Re: apropos: warning: can't read the fallback whatis text database.
On Fri, 6 Dec 1996, Fabrizio Polacco wrote:
> On debian-user-digest "Heiko R. Selber" wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> > when looking for manpages with apropos I always get an error message and
> > the wildcard search fails for X related (and some other) man pages.
> > apropos: warning: can't read the fallback whatis text database.
> > apropos: /usr/X11/man/whatis: No such file or directory
> >
> > How do I create the fallback whatis database? Do I need it?
>
> It should be created automatically.
> Go superuser and try mandb -c
I did it. It said:
rudi:~# mandb -c
Processing manual pages under /usr/man...
mandb: warning: /usr/man/man8/in.smtpd.8: whatis parse for in.smtpd(8) failed
mandb: warning: /usr/man/man8/mailq.8: whatis parse for mailq(8) failed
mandb: warning: /usr/man/man8/sendmail.8: whatis parse for sendmail(8) failed
mandb: warning: /usr/man/man8/runq.8: whatis parse for runq(8) failed
mandb: warning: /usr/man/man8/rmail.8: whatis parse for rmail(8) failed
mandb: warning: /usr/man/man8/rsmtp.8: whatis parse for rsmtp(8) failed
mandb: warning: /usr/man/man8/install-fmt-base.8*: competing extensions
mandb: warning: /usr/man/man1/uupath.1: whatis parse for uupath(1) failed
mandb: warning: /usr/man/man1/dc.1: whatis parse for dc(1) failed
mandb: warning: /usr/man/man1/color-ls.1: whatis parse for color-ls(1) failed
mandb: warning: /usr/man/man1/libgpm.so.1: whatis parse for libgpm.so(1) failed
mandb: warning: /usr/man/man3/man.tmp: ignoring bogus filename
mandb: warning: /usr/man/man2/ioctl_list.2: whatis parse for ioctl_list(2) failed
Checking for stray cats under /usr/man...
Checking for stray cats under /var/catman...
Processing manual pages under /usr/local/man...
Checking for stray cats under /usr/local/man...
Checking for stray cats under /var/catman/local...
Processing manual pages under /usr/X11R6/man...
Checking for stray cats under /usr/X11R6/man...
Checking for stray cats under /var/catman/X11R6...
21 man subdirectories contained newer manual pages.
2911 manual pages and 0 stray cats were added.
It sounds mostly optimistic but didn't seem to help:
rudi:~# apropos man
man (1) - an interface to the on-line reference manuals
man (7) - macros to format man pages
apropos: warning: can't read the fallback whatis text database.
apropos: /usr/X11/man/whatis: No such file or directory
I'm no wiser than before. What do the parse failed messages mean.
> What version of apropos are you running?
> Try apropos --version or dpkg -s man
dpkg -s man:
Package: man
Status: install ok installed
Priority: important
Section: doc
Maintainer: Alvar Bray <alvar@debian.org>
Version: 2.3.10-11
...
Bye,
Heiko
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Heiko Selber (Fritz-Haber-Institut Berlin) | Vs lbh pna ernq guvf |
http://www.fhi-berlin.mpg.de/~selber | lbh unir jnfgrq lbhe gvzr. |
email: selber@fhi-berlin.mpg.de | (un un un) |
Phone:+49-30-8413-4574, Fax:+49-30-8413-4686 |____________________________|
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