www.delorie.com/djgpp/v2faq/faq028.html | search |
| Previous | Next | Up | Top |
DJGPP binary *b.zip distributions include such man pages already formatted and ready to be browsed. To browse formatted man pages, you will need to install a clone for the Unix man command. One such clone is available from the DJGPP sites.
man knows how to find a manual page file, and will format it if it isn't formatted already, but to browse these files you will need a program that can page through a text file and which understands how to show bold and underlined letters instead of backspace-over-typed characters. I suggest to download the DJGPP port of GNU Less, which uses colors to show bold and underlined letters.
Having installed man and Less, you should be able to view *.1 files like e.g. patch.1 with several alternative tools:
Using Info to display man pages has an advantage of displaying the Info version of documentation if it is available, and the man page version if it's not. So, by using Info, you don't need to bother to remember which version of the docs is available for every topic. Info also knows about special sections in man pages, such as "SEE ALSO", which refer to other man pages, and treats them as hypertext links (i.e., you can press <TAB> to move between the references and press <Enter> to display the man page under cursor).
The binary distribution of the DJGPP port of bash includes a simple SED script called man2txt.sh which will convert formatted man pages into plain text; you can then read them with any text browser or editor. To convert, invoke Sed like so:
sed -f man2txt.sh < file.1 > file.txtIf you want to be able to browse unformatted man pages, get and install the DJGPP port of Groff. man will automatically call Groff if it finds an unformatted page, so all the ways mentioned above to browse man pages will work with unformatted pages as well, once you install Groff.
Note that, for GNU packages, the man pages aren't always updated on a regular basis. If you need more up-to-date information, see the Info files.
webmaster donations bookstore | delorie software privacy |
Copyright ⌐ 1998 by Eli Zaretskii | Updated Sep 1998 |
You can help support this site by visiting the advertisers that sponsor it! (only once each, though)