[ Thanks to Steve
Hill for this link. ]
“Let’s face it: GNU/Linux software is not always easy to use.
Especially command line software (at least the GUI programs have
buttons and tooltips). Sometimes, the program will have a manual or
some documentation at its homepage, but that is not always the
case. The solution? The magicalman.“In the beginning, there was no coherent manual reading program.
Manuals were scattered everywhere, if they even existed. Then, the
first manual pages (shortened to man) were written by Dennis
Ritchie (creator of the C language and UNIX pioneer) and Ken ‘ken’
Thompson (creator of the B language which was surpassed by C and
UNIX pioneer). Now, thirty-five years later, virtually every
terminal program and most graphical programs have a manual in the
manpage format…”