makemandb(8) - NetBSD Manual Pages

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MAKEMANDB(8)            NetBSD System Manager's Manual            MAKEMANDB(8)


NAME

     makemandb -- parse the manual pages and build a search index for
     apropos(1)


SYNOPSIS

     makemandb [-floQqv] [-C path]


DESCRIPTION

     The makemandb utility traverses the directories containing man pages,
     parses the manual pages with the help of mandoc(3) and builds an Sqlite
     database to support full text searches by apropos(1).  It obtains the
     list of directories to traverse using the -p option of man(1).

     It supports the following options:

     -C path
             Use different man(1) configuration file than the default,
             /etc/man.conf.

     -f      Force rebuilding the index from scratch, pruning the existing
             one.

     -l      Limit the parsing to only the NAME section of the pages.  This
             option can be used to mimic the behavior of the classic
             apropos(1) and also to substantially save disk space.

     -o      Use this option to optimize the index for faster search by
             apropos(1) and also to significantly reduce disk space usage.
             This is an expensive I/O operation.

     -Q      Print only fatal error messages (i.e., when the database is left
             in an inconsistent state and needs manual intervention).

     -q      Print only warnings and error messages but no status updates.

     -v      Enable verbose output.  This prints the name of every file being
             parsed and a summary at the end of the index update.

     The index generated by makemandb is also used by the whatis(1) program,
     replacing the old ``makewhatis'' program.

   DATABASE SCHEMA
     The name of the FTS table is mandb and its schema is as follows:

           section        The section number of the page
           name           The name of the page from the NAME section.
           name_desc      The one line description from the NAME section.
           desc           The DESCRIPTION section.
           lib            The LIBRARY section.
           return_vals    The RETURN VALUES section.
           env            The ENVIRONMENT section.
           files          The FILES section.
           exit_status    The EXIT STATUS section.
           diagnostics    The DIAGNOSTICS section.
           errors         The ERRORS section.
           md5_hash       MD5 checksum of the man page.
           machine        The machine architecture (if any) for which the man
                                                page is relevant.


FILES

     /etc/man.conf  The location of the Sqlite FTS database can be configured
                    using the _mandb tag.


SEE ALSO

     apropos(1), man(1), whatis(1), mandoc(3), man.conf(5)


AUTHORS

     Abhinav Upadhyay

NetBSD 9.1                       June 18, 2016                      NetBSD 9.1