changing
> the syntax

FFmpeg command syntax hasn’t changed that much in, say, the last 5-10 
years.

I wrote a Python script for a client that uses ffprobe to extract 
telemetry streams from video files created on GoPro cameras. ffprobe 
identifies the location of each packet and its associated PTS, and my code 
does the actual extraction and decoding of the data. Nice and simple, 
without having to build against any special libraries.

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#77609

On 2025-11-16 01:32, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:
> On Sun, 16 Nov 2025 00:00:50 +0100, Carlos E.R. wrote:
> 
>> On 2025-11-15 23:09, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:
>>>
>>> On Sat, 15 Nov 2025 09:50:18 +0100, Joerg Walther wrote:
>>>
>>>> OTOH: For simple video conversion you could always use Handbrake. :)
>>>
>>> I thought Handbrake would just be a GUI frontend onto the ffmpeg
>>> command. But it appears it has forked its own copy of the FFmpeg
>>> libraries.
>>>
>>> Somehow I don’t think that’s wise ...
>>
>> It ensures a stable API, that would be my guess. It is very
>> difficult to create a GUI for ffmpeg if they are constantly changing
>> the syntax
> 
> FFmpeg command syntax hasn’t changed that much in, say, the last 5-10
> years.

I have scripts to convert files that stopped working with some ffmpeg 
update.

> 
> I wrote a Python script for a client that uses ffprobe to extract
> telemetry streams from video files created on GoPro cameras. ffprobe
> identifies the location of each packet and its associated PTS, and my code
> does the actual extraction and decoding of the data. Nice and simple,
> without having to build against any special libraries.


-- 
Cheers, Carlos.
ES🇪🇸, EU🇪🇺;

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

Page 1 of 3  [1] 2 3  Next page →

Back to top | Article view | comp.os.linux.misc

csiph-web