Slackware Linux Essentials
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Chapter 2 Help

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Table of Contents
2.1 System Help
2.2 Online Help

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Often there are times when you might need help with a specific command, setting up a -program, or getting a piece of hardware to work. Maybe you simply want to understand a -given command better, or see what other options are available to use with it. Luckily, -there are a variety of ways that you can get the help you're looking for. When you -install Slackware you have the option of installing packages from the “F” -series which includes FAQs and HOWTOs. Programs also come with help about their options, -configuration files, and usage.

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2.1 System Help

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2.1.1 `man`

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The man command (short for “manual”) is the -traditional form of online documentation in Unix and Linux operating systems. Comprised -of specially formatted files, the “man pages”, are written for the vast -majority of commands and are distributed with the software itself. Executing man somecommand will display the man page for (naturally) the -command specified, in our example this would be the imaginary program somecommand.

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As you might imagine, the amount of man pages can quickly add up, becoming overly -confusing and seriously complicated, even for an advanced user. So, for this reason, man -pages are grouped into enumerated sections. This system has been around for a very long -time; enough so that you will often see commands, programs, and even programming library -functions referred to with their man section number.

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For example:

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You might see a reference to man(1). The numbering tells you -that “man” is documented in section 1 (user -commands); you can specify that you want the section 1 man page for “man” -with the command man 1 man. Specifying the section that man -should look in is useful in the case of multiple items with the same name.

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Table 2-1. Man Page Sections

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Section	Contents
Section 1	user commands (intro only)
Section 2	system calls
Section 3	C library calls
Section 4	devices (e.g., `hd`, `sd`)
Section 5	file formats and protocols (e.g., wtmp, `/etc/passwd`, -nfs)
Section 6	games (intro only)
Section 7	conventions, macro packages, etc. (e.g., nroff, ascii)
Section 8	system administration (intro only)

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In addition to man(1), there are the commands whatis(1) and apropos(1) available to you, -whose shared purpose is to make it easier to find information in the man system.

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The command whatis gives a very brief description of system -commands, somewhat in the style of a pocket command reference.

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Example:

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-% whatis whatis
-whatis (1)  - search the whatis database for complete words
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The command apropos is used to search for a man page -containing a given keyword.

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Example:

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-% apropos wav
-cdda2wav    (1)  - a sampling utility that dumps CD audio data into wav sound files
-netwave_cs  (4)  - Xircom Creditcard Netwave device driver
-oggdec      (1)  - simple decoder, Ogg Vorbis file to PCM audio file (WAV or RAW)
-wavelan     (4)  - AT&T GIS WaveLAN ISA device driver
-wavelan_cs  (4)  - AT&T GIS WaveLAN PCMCIA device driver
-wvlan_cs    (4)  - Lucent WaveLAN/IEEE 802.11 device driver
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If you'd like further information on any of these commands, read their man pages for -the details. ;)

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2.1.2 The `/usr/doc` Directory

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The source for most packages that we build comes with some sort of documentation: -README files, usage instructions, license files, etc. Any sort of documentation that -comes with the source is included and installed on your system in the /usr/doc directory. Each program will (usually) install its own -documentation in the order of:

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/usr/doc/$program-$version

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Where $program is the name of the program you are -wanting to read about, and $version is (obviously) the -appropriate version of software package installed on your system.

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For example, to read the documentation for the command man(1) -you would want to cd to:

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-% cd /usr/doc/man-$version
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If reading the appropriate man page(s) doesn't provide you with enough information, or -address what you're looking for in particular, the /usr/doc -directory should be your next stop.

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2.1.3 HOWTOs and -mini-HOWTOs

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It is in the truest spirit of the Open Source community that brings us to the -HOWTO/mini-HOWTO collection. These files are exactly what they sound like - documents and -guides describing how to do stuff. If you installed the HOWTO collection, the HOWTOs will -be installed to /usr/doc/Linux-HOWTOs and the mini-HOWTOs to -/usr/doc/Linux-mini-HOWTOs.

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Also included in the same package series is a collection of FAQs, which is an acronym -which stands for

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Frequently

Asked

Questions

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These documents are written in a “Question and answer” style for -(surprise) Frequently Asked Questions. The FAQs can often be a very useful place to look -if you're just looking for a “Quick Fix” to something. If you decide to -install the FAQs during setup, you will find them installed to the /usr/doc/Linux-FAQs directory.

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These files are well worth reading whenever you're not quite sure how to proceed with -something. They cover an amazing range of topics, more often than not in a surprisingly -detailed manner. Good stuff!

Chapter 2 Help

2.1 System Help

2.1.1 man

2.1.2 The /usr/doc Directory

2.1.3 HOWTOs and -mini-HOWTOs

2.1.1 `man`

2.1.2 The `/usr/doc` Directory