Man page: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 11:31, 26 January 2016

A standard for presenting software documentation in, the man format is a simple ASCII type text file that feature a few control codes alongside formatting conventions that help organise and display the documentation. This form of documentation is commonly used in the UNIX world and often shows up with software packages ported from one of those OS's.

Man pages can be viewed with any text editor but a special viewer makes them slightly easier to traverse.

Tools

OS/2 text & programmers editors with man file support

Elvis - Man file syntax support included by default - Open source - Current

OS/2 text formatter

awf - nroff-like for old ms-sh
Cawf] - nroff-like text formatter
lout - multi-lingual document formatting system
GNU Groff - man page formatter

OS/2 utilities for viewing man pages

DrMan 1.3 - PM viewer that allos you to view UNIX style man and info files.
Simple Man - Viewer
GNU man - Viewer - Outdated
Man 1.1 - Viewer
xman - X11 based viewer included in XFree86/2

OS/2 utilities for converting man pages

Man2TXT - Man to txt converter
Help2man - Converts text to man format, used to convert a programs output to man pages or to create dummy man pages.

DOS text & programmers editors with man file support

Elvis - Man file syntax support included by default - Open source - Current

The above is not an exhaustive list BTW.

Links

History of UNIX man pages
Unix Programmer's Manual (1971-11-03) 1st Edition

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 Man pages can be viewed with any text editor but a special viewer makes them slightly easier to traverse.
-====OS/2 text & programmers editors with man file support====
+==Tools==
+===OS/2 text & programmers editors with man file support===
 * [[Elvis]] - Man file syntax support included by default - Open source - Current
-====DOS text & programmers editors with man file support====
+===OS/2 text formatter===
-* [[Elvis]] - Man file syntax support included by default - Open source - Current
+* [http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/apps/wp/awf.zip awf] - nroff-like for old ms-sh
-==Links==
+* [http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/apps/wp/cawf410.zip Cawf]] - nroff-like text formatter
-* [http://manpages.bsd.lv/history.html History of UNIX man pages]
+* [http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/apps/wp/lout336.zip lout] - multi-lingual document formatting system
+* [http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/apps/wp/groff-1.21_os2.zip GNU Groff] - man page formatter
-====Native OS/2 utilities for viewing or converting man pages:====
+===OS/2 utilities for viewing man pages===
 * [http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/apps/wp/drman-1.3.zip DrMan 1.3] - PM viewer that allos you to view [[UNIX]] style man and info files.
 * [http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/apps/misc/simpleman.zip Simple Man] - Viewer
+* [http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/dev/help/gnuman.zip GNU man] - Viewer - Outdated
 * [http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/dev/help/man11.zip Man 1.1] - Viewer
+* xman - X11 based viewer included in [[XFree86/2]]
+===OS/2 utilities for converting man pages===
 * [http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/dev/help/man2txt.zip Man2TXT] - Man to [[txt]] converter
-* [http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/dev/help/gnuman.zip GNU man] - Viewer - Outdated
 * [http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/dev/util/help2man-1_28.zip Help2man] - Converts text to man format, used to convert a programs output to man pages or to create dummy man pages.
+===DOS text & programmers editors with man file support===
+* [[Elvis]] - Man file syntax support included by default - Open source - Current
 The above is not an exhaustive list BTW.
+==Links==
+* [http://manpages.bsd.lv/history.html History of UNIX man pages]
+* [https://www.bell-labs.com/usr/dmr/www/1stEdman.html Unix Programmer's Manual] (1971-11-03) 1st Edition
 [[Category:File formats]]