xman(1) X Version 11 (21 August 1989) xman(1)
NAME
xman - displays manual pages
SYNOPSIS
xman [-options ...]
DESCRIPTION
The xman client is a manual-page browser. The default size
of the initial xman window is small so that you can leave it
running throughout your entire login session.
In the initial window there are three options: Help pops up
a window with on-line help, Quit exits, and Manual Page pops
up a window with a manual page-browser in it. You can pop
up more than one manual page-browser window from a single
execution of xman.
For further information on using xman, start xman and click
the left mouse button on Help or Manual Page. The rest of
this manual page discusses how to customize xman.
CUSTOMIZING XMAN
xman allows customization of both the directories to be
searched for manual pages and the name that each directory
maps to in the Manual Sections menu. xman determines which
directories it searches by reading the MANPATH environment
variable. This environment is expected to be a colon-
separated list of directories for xman to search:
setenv MANPATH /mit/kit/man:/usr/man
By default, xman searches each of the following directories
(in each of the directories specified in the user's MANPATH)
for manual pages. If manual pages exist in that directory
then they are added to a list of manual pages for the
corresponding menu item. A menu item is only displayed for
those sections that actually contain manual pages.
cat.ADM Administration (ADM)
cat.C Commands (C)
cat.F File Formats (F)
cat.M Miscellaneous (M)
cat.HW Hardware Dependent (HW)
cat.CT Text Processing (CT)
cat.S Subroutines & Libraries (S)
cat.CP Programming Commands (CP)
cat.DOS DOS Subroutines (DOS)
cat.UCB UCB Utilities (UCB)
cat.LOCAL Local (LOCAL)
cat.X X Man Pages (X)
cat.K C Subroutines (K)
cat.STR Streams (STR)
Page 1 (printed 10/4/89)
xman(1) X Version 11 (21 August 1989) xman(1)
cat.NSL Network Services (NSL)
For instance, a user has three directories in her manual path
and each contains a directory called cat.C. All these manual
pages appear alphabetically sorted when the user clicks on
the menu item called Commands (C). If there is no directory
called cat.ADM in any of the directories in her MANPATH, or
there are no manual pages in any of the directories called
cat.ADM, then no menu item is displayed for the section
called Administration (ADM).
THE MANDESC FILE
By using the mandesc file, a user or system manager is able
to more closely control which manual pages appear in each of
the sections represented by menu items in the Manual
Sections menu. This functionality is only available on a
section-by-section basis, and individual manual pages may
not be handled in this manner (although generous use of
symbolic links -ln(1)-allows almost any configuration you
can imagine). The format of the mandesc file is a directory
name followed by a label. The directory name determines
which sections are added under this label. For instance,
suppose that you would like to create an extra menu item
that contains all programmer subroutines. This label should
contain all manual pages in both sections 2 and 3. The
mandesc file would look like this:
cat.2 Programmer Subroutines
cat.3 Programmer Subroutines
This adds a menu item to the Manual Sections menu that would
bring up a listing of all manual pages in sections 2 and 3 of
the Unix Programmers Manual. Since the label names are
exactly the same, they are added to the same section. Note,
however, that the original sections still exist.
If you want to completely ignore the default sections in a
manual directory then add the line:
no default sections
anywhere in your mandesc file. This keeps xman from
searching the default manual sections in that directory
only. As an example, suppose you want to do the same thing
as above, but you don't think that it is useful to have the
Programming Commands or DOS Subroutines sections any longer.
You would need to duplicate the default entries, as well as
adding your new ones.
no default sections
cat.ADM Administration (ADM)
cat.C Commands (C)
Page 2 (printed 10/4/89)
xman(1) X Version 11 (21 August 1989) xman(1)
cat.F File Formats (F)
cat.M Miscellaneous (M)
cat.HW Hardware Dependent (HW)
cat.CT Text Processing (CT)
cat.S Subroutines & Libraries (S)
cat.UCB UCB Utilities (UCB)
cat.LOCAL Local (LOCAL)
cat.X X Man Pages (X)
cat.K C Subroutines (K)
cat.STR Streams (STR)
cat.NSL Network Services (NSL)
cat.2 Programmer Subroutines (2)
cat.3 Programmer Subroutines (3)
xman creates temporary files in /tmp for all unformatted man
pages.
COMMAND LINE OPTIONS
-helpfile filename
Specifies a helpfile to use other than the default.
-bothshown
Allows both the manual page and manual directory to be
on the screen at the same time.
-notopbox
Starts without the top menu with the three buttons in
it.
-geometry WxH+X+Y
Sets the size and location of the top menu with the
three buttons in it.
-pagesize WxH+X+Y
Sets the size and location of all the manual pages.
-bw pixels or -borderwidth pixels
Specifies the width of the border for all windows in
xman.
-bd color or -bordercolor color
Specifies the color of the borders of all windows in
xman.
-fg color or -foreground color
Specifies the foreground color to be used.
-bg color or -background color
Specifies the background color to be used.
-fn font or -font font
Page 3 (printed 10/4/89)
xman(1) X Version 11 (21 August 1989) xman(1)
Specifies the font to use for all buttons and labels.
-display host:display[.screen]
Specifies a display other than the default specified by
the DISPLAY environment variable.
-name name
Specifies the name to use when retrieving resources.
-title title
Specifies the title of this application.
-xrm resources
Allows a resource to be specified on the command line.
X DEFAULTS
The xman program uses the following X resources: foreground,
background, width, height, borderWidth, and borderColor.
In order to change the default values for widget resources,
you need to know widget names. Below are the names of some
of the most common widgets. You can also reference widgets
by class. The most common classes are Label, Command, and
Text.
topBox The top menu.
help The help window.
manualBrowser The manual page display window.
xmanCommands Manual page command popup menu.
xmanSections Manual page section popup menu.
xmanSearch Manual page search popup menu.
In addition, xman has application-specific resources that
allow unique xman customizations.
manualFontNormal The font to use for normal text in the
manual pages.
manualFontBold The font to use for bold text in the
manual pages.
manualFontItalic The font to use for italic text in the
manual pages.
directoryFontNormal
The font to use for the directory text.
Page 4 (printed 10/4/89)
xman(1) X Version 11 (21 August 1989) xman(1)
bothShown Either "true" or "false", specifies
whether or not you want both the directory
and the manual page shown at start-up.
directoryHeight The height in pixels of the directory,
when the directory and the manual page are
shown simultaneously.
topCursor The cursor to use in the top box.
helpCursor The cursor to use in the help window.
manpageCursor The cursor to use in the manual page
window.
searchEntryCursor The cursor to use in the search entry text
widget.
helpFile Use this rather than the system default
help file.
topBox Either "true" or "false", determines
whether the top box (containing the help,
quit, and manual-page buttons) or a manual
page is put on the screen at start-up.
The default is true.
verticalList Either 'true' or 'false', determines
whether the directory listing is
vertically or horizontally organized. The
default is horizontal (false).
Here are a few examples of how to string all this
information together into a resource specification that can
be used on the command line with the -xrm flag or added to
your .Xresource or .Xdefaults file.
xman*Command.foreground: Blue All command buttons are
blue.
xman*topBox*foreground: Blue Everything in the top
menu has a blue
foreground.
xman*Text.border: Red All text widgets have a
red border.
xman*Label.font: 9x15 All label buttons have a
9x15 font.
FILES
/usr/man/* or those specified in the MANPATH.
Page 5 (printed 10/4/89)
xman(1) X Version 11 (21 August 1989) xman(1)
mandesc
SEE ALSO
X(1), man(C)
ENVIRONMENT
DISPLAY - the default host and display to use.
MANPATH - the search path for manual pages. Directories are
separated by colons (e.g.,
/usr/man:/mit/kit/man:/foo/bar/man).
BUGS
The -fn and -font option only specify the fonts for the
command button and not the text of the manpages or
directories.
Protocol error upon selecting "Remove This Manpage."
Specification of the mandesc file format is not given in the
man page.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright 1988, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
See X(1) for a full statement of rights and permissions.
AUTHORS
Chris Peterson, MIT Project Athena from the V10 version
written by Barry Shein of Boston University.
Page 6 (printed 10/4/89)