comparison man/woman.texi @ 76839:4a7ae61207d2

* woman.el (woman-Cyg-to-Win): Don't convert cons cells corresponding to MANPATH_MAP entries. (woman-man.conf-path, woman-parse-man.conf): Doc fix. (woman-parse-man.conf): Use more discriminating man.conf name. (woman-parse-man.conf): Parse MANPATH_MAP entries. (woman-manpath): Doc fix and type fix. (woman-cached-data): Check for MANPATH_MAP entries. (woman-expand-directory-path): Treat MANPATH_MAP entries. * woman.texi (Topic, Interface Options): Explain changes semantics of woman-manpath in order to consider MANPATH_MAP entries.

76838:53f6b50e0fb3

@code{man} command, as follows.  If the environment variable
@code{MANPATH} is set, which seems to be the standard mechanism under
UNIX, then WoMan parses that.  Otherwise, if WoMan can find a
configuration file named (by default) @file{man.conf} (or something very
similar), which seems to be the standard mechanism under GNU/Linux, then
it parses that.  To be precise, ``something very similar'' means having
two name components separated by a dot and respectively containing
@samp{man} and beginning with @samp{conf}, e.g.@: @file{manual.configuration}.
The search path and/or precise full path name for this file are set by
the value of the customizable user option @code{woman-man.conf-path}.
If all else fails, WoMan uses a plausible default man search path.

If the above default configuration does not work correctly for any

be directories that contain @emph{directories of} man files, whereas the
elements of @code{woman-path} must be directories that contain man files
@emph{directly}.  Secondly, the last directory component of each element
of @code{woman-path} is treated as a regular (Emacs) match expression
rather than a fixed name, which allows collections of related
directories to be specified succinctly.

For topic completion to work, WoMan must build a list of all the manual
files that it can access, which can be very slow, especially if a
network is involved.  For this reason, it caches various amounts of
information, after which retrieving it from the cache is very fast.  If

@item woman-manpath
A list of strings representing @emph{directory trees} to search for Unix
manual files.  Each element should be the name of a directory that
contains subdirectories of the form @file{man?}, or more precisely
subdirectories selected by the value of @code{woman-manpath-man-regexp}.
Non-directory and unreadable files are ignored.

@cindex @code{MANPATH}, environment variable
If not set then the environment variable @code{MANPATH} is used.  If no
such environment variable is found, the default list is determined by
consulting the man configuration file if found.  By default this is

76839:4a7ae61207d2

@code{man} command, as follows.  If the environment variable
@code{MANPATH} is set, which seems to be the standard mechanism under
UNIX, then WoMan parses that.  Otherwise, if WoMan can find a
configuration file named (by default) @file{man.conf} (or something very
similar), which seems to be the standard mechanism under GNU/Linux, then
it parses that.  To be precise, ``something very similar'' means
starting with @samp{man} and ending with @samp{.conf} and possibly more
lowercase letters, e.g.@: @file{manual.configuration}.
The search path and/or precise full path name for this file are set by
the value of the customizable user option @code{woman-man.conf-path}.
If all else fails, WoMan uses a plausible default man search path.

If the above default configuration does not work correctly for any

be directories that contain @emph{directories of} man files, whereas the
elements of @code{woman-path} must be directories that contain man files
@emph{directly}.  Secondly, the last directory component of each element
of @code{woman-path} is treated as a regular (Emacs) match expression
rather than a fixed name, which allows collections of related
directories to be specified succinctly.  Also, elements of
@code{woman-manpath} can be conses, indicating a mapping from
@samp{PATH} environment variable components to man directory
hierarchies.

For topic completion to work, WoMan must build a list of all the manual
files that it can access, which can be very slow, especially if a
network is involved.  For this reason, it caches various amounts of
information, after which retrieving it from the cache is very fast.  If

@item woman-manpath
A list of strings representing @emph{directory trees} to search for Unix
manual files.  Each element should be the name of a directory that
contains subdirectories of the form @file{man?}, or more precisely
subdirectories selected by the value of @code{woman-manpath-man-regexp}.
Non-directory and unreadable files are ignored.  This can also contain
conses, with the car indicating a @code{PATH} variable component mapped
to the directory tree given in the cdr.

@cindex @code{MANPATH}, environment variable
If not set then the environment variable @code{MANPATH} is used.  If no
such environment variable is found, the default list is determined by
consulting the man configuration file if found.  By default this is