Manpage
Subject: Manpage
Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1998 12:15:48 PDT
From: "Gregory Walther" <pressf1@hotmail.com>
Sorry to bother everyone with such a simple question. Or maybe it's not
so simple, I don't know.
I installed debian 2.0 and I cannot get the "man" pages to work.
There is much I don't know about the OS, (newbie). I need to learn how
to setup and run the system. The manpages would be a very good place to
start.
I asked this same question somewhere else last week. The response I got
made me more confused. The respondent said use "groff." OK, what is it
and how do I use it.
I noticed on one web site that the lack of manpage setup on installation
is considered a bug in the package.
At this point in my learning process I need detailed step-by-step
instructions on how to do things in the system.
Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Gregory
pressf1@hotmail.com
Hi Gregory,
I can feel for you, I too am a novice using debian/linux, and I have
experienced the same. I've dedicated quite a bit of my time to looking
for the information I'm interested in, rather than asking questions.
Asking questions is my last resort.
I think that I can point you in the right direction. I do not use
"deselect" to download or install packages, its just too confusing for
me.
Therefore, I will give you the manual procedures which I use to
accomplish
the same. Its a bit tedious, but I get a more exposure to the system
doing it my way. (Frank Sinatra was great!)
Here goes:
1. Access any site you use.
2. Enter into the debian distribution and look for a file called,
"packages". It is available in clear text and zipped, your
choice.
3. Download "packages", it will become your main reference for
learning
which packages are available using debian, and what are their
requirements.
4. As you peruse the packages list you will come across what follows:
(Take a look below at the extracts from the package list.)
5. In each package description, there is a line which starts with
"Depends:", those are critical packages needed to successfully
install the package.
6. After the "Package: man-db", you will find two other packages
which
you should condsider installing. They should make your life
easier.
7. After installing a package, you should practice checking out the
documentation which is distributed with the package. You should
find that information in "/usr/doc/<package-name>".
8. There is a lot of great information out there, but it takes time
look for it.
I hope that you're now pointed in a direction that you're comfortable
with.
Go get em "Tiger"!
Bert
Package: man-db
Version: 2.3.10-67
Priority: important
Section: doc
Maintainer: Fabrizio Polacco <fpolacco@debian.org>
Depends: groff, libc6, libdb2 (>= 2.3.16)
Suggests: bsdmainutils
Conflicts: man, man-aeb
Provides: man, man-browser
Replaces: man, man-aeb, nlsutils
Architecture: i386
Filename: dists/unstable/main/binary-i386/doc/man-db_2.3.10-67.deb
Size: 278658
MD5sum: d064e94cffa19d61c51bb7d2e18b0268
Description: Display the on-line manual.
This packages provides the man command, this utility is the primary
way of examining the on-line help files (manual pages). Other utilities
provided include the whatis and apropos commands for searching the
manual page database; the manpath utility for determining the manual
page search path and the maintenance utilities mandb, catman and
zsoelim. This package uses the groff suit of programs to format and
display the manual pages.
installed-size: 598
Package: doc-debian
Version: 1.9
Priority: standard
Section: doc
Maintainer: Santiago Vila <sanvila@ctv.es>
Recommends: info | info-browser
Architecture: all
Filename: dists/unstable/main/binary-i386/doc/doc-debian_1.9.deb
Size: 276328
MD5sum: 13918385e9afc11b4ea2224e87549742
Description: Debian Manual, FAQ and other documents
The doc-debian package provides the current Debian-FAQ (in
postscript, dvi, text and GNU info form) and the Debian Manual
as well as several other bits of information about Debian.
All files are available at ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian/doc and
mirrors thereof.
installed-size: 466
Package: info
Version: 3.12-0.1
Priority: important
Section: doc
Maintainer: Galen Hazelwood <galenh@micron.net>
Depends: libc6, ncurses3.4
Provides: info-browser
Architecture: i386
Filename: dists/unstable/main/binary-i386/doc/info_3.12-0.1.deb
Size: 128594
MD5sum: 9be71f8d6527305f118901cf4a078f8b
Description: Standalone GNU Info documentation browser
This program allows you to view Info documents, like the ones
stored in /usr/info. Much of the software in Debian comes
with its on-line documentation in the form of Info files.
.
You can also browse Info documentation using GNU Emacs.
installed-size: 196
source: texinfo
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