-.Dd $Mdocdate: March 22 2009 $
-.Dt manuals 7
+.\" $Id: manuals.7,v 1.15 2009/06/25 10:55:40 kristaps Exp $
+.\"
+.\" Copyright (c) 2009 Kristaps Dzonsons <kristaps@kth.se>
+.\"
+.\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any
+.\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above
+.\" copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.
+.\"
+.\" THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES
+.\" WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
+.\" MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR
+.\" ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES
+.\" WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN
+.\" ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF
+.\" OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
+.\"
+.Dd $Mdocdate: June 25 2009 $
+.Dt MANUALS 7
.Os
.\" SECTION
.Sh NAME
.Pp
A system component's documentation describes the utility of that
component, whether it's a device driver, an executable or, most
-importantly, a game. Although there are plenty of documents available
-on how to read
-.Ux
-documents, or where to find them, few focus on composition.
-.\" PARAGRAPH
+importantly, a game.
.Pp
This document serves as a tutorial to writing
.Ux
documentation
.Pq Dq manuals .
-If you add something to your operating system, whether it's a new file
-format or directory structure or device driver, it needs documentation.
.\" SECTION
-.Sh CLASSIFICATION
-Classify your system component. In
-.Ux ,
-each component has a manual section , which categorises the component's
-function. The section of a manual is usually listed in parenthesis next
-to the component name, such as
-.Xr ps 1 ,
-section 1. You can query a manual explicitly by its section:
-.Bd -literal -offset XXXX
-% man \-s 1 ps
-% apropos ps
-.Ed
+.Sh COMPOSITION
+First, copy over the manual template from
+.Pa /usr/share/misc/mdoc.template
+into your source directory.
+.Pp
+.Dl % cp /usr/share/misc/mdoc.template \.
.Pp
-The following table lists classifications and the applicable manual
-sections:
+.Em \&Do not
+start afresh or by copying another manual unless you know exactly what
+you're doing! If the template doesn't exist, bug your administrator.
+.\" SUBSECTION
+.Ss Section Numbering
+Find an appropriate section for your manual. There may exist multiple
+manual names per section, so be specific:
.Pp
+.\" LIST
.Bl -tag -width "XXXXXXXXXXXX" -offset indent -compact
.It Em Section
.Em Description
in-kernel routines
.El
.Pp
-Some examples in regular name/section form:
-.Pp
-.\" LIST
-.Bl -tag -width "File-formatX" -offset indent -compact
-.It Em Manual
-.Em Description
-.It Xr dc 4
-DEC/Intel 10/100 Ethernet device
-.It Xr usermod 8
-modify user login information
-.It Xr cc 1
-the C compiler
-.It Xr fortune 6
-print a random adage
-.It Xr open 2
-open or create a file for reading or writing
-.It Xr isspace 3
-whitespace character test
-.It Xr Pod::Man 3p
-convert POD data to formatted roff
-.It Xr tsleep 9
-process context sleep
-.It Xr passwd 5
-format of the password file
-.It Xr symlink 7
-symbolic link handling
-.El
-.\" SECTION
-.Sh COMPOSITION
-Prepare your composition environment by copying over the manual template
-from
-.Pa /usr/share/misc/mdoc.template .
-.Em \&Do not
-start afresh or by copying another manual unless you know exactly what
-you're doing!
+If your manual falls into multiple categories, choose the most
+widely-used or, better, re-consider the topic of your manual to be more
+specific. You can list all manuals per section by invoking
+.Xr apropos 1 ,
+then provide the
+.Fl s
+flag to
+.Xr man 1
+to see the specific section manual (section 1, in this example):
+.\" DISPLAY
+.Bd -literal -offset indent
+% apropos myname
+myname (1) - utility description
+myname (3) - library description
+% man \-s 1 myname
+.Ed
.\" SUBSECTION
.Ss Naming
-Your component will need a name by which to query its contents via
-.Xr man 1 .
-Keep it simple. You may want to look for other manuals by that same
-name before committing:
+Name your component. Be terse, erring on the side of clarity. Look for
+other manuals by that same name before committing:
.Pp
.Dl % apropos myname
.Pp
-Conventionally, manual files are named
-.Pa myname.section ,
+Manual files are named
+.Pa myname.mysection ,
such as
.Pa manuals.7
-for this document.
+for this document. Rename the template file:
+.Pp
+.Dl % mv mdoc.template myname.mysection
.\" SUBSECTION
.Ss Input Language
Manuals should
.Pp
There exist other documentation-specific languages, such as the
historical
-.Xr me 7 ,
-.Xr ms 7
-and
.Xr man 7
-packages of
+package of
.Xr roff 7 ;
-newer languages such as DocBook, texinfo or schema-driven XML; or even
-ad-hoc conventions such as README files.
-.Em Stay away from these methods!
-Historical formats fail to capture a manual's semantic content, instead
-only modelling its style. Newer methods requires special,
-system-specific tools and may change or become obsolete over the
-life-time of your component.
+newer languages such as DocBook or texinfo; or even ad-hoc conventions
+such as README files.
+.Em Avoid these formats .
.Pp
-There are two canonical references for writing mdoc manuals:
+There are two canonical references for writing mdoc. Read them.
.Pp
.\" LIST
.Bl -tag -width XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX -offset indent -compact
.El
.Pp
Open the template you've copied into
-.Pa name.section
+.Pa myname.mysection
and begin editing.
.\" SUBSECTION
.Ss Development Tools
You may spell-check your work as follows:
.Pp
.Dl % deroff name.1 | spell
+.Pp
+If
+.Xr ispell 1
+is installed, it has a special mode for manuals:
+.Pp
.Dl % ispell \-n name.1
.Pp
Use
.Xr cvs 1
-or, if not available,
+or
.Xr rcs 1
to version-control your work. If you wish the last check-in to effect
your document's date, use the following RCS tag for the date macro:
.Pp
-.Dl \&.Dd $Mdocdate: March 22 2009 $
+.Dl \&.Dd $Mdocdate: June 25 2009 $
.\" SUBSECTION
.Ss Viewing
-mdoc documents may be paged to your terminal with traditional
-tools such as
-.Xr nroff 1 ,
-.Xr groff 1 ,
-or with newer, more powerful tools such as
-.Xr mandoc 1 :
-.\" DISPLAY
-.Bd -literal -offset indent
-% nroff \-mandoc name.1 | less
-% groff \-Tascii \-mandoc name.1 | less
-% mandoc name.1 | less
-.Ed
-.Pp
-Other output formats are also supported:
-.\" DISPLAY
+mdoc documents may be paged to your terminal with
+.Xr mandoc 1 .
+If you plan on distributing your work to systems without this tool,
+check it against
+.Xr groff 1 :
.Bd -literal -offset indent
-% groff \-Tps \-mandoc name.1 | less
-% mandoc \-Thtml name.1 | less
+% mandoc \-Wall name.1 2>&1 | less
+% groff -mandoc name.1 2>&1 | less
.Ed
.\" SUBSECTION
.Ss Automation
Consider adding your mdoc documents to
.Xr make 1
-Makefiles in order to automatically check your input and generate
-output:
+Makefiles in order to automatically check your input:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
-\&.SUFFIXES: .html .txt .1 .in
+\&.SUFFIXES: .1 .in
\&.in.1:
mandoc -Wall,error -Tlint $<
cp -f $< $@
-
-\&.1.html:
- mandoc -Thtml $< >$@
-
-\&.1.txt:
- mandoc -Tascii $< | col -b >$@
.Ed
+.\" SUBSECTION
+.Ss Licensing
+Your manual must have a license. It should be listed at the start of
+your document, just as in source code.
.\" SECTION
.Sh BEST PRACTICES
The
files are indispensable in guiding composition. In this section, we
introduce some
.Ux
-manual best practices:
+manual best practises:
.\" SUBSECTION
.Ss Language
.Bl -enum
.Xr mdoc 7 .
.El
.\" SUBSECTION
+.Ss Style
+The structure of the mdoc language makes it very hard to have any
+particular format style. Keep your lines under 72 characters in length.
+If you must have long option lines, use
+.Sq \&Oo/Oc .
+The same goes for function prototypes.
+.Em \&Do not
+use
+.Sq \&Xo/Xc .
+Find another way to structure your line.
+.\" SUBSECTION
.Ss References
Other components may be referenced with the
-.Sq \&Xr ,
+.Sq \&Xr
and
.Sq \&Sx
macros. Make sure that these exist. If you intend to distribute your
block macros.
.\" SUBSECTION
.Ss Formatting
-Let the front-ends worry about formatting for you, but if you must think
-about formatting (at times necessary, especially for tagged and columnar
-lists), assume that your output device is a fixed-width terminal window:
-.Bd -literal -offset indent
-\&.Bl \-tag \-width "-o outfile"
-\&.It \&Fl \&Ar outfile
-.Ed
+.Em Don't style your manual .
+Give it meaningful content. The front-end will worry about formatting
+and style.
+.\" SECTION
+.Sh MAINTENANCE
+As your component changes and bugs are fixed, your manual may become out
+of date. You may be tempted to use tools like Doxygen to automate the
+development of your manuals. Don't.
.Pp
-You may assume that the width calculated by the string literal
-.Qq Fl o Ar outfile
-will be covered by the \-width argument.
+.Em Manuals are part of a system component :
+if you modify your code or specifications, modify the documentation.
git.ckatri.com / mandoc.git / blobdiff