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


Groups > comp.unix.programmer > #703

Re: How to write a UNIX man page

From Tim Watts <tw@dionic.net>
Newsgroups comp.unix.programmer
Subject Re: How to write a UNIX man page
Followup-To comp.unix.programmer
Date 2011-06-02 12:47 +0100
Organization A noiseless patient Spider
Message-ID <5s9kb8-pee.ln1@squidward.dionic.net> (permalink)
References <97dc4380-6f30-4f16-b3c6-10a7492c1093@e21g2000vbz.googlegroups.com>

Followups directed to: comp.unix.programmer

Show all headers | View raw


Mark R. Bannister wrote:

> I realise that with GNU 'info' a lot of developers become, dare I say
> it, quite lazy when it comes to providing a well written man page -
> and some argue they're not needed at all. But I find, in the products
> that I develop, that man pages are used more often for quick
> reference, and therefore the quality and usability of a product can be
> improved by providing well written man pages.
> 
> To that end, and because I've been writing man pages myself for over
> 10 years, I've decided to provide some notes for beginners on how to
> write your own man page. I hope this article is of help to the wider
> developer community:
> 
> http://technicalprose.blogspot.com/2011/06/how-to-write-unix-man-page.html
> 
> Best regards,
> Mark.

Well done. I thought "info" was dead - I don't know of anyone who doesn't 
use "man" for local documentation.

Personally, desite man's lack of hyperlinking[1] I find "info" confusing and 
unintuitive so I couldn't be bothered.

[1] DEC's VMS HELP command was a decent implementation of how to do this 
properly and nothing text based has surpassed it IMO.

-- 
Tim Watts

Back to comp.unix.programmer | Previous | Next — Previous in thread | Next in thread | Find similar | Unroll thread


Thread

How to write a UNIX man page "Mark R. Bannister" <chapter34@yahoo.com> - 2011-06-02 00:51 -0700
  Re: How to write a UNIX man page JohnT <john@example.com> - 2011-06-02 08:11 +0000
    Re: How to write a UNIX man page Michael Press <rubrum@pacbell.net> - 2011-06-04 12:53 -0700
  Re: How to write a UNIX man page Tim Watts <tw@dionic.net> - 2011-06-02 12:47 +0100
    Re: How to write a UNIX man page Bjarni Juliusson <bjarni@update.uu.se> - 2011-06-04 20:42 +0200
      Re: How to write a UNIX man page "Ersek, Laszlo" <lacos@caesar.elte.hu> - 2011-06-05 08:45 +0200
  Re: How to write a UNIX man page Ben Finney <ben+unix@benfinney.id.au> - 2011-06-02 22:41 +1000
  Re: How to write a UNIX man page Marco Parrone <marco@marcoparrone.com> - 2011-06-02 15:34 +0200
  Re: How to write a UNIX man page Mark Hobley <markhobley@yahoo.donottypethisbit.co> - 2011-06-02 18:02 +0000
  Re: How to write a UNIX man page Wayne <nospam@all.invalid> - 2011-06-02 23:32 -0400
    Re: How to write a UNIX man page scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2011-06-03 15:56 +0000

csiph-web