version 1.3, 2009/03/22 14:28:08 |
version 1.9, 2009/03/24 10:59:50 |
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.\" $Id$ |
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.\" |
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.\" Copyright (c) 2009 Kristaps Dzonsons <kristaps@openbsd.org> |
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.\" |
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.\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any |
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.\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the |
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.\" above copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all |
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.\" copies. |
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.\" |
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.\" THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL |
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.\" WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED |
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.\" WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE |
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.\" AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL |
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.\" DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR |
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.\" PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER |
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.\" TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR |
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.\" PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE. |
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.\" |
.Dd $Mdocdate$ |
.Dd $Mdocdate$ |
.Dt manuals 7 |
.Dt manuals 7 |
.Os |
.Os |
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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 , |
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which categorises the component's function. The section of a manual is |
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usually listed in parenthesis next to the component name, such as |
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.Xr ps 1 , |
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section 1. You can query a manual explicitly by its section: |
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.Pp |
.Pp |
.Dl % man \-s 1 ps |
If this file doesn't exist, bug your administrator. |
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.Em \&Do not |
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start afresh or by copying another manual unless you know exactly what |
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you're doing! |
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.\" SUBSECTION |
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.Ss Section Numbering |
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Find an appropriate section for your manual. There may exist multiple |
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manual names per section, so be specific. A table of all available |
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manual sections follows: |
.Pp |
.Pp |
The following table lists classifications and the applicable manual |
.\" LIST |
sections: |
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.Pp |
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.Bl -tag -width "XXXXXXXXXXXX" -offset indent -compact |
.Bl -tag -width "XXXXXXXXXXXX" -offset indent -compact |
.It Em Section |
.It Em Section |
.Em Description |
.Em Description |
Line 61 administrator utilities |
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Line 80 administrator utilities |
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in-kernel routines |
in-kernel routines |
.El |
.El |
.Pp |
.Pp |
Some examples in regular name/section form: |
If your manual falls into multiple categories, choose the most |
.Pp |
widely-used or, better, re-consider the topic of your manual to be more |
.\" LIST |
specific. You can list all manuals per section by invoking |
.Bl -tag -width "File-formatX" -offset indent -compact |
.Xr apropos 1 , |
.It Em Manual |
then provide the |
.Em Description |
.Fl s |
.It Xr dc 4 |
flag to |
DEC/Intel 10/100 Ethernet device |
.Xr man 1 |
.It Xr usermod 8 |
to see the specific section manual (section 1, in this example): |
modify user login information |
.\" DISPLAY |
.It Xr cc 1 |
.Bd -literal -offset indent |
the C compiler |
% apropos myname |
.It Xr fortune 6 |
myname (1) - utility description |
print a random adage |
myname (3) - library description |
.It Xr open 2 |
% man \-s 1 myname |
open or create a file for reading or writing |
.Ed |
.It Xr isspace 3 |
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whitespace character test |
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.It Xr Pod::Man 3p |
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convert POD data to formatted roff |
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.It Xr tsleep 9 |
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process context sleep |
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.It Xr passwd 5 |
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format of the password file |
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.It Xr symlink 7 |
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symbolic link handling |
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.El |
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.\" SECTION |
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.Sh COMPOSITION |
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Prepare your composition environment. |
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.\" SUBSECTION |
.\" 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 |
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name before committing: |
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.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 115 formatting language. |
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Line 118 formatting language. |
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.Pp |
.Pp |
There exist other documentation-specific languages, such as the |
There exist other documentation-specific languages, such as the |
historical |
historical |
.Xr me 7 , |
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.Xr ms 7 |
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and |
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.Xr man 7 |
.Xr man 7 |
packages of |
package 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 139 formal language reference |
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Line 139 formal language reference |
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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 162 your document's date, use the following RCS tag for th |
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Line 162 your document's date, use the following RCS tag for th |
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.Pp |
.Pp |
.Dl \&.Dd $Mdocdate$ |
.Dl \&.Dd $Mdocdate$ |
.Pp |
.Pp |
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If using version control, the first line in your manual should be a |
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comment with the |
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.Li $Id$ |
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rcs tag. |
.\" 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 |
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\&.in.1: |
\&.in.1: |
mandoc -Wall,error -Tlint $< |
mandoc -Wall,error -Tlint $< |
cp -f $< $@ |
cp -f $< $@ |
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\&.1.html: |
\&.1.html: |
mandoc -Thtml $< >$@ |
mandoc -Thtml $< >$@ |
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\&.1.txt: |
\&.1.txt: |
mandoc -Tascii $< | col -b >$@ |
mandoc -Tascii $< | col -b >$@ |
.Ed |
.Ed |
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.\" SUBSECTION |
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.Ss Licensing |
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Your manual must have a license. It should be listed at the start of |
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your document, just as in source code. |
.\" SECTION |
.\" SECTION |
.Sh BEST PRACTICES |
.Sh BEST PRACTICES |
The |
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 231 symbols and so on), use the escapes dictated in |
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Line 237 symbols and so on), use the escapes dictated in |
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.Xr mdoc 7 . |
.Xr mdoc 7 . |
.El |
.El |
.\" SUBSECTION |
.\" SUBSECTION |
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.Ss Style |
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The structure of the mdoc language makes it very hard to have any |
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particular format style. Keep your lines under 72 characters in length. |
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If you must have long option lines, use |
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.Sq \&Oo/Oc . |
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.Em \&Do not |
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use |
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.Sq \&Xo/Xc ; |
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instead, either fine another way to write long lines, or, at the |
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absolute worst, use CPP-style newline escapes. |
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.\" 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 250 publications, please use the |
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Line 267 publications, please use the |
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block macros. |
block macros. |
.\" SUBSECTION |
.\" SUBSECTION |
.Ss Formatting |
.Ss Formatting |
Let the front-ends worry about formatting for you, but if you must think |
.Em Don't style your manual. |
about formatting (at times necessary, especially for tagged and columnar |
Give it meaningful content. The front-end will worry about formatting |
lists), assume that your output device is a fixed-width terminal window: |
and style. |
.Bd -literal -offset indent |
.\" SECTION |
\&.Bl \-tag \-width "-o outfile" |
.Sh MAINTENANCE |
\&.It \&Fl \&Ar outfile |
As your component changes and bugs are fixed, your manual may become out |
.Ed |
of date. You may be tempted to use automation tools like Doxygen to |
.Pp |
smooth the development of your manuals. Don't. Source documentation is |
You may assume that the width calculated by the string literal |
different from a component manual. |
.Qq Fl o Ar outfile |
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will |
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