4 ms·

Thanks for `man -t`! It's actually 78 pages on my system (Debian, bash 4.4.12). I've heard that OpenBSD has the best man pages that are more pleasant to read

Thanks for `man -t`! It's actually 78 pages on my system (Debian, bash 4.4.12). I've heard that OpenBSD has the best man pages that are more pleasant to read and more informative/concise.

pfortuny 7y ago
OpenBSD man pages are what engineering documents should be. The contrast with Linux's is astounding.
- cpach 7y ago
  This reminds me of a writeup by John Carmack. Last year he did a programming retreat where he set up a OpenBSD dev environment and tried to use the base system and the included documentation as much as possible rather than using ports and WWW†. That would probably not be so nice on a Linux system. https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2110408722526967&id=100006735798590 https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2110408722... † Anyone else here that remembers the days when man pages and Windows help files used to be referred to as online documentation? As opposed to printed manuals.
  - muxator 7y ago
    The MSDN CDs where an endless source of amusement. The reference manuals were very good and search actually worked well. Did not feel crippled at all.
- wodenokoto 7y ago
  I don't know. From `man wc` WC(1) BSD General Commands Manual WC(1) NAME wc -- word, line, character, and byte count When in actuality `wc` outputs lines, words bytes ...
  - monista 7y ago
    You probably referring to FreeBSD man, OpenBSD is slightly different: https://man.openbsd.org/wc.1 https://man.openbsd.org/wc.1
    - wodenokoto 7y ago
      That still has the order wrong in the name section. I mean, strictly speaking, the name field doesn’t document the output, but having those aligned makes the documentation much easier to read.
cpach 7y ago
man -t is awesome! IME it’s easier to focus when reading printed documentation. One can jot down notes and no temptation to go and reload Facebook/Twitter/etc. I haven’t done it often, but some commands are really worth knowing inside and out.
mlang23 7y ago
Indeed. Never liked reading manpages more then when I was briefly exposed to OpenBSD. Really envied them for the concise and well written documentation they have.
marcosdumay 7y ago
That let me looking into how to read them in an e-reader: man --html=calibre bash

Thanks for `man -t`! It's actually 78 pages on my system (Debian, bash 4.4.12). I've heard that OpenBSD has the best man pages that are more pleasant to read and more informative/concise.

pfortuny 7y ago

OpenBSD man pages are what engineering documents should be. The contrast with Linux's is astounding.

cpach 7y ago
This reminds me of a writeup by John Carmack. Last year he did a programming retreat where he set up a OpenBSD dev environment and tried to use the base system and the included documentation as much as possible rather than using ports and WWW†. That would probably not be so nice on a Linux system. https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2110408722526967&id=100006735798590 https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2110408722... † Anyone else here that remembers the days when man pages and Windows help files used to be referred to as online documentation? As opposed to printed manuals.
- muxator 7y ago
  The MSDN CDs where an endless source of amusement. The reference manuals were very good and search actually worked well. Did not feel crippled at all.
wodenokoto 7y ago
I don't know. From `man wc` WC(1) BSD General Commands Manual WC(1) NAME wc -- word, line, character, and byte count When in actuality `wc` outputs lines, words bytes ...
- monista 7y ago
  You probably referring to FreeBSD man, OpenBSD is slightly different: https://man.openbsd.org/wc.1 https://man.openbsd.org/wc.1
  - wodenokoto 7y ago
    That still has the order wrong in the name section. I mean, strictly speaking, the name field doesn’t document the output, but having those aligned makes the documentation much easier to read.

cpach 7y ago

man -t is awesome! IME it’s easier to focus when reading printed documentation. One can jot down notes and no temptation to go and reload Facebook/Twitter/etc. I haven’t done it often, but some commands are really worth knowing inside and out.

mlang23 7y ago

Indeed. Never liked reading manpages more then when I was briefly exposed to OpenBSD. Really envied them for the concise and well written documentation they have.

marcosdumay 7y ago

That let me looking into how to read them in an e-reader: man --html=calibre bash