MAN.CONF(5)						      BSD File Formats Manual						       MAN.CONF(5)

NAME

     man.conf -- configuration file for manual pages

DESCRIPTION

     The man.conf file contains the default configuration used by man(1), apropos(1), whatis(1), catman(8), and makewhatis(8) to find manual pages
     and information about manual pages (e.g. the whatis database).

     Manual pages are located by searching an ordered set of directories called the ``man path'' for a file that matches the name of the requested
     page.  Each directory in the search path usually has a set of subdirectories in it (though this is not required).	When subdirectories are
     used, there are normally two subdirectories for each section of the manual.  One subdirectory contains formatted copies of that section's
     manual pages that can be directly displayed to a terminal, while the other section subdirectory contains unformatted copies of the pages (see
     nroff(1) and mdoc(7)).  Formatted manual pages are normally named with a trailing ``.0'' suffix.

     The man.conf file contains comment and configuration lines.  Comment lines start with the ``#'' character.  Blank lines are also treated as
     comment lines.  Configuration lines consist of a configuration keyword followed by a configuration string.  There are two types of configura-
     tion keywords: control keywords and section keywords.  Control keywords must start with the ``_'' character.  The following control keywords
     are currently defined:

     _build    identifies the set of suffixes used for manual pages that must be formatted for display and the command that should be used to for-
	       mat them.  Manual file names, regardless of their format, are expected to end in a ``.*'' pattern, i.e. a ``.'' followed by some
	       suffix.	The first field of a _build line contains a man page suffix specification.  The suffix specification may contain the nor-
	       mal shell globbing characters (NOT including curly braces (``{}'')).  The rest of the _build line is a shell command line whose
	       standard output is a formatted manual page that can be directly displayed to the user.  There should be exactly one occurrence of
	       the string ``%s'' in the shell command line, and it will be replaced by the name of the file which is being formatted.

     _crunch   used by catman(8) to determine how to crunch formatted pages which originally were compressed man pages: The first field lists a
	       suffix which indicates what kind of compression were used to compress the man page.  The rest of the line must be a shell command
	       line, used to compress the formatted pages.  There should be exactly one occurrence of the string ``%s'' in the shell command line,
	       and it will be replaced by the name of the output file.

     _default  contains the system-wide default man path used to search for man pages.

     _subdir   contains the list (in search order) of section subdirectories which will be searched in any man path directory named with a trail-
	       ing slash (``/'') character.  This list is also used, even if there is no trailing slash character, when a path is specified to the
	       man(1) utility by the user, by the MANPATH environment variable, or by the -M and -m options.

     _suffix   identifies the set of suffixes used for formatted man pages (the ``.0'' suffix is normally used here).  Formatted man pages can be
	       directly displayed to the user.	Each suffix may contain the normal shell globbing characters (NOT including curly braces
	       (``{}'')).

     _version  contains the version of the configuration file.

     _whatdb   defines the full pathname (not just a directory path) for a database to be used by the apropos(1) and whatis(1) commands.  The
	       pathname may contain the normal shell globbing characters, including curly braces (``{}''); to escape a shell globbing character,
	       precede it with a backslash (``'').

     Section configuration lines in man.conf consist of a section keyword naming the section and a configuration string that defines the directory
     or subdirectory path that the section's manual pages are located in.  The path may contain the normal shell globbing characters, including
     curly braces (``{}''); to escape a shell globbing character, precede it with a backslash (``'').	Section keywords must not start with the
     ``_'' character.

     A section path may contain either a list of absolute directories or a list of or relative directories (but not both).  Relative directory
     paths are treated as a list of subdirectories that are appended to the current man path directory being searched.	Section configuration
     lines with absolute directory paths (starting with ``/'') completely replace the current man search path directory with their content.

     Section configuration lines with absolute directory paths ending with a trailing slash character are expected to contain subdirectories of
     manual pages, (see the keyword ``_subdir'' above).  The ``_subdir'' subdirectory list is not applied to absolute section directories if there
     is no trailing slash.

     In addition to the above rules, the man(1) command also always checks in each directory that it searches for a subdirectory with the same
     name as the current machine type.	If the machine-specific directory is found, it is also searched.  This allows the manual to contain
     machine-specific man pages.  Note that the machine subdirectory does not need to be specified in the man.conf file.

     Multiple specifications for all types of man.conf configuration lines are cumulative and the entries are used in the order listed in the
     file; multiple entries may be listed per line, as well.

FILES

     /etc/man.conf  Standard manual configuration file.

EXAMPLES

     Given the following man.conf file:

	   _version	   BSD.2
	   _subdir	   cat[123]
	   _suffix	   .0
	   _build	   .[1-9]  nroff -man %s
	   _build	   .tbl    tbl %s | nroff -man
	   _default	   /usr/share/man/
	   sect3	   /usr/share/man/{old/,}cat3

     By default, the command ``man mktemp'' will search for ``mktemp.<any_digit>'' and ``mktemp.tbl'' in the directories ``/usr/share/man/cat1'',
     ``/usr/share/man/cat2'', and ``/usr/share/man/cat3''.  If on a machine of type ``vax'', the subdirectory ``vax'' in each directory would be
     searched as well, before the directory was searched.

     If ``mktemp.tbl'' was found first, the command ``tbl <manual page> | nroff -man'' would be run to build a man page for display to the user.

     The command ``man sect3 mktemp'' would search the directories ``/usr/share/man/old/cat3'' and ``/usr/share/man/cat3'', in that order, for the
     mktemp manual page.  If a subdirectory with the same name as the current machine type existed in any of them, it would be searched as well,
     before each of them were searched.

SEE ALSO

     apropos(1), machine(1), man(1), whatis(1), whereis(1), fnmatch(3), glob(3), catman(8), makewhatis(8)

BSD
								 December 27, 2011							       BSD