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Diff for /mandoc/Attic/manuals.7 between version 1.3 and 1.17

version 1.3, 2009/03/22 14:28:08 version 1.17, 2009/07/20 13:45:11
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   .\"     $Id$
   .\"
   .\" Copyright (c) 2009 Kristaps Dzonsons <kristaps@kth.se>
   .\"
   .\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any
   .\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above
   .\" copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.
   .\"
   .\" THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES
   .\" WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
   .\" MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR
   .\" ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES
   .\" WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN
   .\" ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF
   .\" OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
   .\"
 .Dd $Mdocdate$  .Dd $Mdocdate$
 .Dt manuals 7  .Dt MANUALS 7
 .Os  .Os
 .\" SECTION  .\" SECTION
 .Sh NAME  .Sh NAME
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Line 28 
 .Pp  .Pp
 A system component's documentation describes the utility of that  A system component's documentation describes the utility of that
 component, whether it's a device driver, an executable or, most  component, whether it's a device driver, an executable or, most
 importantly, a game.  Although there are plenty of documents available  importantly, a game.
 on how to read  
 .Ux  
 documents, or where to find them, few focus on composition.  
 .\" PARAGRAPH  
 .Pp  .Pp
 This document serves as a tutorial to writing  This document serves as a tutorial to writing
 .Ux  .Ux
 documentation  documentation
 .Pq Dq manuals .  .Pq Dq manuals .
 If you add something to your operating system, whether it's a new file  
 format or directory structure or device driver, it needs documentation.  
 .\" SECTION  .\" SECTION
 .Sh CLASSIFICATION  .Sh ENVIRONMENT
 Classify your system component.  In  First, copy over the manual template from
 .Ux ,  .Pa /usr/share/misc/mdoc.template
 each component has a  into your source directory.
 .Dq manual section ,  
 which categorises the component's function.  The section of a manual is  
 usually listed in parenthesis next to the component name, such as  
 .Xr ps 1 ,  
 section 1.  You can query a manual explicitly by its section:  
 .Pp  .Pp
 .Dl % man \-s 1 ps  .Dl % cp /usr/share/misc/mdoc.template \.
 .Pp  .Pp
 The following table lists classifications and the applicable manual  .Em \&Do not
 sections:  start afresh or by copying another manual unless you know exactly what
   you're doing!  If the template doesn't exist, bug your administrator.
   .\" SUBSECTION
   .Ss Section Numbering
   Find an appropriate section for your manual.  There may exist multiple
   manual names per section, so be specific:
 .Pp  .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
Line 55  file and wire protocol formats
Line 66  file and wire protocol formats
 games  games
 .It 7  .It 7
 tutorials, documents and papers  tutorials, documents and papers
 .It 8  .It 8
 administrator utilities  administrator utilities
 .It 9  .It 9
 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  
 whitespace character test  
 .It Xr Pod::Man 3p  
 convert POD data to formatted roff  
 .It Xr tsleep 9  
 process context sleep  
 .It Xr passwd 5  
 format of the password file  
 .It Xr symlink 7  
 symbolic link handling  
 .El  
 .\" SECTION  
 .Sh COMPOSITION  
 Prepare your composition environment.  
 .\" 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.  Look for
 .Xr man 1 .  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.  Rename the template file:
 .\" SUBSECTION  
 .Ss Input Language  
 Manuals should  
 .Em always  
 be written in the  
 .Xr mdoc 7  
 formatting language.  
 .Pp  .Pp
 There exist other documentation-specific languages, such as the  .Dl % mv mdoc.template myname.mysection
 historical  
 .Xr me 7 ,  
 .Xr ms 7  
 and  
 .Xr man 7  
 packages of  
 .Xr roff 7 ;  
 newer languages such as DocBook, texinfo or schema-driven XML; or even  
 ad-hoc conventions such as README files.  
 .Em Stay away from these methods!  
 Historical formats fail to capture a manual's semantic content, instead  
 only modelling its style.  Newer methods requires special,  
 system-specific tools and may change or become obsolete over the  
 life-time of your component.  
 .Pp  
 There are two canonical references for writing mdoc manuals:  
 .Pp  
 .\" LIST  
 .Bl -tag -width XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX -offset indent -compact  
 .It Xr mdoc 7  
 formal language reference  
 .It Xr mdoc.samples 7  
 macro reference  
 .El  
 .Pp  
 Don't merely copy existing manuals!  Most systems distribute an mdoc  
 template to help you get started in  
 .Pa /usr/share/misc/mdoc.template .  
 .\" 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 151  While writing, make sure that your manual is correctly
Line 111  While writing, make sure that your manual is correctly
 You may spell-check your work as follows:  You may spell-check your work as follows:
 .Pp  .Pp
 .Dl % deroff name.1 | spell  .Dl % deroff name.1 | spell
   .Pp
   If
   .Xr ispell 1
   is installed, it has a special mode for manuals:
   .Pp
 .Dl % ispell \-n name.1  .Dl % ispell \-n name.1
 .Pp  .Pp
 Use  Use
 .Xr cvs 1  .Xr cvs 1
 or, if not available,  or
 .Xr rcs 1  .Xr rcs 1
 to version-control your work.  If you wish the last check-in to effect  to version-control your work.  If you wish the last check-in to effect
 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
 tools such as  .Xr mandoc 1 .
 .Xr nroff 1 ,  If you plan on distributing your work to systems without this tool,
 .Xr groff 1 ,  check it against
 or with newer, more powerful tools such as  .Xr groff 1 :
 .Xr mandoc 1 :  
 .\" DISPLAY  
 .Bd -literal -offset indent  .Bd -literal -offset indent
 % nroff \-mandoc name.1 | less  % mandoc \-Wall name.1 2>&1 | less
 % groff \-Tascii \-mandoc name.1 | less  % groff -mandoc name.1 2>&1 | less
 % mandoc name.1 | less  
 .Ed  .Ed
 .Pp  
 Other output formats are also supported:  
 .\" DISPLAY  
 .Bd -literal -offset indent  
 % groff \-Tps \-mandoc name.1 | less  
 % mandoc \-Thtml name.1 | less  
 .Ed  
 .\" SUBSECTION  .\" SUBSECTION
 .Ss Automation  .Ss Automation
 Consider adding your mdoc documents to  Consider adding your mdoc documents to
 .Xr make 1  .Xr make 1
 Makefiles in order to automatically check your input and generate  Makefiles in order to automatically check your input:
 output:  
 .Bd -literal -offset indent  .Bd -literal -offset indent
 \&.SUFFIXES: .html .txt .1 .in  \&.SUFFIXES: .1 .in
   
 \&.in.1:  \&.in.1:
         mandoc -Wall,error -Tlint $<          mandoc -Wall,error -Tlint $<
         cp -f $< $@          cp -f $< $@
   
 \&.1.html:  
         mandoc -Thtml $< >$@  
   
 \&.1.txt:  
         mandoc -Tascii $< | col -b >$@  
 .Ed  .Ed
   .\" SUBSECTION
   .Ss Licensing
   Your manual must have a license.  It should be listed at the start of
   your document, just as in source code.
 .\" SECTION  .\" SECTION
 .Sh BEST PRACTICES  .Sh COMPOSITION
 The  Manuals should
   .Em always
   be written in the
 .Xr mdoc 7  .Xr mdoc 7
 and  formatting language.
 .Xr mdoc.samples 7  .\" PARAGRAPH
 files will be indispensable in guiding composition.  In this section, we  .Pp
 introduce some  Open the template you've copied into
 .Ux  .Pa myname.mysection
 manual best practices:  and begin editing.
 .\" SUBSECTION  .\" SUBSECTION
 .Ss Language  .Ss Language
 .Bl -enum  .Bl -enum
 .It  .It
 Use clear, concise language.  Favour simplicity.  Use clear, concise language.  Favour simplicity.
 .It  .It
Line 231  symbols and so on), use the escapes dictated in
Line 184  symbols and so on), use the escapes dictated in
 .Xr mdoc 7 .  .Xr mdoc 7 .
 .El  .El
 .\" SUBSECTION  .\" SUBSECTION
 .Ss References  .Ss Style
   The structure of the mdoc language makes it very hard to have any
   particular format style.  Keep your lines under 72 characters in length.
   If you must have long option lines, use
   .Sq \&Oo/Oc .
   The same goes for function prototypes.
   .Em \&Do not
   use
   .Sq \&Xo/Xc .
   Find another way to structure your line.
   .\" SUBSECTION
   .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
Line 214  publications, please use the
 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 tools like Doxygen to automate the
   development of your manuals.  Don't.
 .Pp  .Pp
 You may assume that the width calculated by the string literal  .Em Manuals are part of a system component :
 .Qq Fl o Ar outfile  if you modify your code or specifications, modify the documentation.
 will  
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