[comp.unix.aix] info and man pages

paul@wolf.ccs.uky.edu (Paul Linton) (04/08/91)

A while ago I thought I saved a posting describing the technique for
extracting the man pages from info and placing them in the /usr/man/*
directories.  I've searched all over and cannot find the posting.

Could someone please confirm or deny the ability to do this.  I've
asked the IBM reps and they claim it can't be done.

Please email if you can help!

thanks

pjl

hudgens@sun13.scri.fsu.edu (Jim Hudgens) (04/08/91)

In article <1991Apr8.011454.6181@ms.uky.edu> paul@wolf.ccs.uky.edu (Paul Linton) writes:
>A while ago I thought I saved a posting describing the technique for
>extracting the man pages from info and placing them in the /usr/man/*
>directories.  I've searched all over and cannot find the posting.
>

Semi-related question.  The ascii form of the man page and many info
documents in general (either printed from under info, or viewed using
man) leaves alot to be desired in terms of formatting, etc.
When viewed under info -g, the boxes drawn around certain strings 
(such as flags, etc) tends to highlight them, so that they
stand out.  I find it somewhat more difficult to read 
the straight ascii forms, in comparison to other UNIX's 
man pages or customer printed documentation.  Is there
any way to get the fonts/boldface/etc you would if you were doing 
something like:   
    troff -man .... | lpr -t 
on a Sun, SGI, or a Ultrix box?

Thanks.
JHH
-- 

Jim Hudgens		Supercomputer Computations Research Institute
hudgens@sun13.scri.fsu.edu

sma@devcom.com (Steve Adams) (04/08/91)

In article <1991Apr8.011454.6181@ms.uky.edu> paul@wolf.ccs.uky.edu (Paul Linton) writes:
>A while ago I thought I saved a posting describing the technique for
>extracting the man pages from info and placing them in the /usr/man/*
>directories.  I've searched all over and cannot find the posting.
>
>Could someone please confirm or deny the ability to do this.  I've
>asked the IBM reps and they claim it can't be done.
>
>Please email if you can help!
Since it of general interest, I'm posting it.  This came from a document
from IBM entitled _AIXv3.1 for BSD System Administrators_, dated Sept. '90.

If you run 'catman.sh' with no args, it generates secetion 1.   If you want
to generate other sections, create a directory in /tmp that has the names 
of the commands/calls you want documented.  For example, here's what I 
did to generate section 2 :

$ mkdir /tmp/syscalls
$ cd /tmp/syscalls
$ touch `egrep ' [a-z]' /lib/syscalls.exp | awk ' { print $1 } ' | tr ''' 12'`

This was an example in the document. 

                                                         -Steve
--------------------------------^^^^CUT Here^^^^^----------------------------
#!/bin/bsh
#
# usage catman.sh "path" section
#     store AIXv3.1 man pages as flat text in /usr/man/cat directories
#
PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:
NAMEPATH="/bin /usr/bin /usr/ucb"
SECTION="1"

if [ -n "$1" ]
then
     NAMEPATH="$1"
fi
if [ -n "$2" ]
then
     SECTION="$2"
fi

for p in ${NAMEPATH}
do
     for name in `ls "${p}"`
     do
          if [ -x "${p}/${name}" ]
          then
               if ( man "${SECTION}" "${name}" > /usr/tmp/"${name}")
               then
                    mv /usr/tmp/"${name}" /usr/man/cat"${SECTION}"/"${name}"."${SECTION}"
               fi
          fi
     done
done

-- 
  "First we're going to cut it off,    |   Steve Adams - sma@devcom.com -or-  
  then we're going to kill it."        |                 uunet!devcom!sma     
                   Gen. Colin Powell   |   voice : 708/574-3600               

woan@nowhere (Ronald S Woan) (04/09/91)

In article <1991Apr8.011454.6181@ms.uky.edu> paul@wolf.ccs.uky.edu (Paul Linton) writes:
>A while ago I thought I saved a posting describing the technique for
>extracting the man pages from info and placing them in the /usr/man/*
>directories.  I've searched all over and cannot find the posting.

check out the bsdadm document in /usr/lpp/bos...


--
+-----All Views Expressed Are My Own And Are Not Necessarily Shared By------+
+------------------------------My Employer----------------------------------+
+ Ronald S. Woan                woan@cactus.org or woan@austin.vnet.ibm.com +
+ other email addresses             Prodigy: XTCR74A Compuserve: 73530,2537 +

david@ibmpa.awdpa.ibm.com (David Berkowitz) (04/13/91)

In article <1991Apr8.011454.6181@ms.uky.edu>, paul@wolf.ccs.uky.edu
(Paul Linton) writes:
|> A while ago I thought I saved a posting describing the technique for
|> extracting the man pages from info and placing them in the
|> /usr/man/*
|> directories.  I've searched all over and cannot find the posting.
|> 
|> Could someone please confirm or deny the ability to do this.  I've
|> asked the IBM reps and they claim it can't be done.

It really can't. It wouldn't be hard (for things like the command refrence
pages) but it just isn't there now.

If there is sufficient demand for this, IBM should think about offering this
to customers. I would recommend getting in touch with your IBM rep and letting
him/her know you would like this.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
David Berkowitz  uunet!ibmsupt!david  (415) 855-4485 | 
                                                     | Take off your shoes.
IBM Personal Systems Programming, Palo Alto          | for industry!
This does not represent an official IBM position.    | 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

jsalter@ibmpa.awdpa.ibm.com (04/13/91)

>In article <1991Apr8.011454.6181@ms.uky.edu>, paul@wolf.ccs.uky.edu
>(Paul Linton) writes:
>|> A while ago I thought I saved a posting describing the technique for
>|> extracting the man pages from info and placing them in the
>|> /usr/man/*
>|> directories.  I've searched all over and cannot find the posting.

Use the method described in the file /usr/lpp/bos/bsdadm for creating
/usr/man/man?/* files.

jim/jsalter  IBM PSP, Palo Alto  T465/(415)855-4427  VNET: JSALTER at AUSVMQ
Internet: jsalter@slo.awdpa.ibm.com         UUCP: ..!uunet!ibmsupt!jsalter 
"IBM part #23521, aka Lt. Commander Data"    The stuff above is on my own.

woan@nowhere (Ronald S Woan) (04/13/91)

In article <1991Apr12.162022@ibmpa.awdpa.ibm.com> david@ibmpa.awdpa.ibm.com (David Berkowitz) writes:
>In article <1991Apr8.011454.6181@ms.uky.edu>, paul@wolf.ccs.uky.edu
>(Paul Linton) writes:
>|> A while ago I thought I saved a posting describing the technique for
>|> extracting the man pages from info and placing them in the
>|> /usr/man/*
>|> directories.  I've searched all over and cannot find the posting.
>|> 
>|> Could someone please confirm or deny the ability to do this.  I've
>|> asked the IBM reps and they claim it can't be done.
>
>It really can't. It wouldn't be hard (for things like the command refrence
>pages) but it just isn't there now.

As Jim Salter and I pointed out in earlier responses, a method is
documented/outlines in the /usr/lpp/bos/bosadm document. Remember, as
IBM employees that just happen to be on the net, we are all speaking
for ourselves (rather than for the company, i.e. we are not official
support) and are prone to error.
--
+-----All Views Expressed Are My Own And Are Not Necessarily Shared By------+
+------------------------------My Employer----------------------------------+
+ Ronald S. Woan                woan@cactus.org or woan@austin.vnet.ibm.com +
+ other email addresses             Prodigy: XTCR74A Compuserve: 73530,2537 +