“Where do you go when you need quick Unix advice, and you’re
nowhere near your man pages? Now you can find them online at a
variety of Websites, some of which are hyperlinked to make finding
an answer even quicker. In this month’s Unix 101, Mo Budlong offers
a list of the online man pages that he uses as well as resources
for FAQs and how-tos.”
“But there are two good reasons to use the online pages. First,
the hypertext versions of man pages are very convenient. It’s very
easy to hop from one entry to the next with a click.”
“The second reason is even more important: having data available
when you need it. I’m currently working for a very large
corporation that has several Unix boxes. None of those boxes have
the man pages loaded. I’ve inquired about that several times and
cannot find anyone with an answer. The system administrators reply
that they’ve never had man pages and don’t know who to ask to get
approval to add them.”
“I’m expected to develop several shell scripts and C++ programs
on those boxes, and I’ve learned to bless the availability of the
online man pages, although they’re not the friendliest approach to
Unix. They’re notorious for being the product of cryptic geekdom at
its worst. Aside from being obnoxious, they rarely provide
examples. Or they provide examples that are completely
useless.”