XMAN(1)                     General Commands Manual                    XMAN(1)



NAME
       xman - Manual page display program for the X Window System

SYNOPSIS
       xman [ -options ... ]

DESCRIPTION
       Xman  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
       will pop up a window with on-line help, Quit will exit, and Manual Page
       will pop up a window with a manual page browser in it.  Typing Control-
       S will pop up a window prompting for a specific manual page to display.
       You may display more than one manual page browser window at a time from
       a single execution of xman.

       For further information on using xman, please  read  the  on-line  help
       information.  Most of this manual will discuss customization of xman.

OPTIONS
       Xman  supports  all standard Toolkit command line arguments (see X(7)).
       The following additional arguments are supported.


       -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 but-
              tons in it.

       -pagesize WxH+X+Y
              Sets the size and location of all the Manual Pages.

CUSTOMIZING XMAN
       Xman allows customization of both the directories to  be  searched  for
       manual  pages, and the name that each directory will map to in the Sec-
       tions menu.  Xman determines which directories it will search by  read-
       ing  the MANPATH environment variable.  If no MANPATH is found then the
       directory is /usr/man is searched on POSIX systems.   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 will search each of the following directories (in each
       of  the  directories  specified in the users MANPATH) for manual pages.
       If manual pages exist in that directory then they are added to list  of
       manual pages for the corresponding menu item.  A menu item is only dis-
       played for those sections that actually contain manual pages.


       Directory   Section Name
       -           -

       man1        (1) User Commands
       man2        (2) System Calls
       man3        (3) Subroutines
       man4        (4) Devices
       man5        (5) File Formats
       man6        (6) Games
       man7        (7) Miscellaneous
       man8        (8) Sys. Administration
       manl        (l) Local
       mann        (n) New
       mano        (o) Old

       For instance, a user has three directories in her manual path and  each
       contain  a  directory  called man3.  All these manual pages will appear
       alphabetically sorted when the user selects the menu  item  called  (3)
       Subroutines.  If there is no directory called mano in any of the direc-
       tories in her MANPATH, or there are no  manual  pages  in  any  of  the
       directories  called  mano  then  no menu item will be displayed for the
       section called (o) Old.

BSD AND LINUX SYSTEMS
       In newer BSD and Linux systems, Xman  will  search  for  a  file  named
       /etc/man.conf  which  will  contain  the list of directories containing
       manual pages. See man.conf(5) for a complete description  of  the  file
       format.

THE MANDESC FILE
       By  using  the  mandesc  file  a user or system manager is able to more
       closely control which manual pages will appear in each of the  sections
       represented  by menu items in the 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 -- see ln(1) -- will allow almost any configuration  you
       can imagine.)

       The format of the mandesc file is a character followed by a label.  The
       character determines which of the sections will  be  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 two and three.  The mandesc
       file would look like this:

       2Programmer Subroutines
       3Programmer Subroutines

       This will add a menu item to the Sections menu that would  bring  up  a
       listing  of  all manual pages in sections two and three of the Program-
       mers Manual.  Since the label names are exactly the same they  will  be
       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 System Calls or  Subroutines  sections  any  longer.
       You would need to duplicate the default entries, as well as adding your
       new one.

       no default sections
       1(1) User Commands
       2Programmer Subroutines
       3Programmer Subroutines
       4(4) Devices
       5(5) File Formats
       6(6) Games
       7(7) Miscellaneous
       8(8) Sys. Administration
       l(l) Local
       n(n) New
       o(o) Old

       Xman will read any section that is of the  from  man<character>,  where
       <character>  is  an  upper  or lower case letter (they are treated dis-
       tinctly) or a numeral (0-9).  Be warned, however, that man(1) and  cat-
       man(8) will not search directories that are non-standard.

WIDGETS
       In  order  to  specify resources, it is useful to know the hierarchy of
       the widgets which compose xman.  In  the  notation  below,  indentation
       indicates  hierarchical  structure.   The  widget  class  name is given
       first, followed by the widget instance name.

       Xman xman       (This widget is never used)
               TopLevelShell  topBox
                       Form  form
                               Label  topLabel
                               Command  helpButton
                               Command  quitButton
                               Command  manpageButton
                       TransientShell  search
                               DialogWidgetClass  dialog
                                       Label  label
                                       Text  value
                                       Command  manualPage
                                       Command  apropos
                                       Command  cancel
                       TransientShell  pleaseStandBy
                               Label  label
               TopLevelShell  manualBrowser
                       Paned  Manpage_Vpane
                               Paned  horizPane
                                       MenuButton  options
                                       MenuButton  sections
                                       Label  manualBrowser
                               Viewport  directory
                                       List  directory
                                       List  directory
                                       .
                                       . (one for each section,
                                       .  created on the fly)
                                       .
                               ScrollByLine  manualPage
                       SimpleMenu  optionMenu
                               SmeBSB  displayDirectory
                               SmeBSB  displayManualPage
                               SmeBSB  help
                               SmeBSB  search
                               SmeBSB  showBothScreens
                               SmeBSB  removeThisManpage
                               SmeBSB  openNewManpage
                               SmeBSB  showVersion
                               SmeBSB  quit
                       SimpleMenu  sectionMenu
                               SmeBSB  <name of section>
                                       .
                                       . (one for each section)
                                       .
                       TransientShell  search
                               DialogWidgetClass  dialog
                                       Label  label
                                       Text  value
                                       Command  manualPage
                                       Command  apropos
                                       Command  cancel
                       TransientShell  pleaseStandBy
                               Label  label
                       TransientShell  likeToSave
                               Dialog  dialog
                                       Label  label
                                       Text  value
                                       Command  yes
                                       Command  no
               TopLevelShell  help
                       Paned  Manpage_Vpane
                               Paned  horizPane
                                       MenuButton  options
                                       MenuButton  sections
                                       Label  manualBrowser
                               ScrollByLine  manualPage
                       SimpleMenu  optionMenu
                               SmeBSB  displayDirectory
                               SmeBSB  displayManualPage
                               SmeBSB  help
                               SmeBSB  search
                               SmeBSB  showBothScreens
                               SmeBSB  removeThisManpage
                               SmeBSB  openNewManpage
                               SmeBSB  showVersion
                               SmeBSB  quit


APPLICATION RESOURCES
       xman has the following application-specific resources which allow  cus-
       tomizations unique to xman.

       manualFontNormal (Class Font)
                         The font to use for normal text in the manual pages.

       manualFontBold (Class Font)
                         The font to use for bold text in the manual pages.

       manualFontItalic (Class Font)
                         The font to use for italic text in the manual pages.

       directoryFontNormal (Class Font)
                         The font to use for the directory text.

       bothShown (Class Boolean)
                         Either  `true'  or  `false,' specifies whether or not
                         you want both the directory and the manual page shown
                         at start up.

       directoryHeight (Class DirectoryHeight)
                         The  height  in  pixels  of  the  directory, when the
                         directory and the manual page  are  shown  simultane-
                         ously.

       topCursor (Class Cursor)
                         The cursor to use in the top box.

       helpCursor (Class Cursor)
                         The cursor to use in the help window.

       manpageCursor (Class Cursor)
                         The cursor to use in the manual page window.

       searchEntryCursor (Class Cursor)
                         The cursor to use in the search entry text widget.

       pointerColor (Class Foreground)
                         This is the color of all the cursors (pointers) spec-
                         ified above.  The name was chosen  to  be  compatible
                         with xterm.

       helpFile  (Class File)
                         Use this rather than the system default helpfile.

       topBox (Class Boolean)
                         Either  `true' or `false,' determines whether the top
                         box (containing the help, quit and manual  page  but-
                         tons) or a manual page is put on the screen at start-
                         up.  The default is true.

       verticalList (Class Boolean)
                         Either `true'  or  `false,'  determines  whether  the
                         directory listing is vertically or horizontally orga-
                         nized.  The default is horizontal (false).

GLOBAL ACTIONS
       Xman defines all user interaction through global actions.  This  allows
       the  user  to  modify the translation table of any widget, and bind any
       event to the new user action.  The list of actions  supported  by  xman
       are:

       GotoPage(page) When  used  in  a  manual  page display window this will
                      allow the user to move between a  directory  and  manual
                      page display.  The page argument can be either Directory
                      or ManualPage.

       Quit()         This action may be used anywhere, and will exit xman.

       Search(type, action)
                      Only useful when used in a  search  popup,  this  action
                      will cause the search widget to perform the named search
                      type on the string in the search popup's  value  widget.
                      This  action  will  also pop down the search widget. The
                      type argument can be either Apropos, Manpage or  Cancel.
                      If  an action of Open is specified then xman will open a
                      new manual page to display the results  of  the  search,
                      otherwise  xman  will  attempt to display the results in
                      the parent of the search popup.

       PopupHelp()    This action may be used anywhere,  and  will  popup  the
                      help widget.

       PopupSearch()  This  action  may be used anywhere except in a help win-
                      dow.  It will cause the search popup  to  become  active
                      and  visible on the screen, allowing the user search for
                      a manual page.

       CreateNewManpage()
                      This action may be used anywhere, and will create a  new
                      manual page display window.

       RemoveThisManpage()
                      This  action may be used in any manual page or help dis-
                      play window.  When called it will remove the window, and
                      clean up all resources associated with it.

       SaveFormattedPage(action)
                      This  action  can  only  be used in the likeToSave popup
                      widget, and tells xman whether to Save or Cancel a  save
                      of the manual page that has just been formatted.

       ShowVersion()  This  action  may be called from any manual page or help
                      display window, and will cause the informational display
                      line to show the current version of xman.

FILES
       <manpath directory>/man<character>

       <manpath directory>/cat<character>

       <manpath directory>/mandesc

       /etc/X11/app-defaults/Xman
                                specifies required resources.

       /tmp                     Xman  creates  temporary files in /tmp for all
                                unformatted  man   pages   and   all   apropos
                                searches.

SEE ALSO
       X(7), man(1), apropos(1), catman(8), Athena Widget Set

ENVIRONMENT
       DISPLAY        the default host and display to use.

       MANPATH        the search path for manual pages.  Directories are sepa-
                      rated            by             colons             (e.g.
                      /usr/man:/mit/kit/man:/foo/bar/man).

       XENVIRONMENT   to  get  the  name of a resource file that overrides the
                      global resources stored in  the  RESOURCE_MANAGER  prop-
                      erty.

       XAPPLRESDIR    A  string  that will have ``Xman'' appended to it.  This
                      string will be the full path name of a user app-defaults
                      file  to  be merged into the resource database after the
                      system app-defaults file, and before the resources  that
                      are attached to the display.
                      See X(7) for a full statement of rights and permissions.

AUTHORS
       Chris  Peterson, MIT X Consortium from the V10 version written by Barry
       Shein formerly of Boston University.  Bug fixes and  Linux  support  by
       Carlos A M dos Santos, for The XFree86 Project.



X Version 11                      xman 1.1.3                           XMAN(1)
