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Is there a way to import Solaris man pages to Debian?

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Is there a way to import Solaris man pages to Debian?

#1 Post by marianogedisman1 »

As a n00b, I like man pages that offer all of the technical aspect, but also provide a sh*t ton examples.
Solaris used to do that perfectly, and I believe the illumos project does that as well.
However, I like Debian so much, that I don't feel compelled to switch distros. What would you do in my case?

Any and all recommendations are kindly welcomed!

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Re: Is there a way to import Solaris man pages to Debian?

#2 Post by jmgibson1981 »

I'm not sure but
import Solaris man pages to Debian?
is likely a bad idea. I don't know the ins and outs but as I understand it some of the gnu vs other types are sometimes different. One may have an option or toggle that the other doesn't. So while it would work for the most part you would run into situations where the man page didn't 100% match the command on the system and an "error" would simply be the man page indicating something that doesn't exist in the gnu version or vice versa. All kinds of problems could come from this.

If someone knows more or can correct me please do.

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Re: Is there a way to import Solaris man pages to Debian?

#3 Post by NorthEast »

Solaris is proprietary. Presumably it is OpenSolaris that has available source. illumos is "partly free and open source". Can't say what it has available freely. If you acquired the OpenSolaris manpage sources, you could make them available on a system in a similar way to debian native manpages but differentiated depending on how it's scripted and configured. Otherwise Solaris manpages are available in pdfs here: https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19253-01/index.html. I think it would be non-trivial to convert those into the native manpage system.

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Re: Is there a way to import Solaris man pages to Debian?

#4 Post by marianogedisman1 »

jmgibson1981 wrote: 2022-05-26 00:25 I'm not sure but
import Solaris man pages to Debian?
is likely a bad idea. I don't know the ins and outs but as I understand it some of the gnu vs other types are sometimes different. One may have an option or toggle that the other doesn't. So while it would work for the most part you would run into situations where the man page didn't 100% match the command on the system and an "error" would simply be the man page indicating something that doesn't exist in the gnu version or vice versa. All kinds of problems could come from this.

If someone knows more or can correct me please do.
Thanks for your input @jmgibson1981 ! It actually makes pretty much sense. I was just hoping somewhere there was a project to "adapt" this man pages format to Debian, I would certainly like to help with it!


But oh well, I guess I will have to settle with Oracle .pdf's.

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Re: Is there a way to import Solaris man pages to Debian?

#5 Post by marianogedisman1 »

NorthEast wrote: 2022-05-26 07:22 Solaris is proprietary. Presumably it is OpenSolaris that has available source. illumos is "partly free and open source". Can't say what it has available freely. If you acquired the OpenSolaris manpage sources, you could make them available on a system in a similar way to debian native manpages but differentiated depending on how it's scripted and configured. Otherwise Solaris manpages are available in pdfs here: https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19253-01/index.html. I think it would be non-trivial to convert those into the native manpage system.
Thanks for replying @NorthEast ! I think the .pdf resource is pretty neat! I was hoping I could access it from the man pages on the terminal. Hmm.. Imagine a program that takes the input for the man pages from a folder with a bunch of pdf's, and then make them man accessible. :wink:

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Re: Is there a way to import Solaris man pages to Debian?

#6 Post by canci »

>Imagine a program that takes the input for the man pages from a folder with a bunch of pdf's, and then make them man accessible.

man pages are just text in TROFF/GROFF format, so you could just convert PDF to text and then maybe to groff. Should be easy to script.
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Re: Is there a way to import Solaris man pages to Debian?

#7 Post by jmgibson1981 »

I know when I'm having trouble piecing together a command or otherwise I just look to Google. The man pages aren't always clear and if anything can occasionally be a bit muddy. I can think of a couple times where the man page made zero sense to me over the years but searching Google saved the day.

You could assemble work on assembling examples for them. Could even submit your changes as patches.

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Re: Is there a way to import Solaris man pages to Debian?

#8 Post by canci »

>man page made zero sense

Yes, sadly, a lot of them are not very didactic and needlessly convoluted.
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Re: Is there a way to import Solaris man pages to Debian?

#9 Post by jmgibson1981 »

I sometimes wonder if the reason people make posts about "want to learn but not a programmer" involves them having looked at some type of man page via search only to say screw that. Totally agree some are extremely cryptic.

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Re: Is there a way to import Solaris man pages to Debian?

#10 Post by canci »

Also, OpenBSD users (and maybe also Solaris) are spoiled with amazingly written manpages. In Linux world, a lot of programmes have man pages that just describe its function and list a website. Or a lot of the times, they're written by someone who rarely talks to people it seems.

But the manpages with the simplest structure are the best: What is it doing? What do the flags mean? Examples? Known weirdness and bugs? Done.
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Re: Is there a way to import Solaris man pages to Debian?

#11 Post by marianogedisman1 »

jmgibson1981 wrote: 2022-06-12 01:01 I sometimes wonder if the reason people make posts about "want to learn but not a programmer" involves them having looked at some type of man page via search only to say screw that. Totally agree some are extremely cryptic.
Hello @ jmgibson1981! I think you are very right on that one. In my case, I can vouch I usually try very hard to understand before asking.

I first look into the man page a few times, to see if I can figure it out from there. Only then I move on to google the man page to see if it makes any different (die.net, etc); and only then I google the info on forums, or ask a question if I found no info at all.

However, after seeing a video on man pages for Solaris, I just fell in love with it. The examples are very clear, straightforward and friendly.

I have to reckon, some Linux users that are quite knowledgeable purposely make it difficult for newcomers to get the hang something they want to achieve. I guess it's an ego thing, or something like that.
However the majority of the community is extremely welcoming and teaching such important and valuable things!
There's a lot of stuff I do at work and at home, that I learnt from people who helped me on forums. Like, in part I literally put food on my table because of people like all of you guys, which to me is extremely valuable and I will be forever thankful!

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Re: Is there a way to import Solaris man pages to Debian?

#12 Post by marianogedisman1 »

canci wrote: 2022-06-12 07:34
But the manpages with the simplest structure are the best: What is it doing? What do the flags mean? Examples? Known weirdness and bugs? Done.
THIS. Exactly this.

I never tried OpenBSD though. I'm somewhat of an eternal Linux newb, but I reckon I'm digging deeper into it right now. I found Debian the most "complete" one, so to speak. Also it's available on most cloud VM's I sign up to for free, haha!

I'm gonna check OpenBSD a bit more though!

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Re: Is there a way to import Solaris man pages to Debian?

#13 Post by canci »

OpenBSD has those nice manpages and they generally strive more towards an as simple structure as possible in their OS.
Sad only that hardware choice seems even more limited on there compared to Linux.
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