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Diff for /mandoc/Attic/manuals.7 between version 1.2 and 1.6

version 1.2, 2009/03/22 14:09:38 version 1.6, 2009/03/22 20:55:18
Line 25  documentation
Line 25  documentation
 If you add something to your operating system, whether it's a new file  If you add something to your operating system, whether it's a new file
 format or directory structure or device driver, it needs documentation.  format or directory structure or device driver, it needs documentation.
 .\" SECTION  .\" SECTION
 .Sh CLASSIFICATION  .Sh COMPOSITION
 Classify your system component.  In  Prepare your composition environment by copying over the manual template
 .Ux ,  from
 each component has a  .Pa /usr/share/misc/mdoc.template .
 .Dq manual section ,  .Em \&Do not
 which categorises the component's function.  The section of a manual is  start afresh or by copying another manual unless you know exactly what
 usually listed in parenthesis next to the component name, such as  you're doing!
 .Xr ps 1 ,  
 section 1.  You can query a manual explicitly by its section:  
 .Pp  
 .Dl % man \-s 1 ps  
 .Pp  
 The following table lists broad classifications and the applicable  
 manual sections:  
 .Pp  
 .\" LIST  
 .Bl -tag -width "XXXXXXXXXXXX" -offset indent -compact  
 .It Em Category  
 .Em Section(s)  
 .It Device  
 4  
 .It Executable  
 1, 6, 8  
 .It Function  
 2, 3, 9  
 .It File-format  
 5  
 .It Other  
 7  
 .El  
 .\" SUBSECTION  .\" SUBSECTION
 .Ss Devices  .Ss Section Numbering
 Consists of hardware (and pseudo-) device driver documentation.  Drivers  Find an appropriate section for your manual.  There may exist multiple
 are unilaterally classified in section 4.  manual names per section, so be specific.  A table of all available
 .Em Note :  manual sections follows:
 these manuals are necessarily system- and architecture-specific.  
 .Pp  .Pp
 Example:  
 .Pp  
 .\" LIST  .\" LIST
 .Bl -tag -width "File-formatX" -offset indent -compact  
 .It Em Manual  
 .Em Description  
 .It Xr dc 4  
 DEC/Intel 10/100 Ethernet device  
 .El  
 .\" SUBSECTION  
 .Ss Executables  
 Executables consist of runnable binaries.  They're further classified by  
 operator utility:  
 .Pp  
 .\" LIST  
 .Bl -tag -width "XXXXXXXXXXXX" -offset indent -compact  .Bl -tag -width "XXXXXXXXXXXX" -offset indent -compact
 .It Em Section  .It Em Section
 .Em Description  .Em Description
 .It 1  .It 1
 operator utilities  operator utilities
 .It 8  
 administrator utilities  
 .It 6  
 games  
 .El  
 .Pp  
 Examples:  
 .Pp  
 .\" LIST  
 .Bl -tag -width "XXXXXXXXXXXX" -offset indent -compact  
 .It Em Manual  
 .Em Description  
 .It Xr usermod 8  
 modify user login information  
 .It Xr cc 1  
 the C compiler  
 .It Xr fortune 6  
 print a random adage  
 .El  
 .\" SUBSECTION  
 .Ss Functions  
 Function documentation describes programme source code, whether in the  
 form of libraries, modules or standalone sources.  They're further  
 classified by context:  
 .Pp  
 .\" LIST  
 .Bl -tag -width "XXXXXXXXXXXX" -offset indent -compact  
 .It Em Section  
 .Em Description  
 .It 2  .It 2
 system calls  system calls
 .It 3, 3p, 3f  .It 3, 3p, 3f
 programming libraries (C, Perl, Fortran)  programming libraries (C, Perl, Fortran)
   .It 5
   file and wire protocol formats
   .It 6
   games
   .It 7
   tutorials, documents and papers
   .It 8
   administrator utilities
 .It 9  .It 9
 in-kernel routines  in-kernel routines
 .El  .El
 .Pp  .Pp
 .Em Note :  If your manual falls into multiple categories, choose the most
 section 2 and 9 manuals are necessarily system- and often  widely-used or, better, re-consider the topic of your manual to be more
 architecture-specific.  Examples:  specific.  You can list all manuals per section by invoking
 .Pp  .Xr apropos 1 ,
 .\" LIST  then provide the
 .Bl -tag -width "XXXXXXXXXXXX" -offset indent -compact  .Fl s
 .It Em Manual  flag to
 .Em Description  .Xr man 1
 .It Xr open 2  to see the specific section manual (section 1, in this example):
 open or create a file for reading or writing  .\" DISPLAY
 .It Xr isspace 3  .Bd -literal -offset indent
 whitespace character test  % apropos myname
 .It Xr Pod::Man 3p  myname (1) - some description here
 convert POD data to formatted roff  % man \-s 1 myname
 .It Xr tsleep 9  .Ed
 process context sleep  
 .El  
 .\" SUBSECTION  .\" SUBSECTION
 .Ss File-formats  
 A file format usually describes the format of on-disc binary or text  
 data, although it can also be used to describe wire protocols (this is  
 usually best left to RFC).  These manuals are unilaterally classified in  
 section 5.  
 .Pp  
 Example:  
 .Pp  
 .\" LIST  
 .Bl -tag -width "XXXXXXXXXXXX" -offset indent -compact  
 .It Em Manual  
 .Em Description  
 .It Xr passwd 5  
 format of the password file  
 .El  
 .\" SUBSECTION  
 .Ss Other  
 Documents with no other classification are relegated to section 7.  This  
 constitutes reference tutorials (such as this document) and other  
 miscellaneous information.  
 .Pp  
 Examples:  
 .Pp  
 .\" LIST  
 .Bl -tag -width "XXXXXXXXXXXX" -offset indent -compact  
 .It Em Manual  
 .Em Description  
 .It Xr ascii 7  
 ASCII character sets  
 .It Xr symlink 7  
 symbolic link handling  
 .El  
 .\" SECTION  
 .Sh COMPOSITION  
 Prepare your composition environment.  
 .\" SUBSECTION  
 .Ss Naming  .Ss Naming
 Your component will need a name by which to query its contents via  Name your component.  Be terse, erring on the side of clarity.  You may
 .Xr man 1 .  want to look for other manuals by that same name before committing:
 Keep it simple.  You may want to look for other manuals by that same  
 name before committing:  
 .Pp  .Pp
 .Dl % apropos myname  .Dl % apropos myname
 .Pp  .Pp
 Conventionally, manual files are named  Manual files are named
 .Pa myname.section ,  .Pa myname.mysection ,
 such as  such as
 .Pa manuals.7  .Pa manuals.7
 for this document.  for this document.
Line 204  packages of 
Line 105  packages of 
 .Xr roff 7 ;  .Xr roff 7 ;
 newer languages such as DocBook, texinfo or schema-driven XML; or even  newer languages such as DocBook, texinfo or schema-driven XML; or even
 ad-hoc conventions such as README files.  ad-hoc conventions such as README files.
 .Em Stay away from these methods!  .Em Avoid these formats .
 Historical formats fail to capture a manual's semantic content, instead  Historical formats fail to capture a manual's semantic content, instead
 only modelling its style.  Newer methods requires special,  only modelling its style.  Newer methods requires special,
 system-specific tools and may change or become obsolete over the  system-specific tools and may change or become obsolete over the
 life-time of your component.  life-time of your component.
 .Pp  .Pp
 There are two canonical references for writing mdoc manuals:  There are two canonical references for writing mdoc.  Read them.
 .Pp  .Pp
 .\" LIST  .\" LIST
 .Bl -tag -width XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX -offset indent -compact  .Bl -tag -width XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX -offset indent -compact
Line 220  formal language reference
Line 121  formal language reference
 macro reference  macro reference
 .El  .El
 .Pp  .Pp
 Don't merely copy existing manuals!  Most systems distribute an mdoc  Open the template you've copied into
 template to help you get started in  .Pa name.section
 .Pa /usr/share/misc/mdoc.template .  and begin editing.
 .\" SUBSECTION  .\" SUBSECTION
 .Ss Development Tools  .Ss Development Tools
 While writing, make sure that your manual is correctly structured:  While writing, make sure that your manual is correctly structured:
Line 242  to version-control your work.  If you wish the last ch
Line 143  to version-control your work.  If you wish the last ch
 your document's date, use the following RCS tag for the date macro:  your document's date, use the following RCS tag for the date macro:
 .Pp  .Pp
 .Dl \&.Dd $Mdocdate$  .Dl \&.Dd $Mdocdate$
 .Pp  
 .\" SUBSECTION  .\" SUBSECTION
 .Ss Viewing  .Ss Viewing
 mdoc documents may be paged to your terminal with traditional  mdoc documents may be paged to your terminal with traditional
Line 276  output:
Line 176  output:
 \&.in.1:  \&.in.1:
         mandoc -Wall,error -Tlint $<          mandoc -Wall,error -Tlint $<
         cp -f $< $@          cp -f $< $@
   
 \&.1.html:  \&.1.html:
         mandoc -Thtml $< >$@          mandoc -Thtml $< >$@
   
 \&.1.txt:  \&.1.txt:
         mandoc -Tascii $< | col -b >$@          mandoc -Tascii $< | col -b >$@
 .Ed  .Ed
Line 289  The
Line 187  The
 .Xr mdoc 7  .Xr mdoc 7
 and  and
 .Xr mdoc.samples 7  .Xr mdoc.samples 7
 files will be indispensable in guiding composition.  In this section, we  files are indispensable in guiding composition.  In this section, we
 introduce some  introduce some
 .Ux  .Ux
 manual best practices:  manual best practices:
Line 314  symbols and so on), use the escapes dictated in
Line 212  symbols and so on), use the escapes dictated in
 .\" SUBSECTION  .\" SUBSECTION
 .Ss References  .Ss References
 Other components may be referenced with the  Other components may be referenced with the
 .Sq \&Xr ,  .Sq \&Xr
 and  and
 .Sq \&Sx  .Sq \&Sx
 macros.  Make sure that these exist.  If you intend to distribute your  macros.  Make sure that these exist.  If you intend to distribute your
Line 330  publications, please use the
Line 228  publications, please use the
 .Sq \&Rs/Re  .Sq \&Rs/Re
 block macros.  block macros.
 .\" SUBSECTION  .\" SUBSECTION
 .Ss Types and Prototypes  .Ss Formatting
 If writing section 3 manuals, make sure that you correctly annotate your  .Em Don't style your manual.
 variables and functions.  This guarantees that cross-referncing between  Give it meaningful content.  The front-end will worry about formatting
 function names and their prototypes works properly.  and style.
   .\" SECTION
   .Sh MAINTENANCE
   As your component changes and bugs are fixed, your manual may become out
   of date.  You may be tempted to use automation tools like Doxygen to
   smooth the development of your manuals.  Don't.  Source documentation is
   different from a component manual.
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