Museum

Home

Lab Overview

Retrotechnology Articles

Online Manuals

⇒ prefaceu(0) — DG/UX 4.00

Media Vault

Software Library

Restoration Projects

Artifacts Sought



                                                               PREFACE(0)



        NAME

        preface - purpose, organization, conventions, related manuals


        PURPOSE OF THE MANUAL

        This manual describes the commands and application programs of
        the DG/UX system. It provides a general user's overview of them
        and recommends an approach to its extensive features.  See MANUAL
        SET, below, for a description of other manuals provided with the
        systems.


        ENTRY NUMBERING

        Entries in this manual are identified by a name and a number. An
        entry's name is followed by a number, which designates what
        chapter the entry is in.

        On each page in this manual, the entry name and number appear at
        the top left or right as headers to assist you in finding entries
        quickly.  Chapters within a manual are ordered by chapter number.
        Entries within a chapter are ordered alphabetically by entry
        name. Page numbering is applied within each entry (i.e., each
        entry begins on a page numbered 1), and appears at the bottom of
        each page.

        Note: entries numbered 0 are generally front matter for a manual:
        the preface, table of contents, index, and introduction if
        applicable.

        Entries in this manual are of the form name(0), or name(1).

        The name(0) entries are either part of the front matter of the
        manual (preface, table of contents, etc.) or are appendices.

        The name(1) entries are general user commands and application
        programs.

        The numbering system is an important part of the online
        documentation system; see ONLINE INFORMATION, below, and man(1).

        References to manual entries not of these forms refer to entries
        in the Programmer's Reference for the DG/UX (Trademark) System
        (entry suffixes 2, 3, 3x, 3c, 4, 5, 6) and the System Manager's
        Reference for the DG/UX (Trademark) System (entry suffixes 1M, 7,
        and 8.






        DG/UX 4.00                                                 Page 1
               Licensed material--property of copyright holder(s)





                                                               PREFACE(0)



        ORGANIZATION

        A descriptive table of contents and a permuted index appear just
        after this preface.  The manual is organized into seven major
        parts:

             Introduction
             Table of Contents
             Chapter 1: User Commands and Application Programs
             Index
             Permuted Index

        Introduction is an overview of the DG/UX system.

        Chapter 1: Commands and Application Programs explains the syntax,
        options, and usage of each command and application program.

           Finding What You're Looking For

        Some entries may describe several routines or commands. In those
        cases, the entry appears only once, under its "major" name. For
        example, egrep, fgrep, and grep all appear under the entry
        grep(1).  If you need information about a routine, but you don't
        know the "major" name under which it's look it up as a keyword in
        the Permuted Index.  Every routine has its own entry there. (See
        Using the Permuted Index, below, if you don't know how to use a
        keyword-in-context index).


        ENTRY FORMAT

        All entries follow the same format. Some entries may not have all
        of the parts listed below.

             NAME gives the name(s) of the routine(s) described in the
             entry and briefly states its purpose.

             SYNTAX shows how the routine or command is used in a program
             or on a command line.

             DESCRIPTION discusses the subject at hand, describing
             effects and listing options.

             EXAMPLES shows how to use the command in context

             FILES lists the files the program uses.

             SEE ALSO gives pointers to other entries and/or other
             manuals to consult on the subject.

             DIAGNOSTICS discusses the diagnostic information that may be



        DG/UX 4.00                                                 Page 2
               Licensed material--property of copyright holder(s)





                                                               PREFACE(0)



             produced.  However, error messages that (a) are part of the
             program and (b) are deemed "self-explanatory" are not
             listed.

             WARNINGS and CAVEATS point out potential pitfalls.

             BUGS tells about known problems or deficiencies.  A
             possible fix may be suggested.



        SYNTAX CONVENTIONS

        We use the following notation conventions when describing syntax:

        Element        Meaning

        bold string    A literal to be typed just as it appears

        roman string   A place holder representing a literal or other
                       value that you supply

        [ ]            Delimiters for an optional argument

        ...            Optional repetition of the preceding argument


        EXAMPLE CONVENTIONS

        We use the following notation conventions in examples:

        Element   Meaning

        $         The standard shell primary prompt (indicating the shell
                  is ready to accept command input)

        >         The UNIX secondary prompt (indicating the shell needs
                  more input to complete a command)

        %         The C shell primary prompt

        [ ]       Literal brackets to be typed exactly as they appear

        { }       Literal braces to be typed exactly as they appear



        WARNING

        Many arguments to commands begin with a minus (-) or plus (+)
        sign.  Never give files names that begin with those symbols.



        DG/UX 4.00                                                 Page 3
               Licensed material--property of copyright holder(s)





                                                               PREFACE(0)



        Files named that way will cause at least an "illegal option"
        error when they're put in a command line as arguments. The
        command line parser may think that you're giving it a switch,
        rather than a filename.


        ONLINE INFORMATION

        All of the entries in this manual, the Programmer's Reference for
        the DG/UX (Trademark) System, and the System Manager's Reference
        for the DG/UX (Trademark) System are supplied in machine-readable
        form on the release tape.  Whether they are actually online
        depends on your system manager.  See man(1) in this manual for
        instructions on how to use the entries.


        USING THE PERMUTED INDEX

        There is a special kind of index used in the reference manuals.
        The keyword-in-context, or permuted, index lists each entry in
        the manual under a number of keywords. The keywords always
        include:

        1.  The entry's name, followed by a colon if the entry does not
            share a name with one of the routines or commands discussed
            under it.

        2.  The complete set of routines or commands discussed in the
            entry.

        3.  The words from concise phrase that describes the entry. The
            phrase used is the same one listed under the NAME part of the
            entry; it also appears as the entry's description in the
            Table of Contents.

        To look up something in the index, first pick a keyword. Let's
        say that you're looking for a command that will search for a word
        in a file. Take "search" as your keyword. Then trace down the
        column of space in the center of the page. All index lines are
        alphabetized by the word to the right of that column.

        You will find more than one line that has "search" in that
        position.  Read those lines and pick the one that sounds like the
        one you want. In this case, the line would look like this:

             grep, egrep, fgrep: search a file for a pattern.

        Trace that line to the right margin, and there you will see the
        name of the manual entry that has the information you want, in
        this case grep(1).  This means look in Chapter 1; since entries
        within a chapter appear in alphabetical order, grep(1) is easy to



        DG/UX 4.00                                                 Page 4
               Licensed material--property of copyright holder(s)





                                                               PREFACE(0)



        find.


           In case of frustration

        If you can't find an entry for your keyword, try another keyword.
        It's likely that some entries have keywords that you wouldn't
        have picked as first choice.


        MANUAL SET

        The rest of the DG/UX System manual set comprises these books:

        System Manager's Reference for the DG/UX (093-701008).  This book
             is written for system administrators and system programmers.
             It describes the commands and application programs that
             report system status in detail, maintain system resources,
             and run system accounting procedures.

        Programmer's Reference for the DG/UX (Trademark) (093-701041).
             For programmers and advanced users.  This book lists
             programming features of the DG/UX System, including commands
             and system calls.

        Programmer's Reference for the DG/UX (Trademark) (093-701042).
             This book lists programming features of the DG/UX System,
             including runtime libraries, file formats, and networking
             protocols.


        RELATED MANUALS

        Entries in this manual refer to the following manuals:

        AOS/VS Link and Library File Editor User's Guide (093-000245)

        AOS/VS Macroassembler Reference Manual (093-000242)

        AOS/VS Pascal Reference Manual (093-000290)

        C Language Reference and Runtime Manual (093-000204)

        FORTRAN 77 Reference Manual (093-000162)

        Principles of Operation: 32-Bit ECLIPSE Systems (014-000704)








        DG/UX 4.00                                                 Page 5
               Licensed material--property of copyright holder(s)



Typewritten Software • bear@typewritten.org • Edmonds, WA 98026