Chapter 2:

Documentation

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 Objectives

 Man pages and man command

 Manual Entries
 Related Commands
 Info Command
 Documentation in /usr/doc
 Online Documentation
 Hardcopy Documentation
 Self-Directed Review Excercises

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 Man pages and man comand

 Get Information about most commands

 Information about each command include:
Command name
Synopsis and description
List and definition of all options
Environment and parameters
Sections in man command include:

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 Man pages and man comand

 Comman Sections
1 - user command
2 - system calls
3 – c library functions
4 – discription of configuration file
5 – file formats (syntax)
 Syntax man command
Man <section number> <term>
/etc/man.config

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 Manual Entries

 Manual pages mostly stored /usr/man, /usr/local/man

or /usr/share/man
Troff/nroff format manual pages (compressed).
Formatted manual pages are usually
temporarily stored under /var/share/man.
Manual pages are displayed by more (default),
can override by set PAGER.

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 Related Commands
 Most linux systems (maintain the “index” or old-fashioned so-
called whatis database)
 Use whatis command to print the short description of a command.
$whatis man or $man –f man
man (1) - format and display the on-line
manual pages
man (7) - macros to format man pages
 Use apropos command to print the short description of
command contain a pattern.
$apropos boot
the output will print description of commands contain boot
word.

SAIGONLAB 83 Nguyễn Thị Nhỏ, P9, Q.Tân Bình, Tp. HCM LPI 102
 Info Command

 Info is a GNU help utility,contain full

informaiton.Use hypertext links.
 $info man

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 Documentation in /usr/doc,
/usr/share/doc
 Contain documentation doesn’t fall under man page
or info, include HOWTOs, user guide, FAQs,
READMEs,…Generally classify into these categories
HOWTOs: Detailed guides on how to perform a
particular function or task.A number of HOWTOs
location at Linux Documentation Project’s website
Program-specific: This Documentation included with a
particular package. Documentation include
READMEs, CHANGES,..
Frequently Asked Questions: Also known as FAQs,
contain a list of questions about a topic.Usually in a
question and answer format.

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 Online Documentation

 Vast amounts of information available online.

 Great online resources such as the Linux
Documentation Project and newgroups
 Vendor specific products such as hardware or
programs at vendor website,eg: apache.org,
kde.org…

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 Hardcopy Documentation
 Three types of hard-copy manuals:
Reference books
Guide books
Tutorials
Some hard-copy documentation
Red Hat Linux Administrator’s handbook, 2nd
Edition
Red Hat Linux 7 Server
Red Hat Linux Survival Guide
download from http://www.evoknow.com

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 Summary

 Use the man command

 Use the info command
 Identify and locate system documentation
 Identify and use online documentation such as The
Linux Documentation Project

SAIGONLAB 83 Nguyễn Thị Nhỏ, P9, Q.Tân Bình, Tp. HCM LPI 102