when do you usually use the man page for a complex command line tool to answer a question you have?
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i'm very curious about everyone who says "I'd look there first", if I want to figure out how to do something new I think I'll usually google how to do it rather than look at the man page, and then maybe later look at the man page to look up the details
(I've gotten enough of these answers:
- "I like that man pages don't require changing context"
- "with the man page I know I have the right version of the docs")@b0rk I think for me, certain tools feel old and unixy, and a man page feels right. And then certain tools feel new and I expect a website.
But also, man pages feel more correct for “what’s the syntax for this specific thing that must have a flag?” and a website or LLM is much more correct for “how do I use this thing in varied ways?”
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when do you usually use the man page for a complex command line tool to answer a question you have? (like git, openssl, rsync, curl, etc)
(edit: no need to say "i use --help then man")
@b0rk Very much depends. If I think it's likely solved by a simple feature of the tool, like a subcommand or option then I'll look in the help or man page. If it's a higher order "I want to solve this uncommon/situational problem" I'll probably go for a web search... and then cry to myself that the search engines are so bad.
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also it just occurred to me that the one time I wrote a command line tool (https://rbspy.github.io/) I didn't write a man page for it, I made a documentation website instead. I don't remember even considering writing a man page, probably because I rarely use man pages
(not looking to argue about whether command line tools "should" have man pages or not, just reflecting about how maybe I personally would prefer a good docs website over a man page. Also please no "webpages require internet")
@b0rk one advantage with a man page packaged with the tool is the versioning. The man page should hopefully be the correct version for hte installed tool, avoiding some potential confusion.
I do tend to use man pages for old C libraries if I need docs too. Interestingly I don't do that for Go packages (I either use the local src doc strings that my editor jumps to, or I'll use the pkg.go.dev site).
(obviously there are no man pages for go pkgs, but I rarely use go doc directly) -
i'm very curious about everyone who says "I'd look there first", if I want to figure out how to do something new I think I'll usually google how to do it rather than look at the man page, and then maybe later look at the man page to look up the details
(I've gotten enough of these answers:
- "I like that man pages don't require changing context"
- "with the man page I know I have the right version of the docs")@b0rk Another reason I can think of is when you're working in environments that have strict version policies, so looking at available man pages gets you the documentation for the version of the tool you have installed. Needing to support older Ansible releases? Gotta check the bundled documentation with
ansible-docbecause the website is the latest rolling version. -
i'm very curious about everyone who says "I'd look there first", if I want to figure out how to do something new I think I'll usually google how to do it rather than look at the man page, and then maybe later look at the man page to look up the details
(I've gotten enough of these answers:
- "I like that man pages don't require changing context"
- "with the man page I know I have the right version of the docs")@b0rk
Most of all, it's because that's what I have locally on my machinery. If I have that and it's good enough for my level of understanding and purposes, why should I need to go looking on the net?Rubbish man-pages do exist, though, just the same as pretty bad help output. It's when I run into those that I start looking on the net.
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i'm very curious about everyone who says "I'd look there first", if I want to figure out how to do something new I think I'll usually google how to do it rather than look at the man page, and then maybe later look at the man page to look up the details
(I've gotten enough of these answers:
- "I like that man pages don't require changing context"
- "with the man page I know I have the right version of the docs")@b0rk I got spoilt by the amazing quality and consistency of OpenBSD's man pages. Even when searching the web, I do 'man <command>' first.
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@b0rk I think for me, certain tools feel old and unixy, and a man page feels right. And then certain tools feel new and I expect a website.
But also, man pages feel more correct for “what’s the syntax for this specific thing that must have a flag?” and a website or LLM is much more correct for “how do I use this thing in varied ways?”
@hyperpape @b0rk I feel like man pages and --help overlap some in that I use them both as references, but expect man pages to have more explanation than help, and websites to encompass both being a reference as well as having tutorials/deeper explanation?
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@b0rk I think for me, certain tools feel old and unixy, and a man page feels right. And then certain tools feel new and I expect a website.
But also, man pages feel more correct for “what’s the syntax for this specific thing that must have a flag?” and a website or LLM is much more correct for “how do I use this thing in varied ways?”
@hyperpape I feel the same way but it's also disorienting because I grew up with the Linux coreutils, and they feel old and unixy, but their man pages afaik are unmaintained and I think it really undermined my confidence in man pages as a format even for old unixy-feeling tools
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i'm very curious about everyone who says "I'd look there first", if I want to figure out how to do something new I think I'll usually google how to do it rather than look at the man page, and then maybe later look at the man page to look up the details
(I've gotten enough of these answers:
- "I like that man pages don't require changing context"
- "with the man page I know I have the right version of the docs")@b0rk I started out using man pages before the web was a thing and it’s stuck with me. Too often a web search gives you info on a different variant so options don’t work. That’s if you can find details at all, more a now problem than 5-10 years ago. I’ve always been annoyed with the `info` system. It’s been a few years since I last used it. My path is usually try for a man page, then web search, then remember there’s this `info` thing but I usually strike out there too. I do love a good page that has a nice collection of examples, especially for those complicated commands and functions.
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i'm very curious about everyone who says "I'd look there first", if I want to figure out how to do something new I think I'll usually google how to do it rather than look at the man page, and then maybe later look at the man page to look up the details
(I've gotten enough of these answers:
- "I like that man pages don't require changing context"
- "with the man page I know I have the right version of the docs")@b0rk to be honest, I'll often look there first, but immediately get overwhelmed and try a web search instead.
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i'm very curious about everyone who says "I'd look there first", if I want to figure out how to do something new I think I'll usually google how to do it rather than look at the man page, and then maybe later look at the man page to look up the details
(I've gotten enough of these answers:
- "I like that man pages don't require changing context"
- "with the man page I know I have the right version of the docs")@b0rk Probably has to do with how you grew up on the internet. Before StackOverflow, there really wouldn’t have been anything useful on the web; “RTFM” was indeed the generic advice (and sometimes phrased more politely) on Usenet and mailing lists.
Also a factor: the quality of the man pages you’re used to (BSD man pages tend(ed?) to be significantly better than “go use the ‘info’ page” Linux default).
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i'm very curious about everyone who says "I'd look there first", if I want to figure out how to do something new I think I'll usually google how to do it rather than look at the man page, and then maybe later look at the man page to look up the details
(I've gotten enough of these answers:
- "I like that man pages don't require changing context"
- "with the man page I know I have the right version of the docs")@b0rk This, when I started in IT not much was on the Internet, man pages, another person, or dead tree books were the first place you looked. As time has progressed, search engines slowly surpassed man pages and books, until recently, now I generally will use a man page before a search, or even an ai, but I have a deep instinctual aversion to ai
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also it just occurred to me that the one time I wrote a command line tool (https://rbspy.github.io/) I didn't write a man page for it, I made a documentation website instead. I don't remember even considering writing a man page, probably because I rarely use man pages
(not looking to argue about whether command line tools "should" have man pages or not, just reflecting about how maybe I personally would prefer a good docs website over a man page. Also please no "webpages require internet")
@b0rk FWIW, I first write the man page, then the code. Helps me clarify what the user wants, how I will interact with the tool. I then generate the README from the man page.
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when do you usually use the man page for a complex command line tool to answer a question you have? (like git, openssl, rsync, curl, etc)
(edit: no need to say "i use --help then man")
@b0rk adding because you lumped man with —help, usually I try -h/—help first then look for authoritative docs
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@b0rk adding because you lumped man with —help, usually I try -h/—help first then look for authoritative docs
@machinewitch haha yeah I added the note about --help because 20 different people said "i use --help first then man" :)
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when do you usually use the man page for a complex command line tool to answer a question you have? (like git, openssl, rsync, curl, etc)
(edit: no need to say "i use --help then man")
@b0rk in my experience, man pages are written by experts for experts with exhaustive information, while a web search is more likely to point you to the most common uses for the command, or other people asking exactly what you need.
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i'm very curious about everyone who says "I'd look there first", if I want to figure out how to do something new I think I'll usually google how to do it rather than look at the man page, and then maybe later look at the man page to look up the details
(I've gotten enough of these answers:
- "I like that man pages don't require changing context"
- "with the man page I know I have the right version of the docs")@b0rk My recollection is that a lot of searches for command line info would come up with web man pages, like Ubuntu's or... linux.die.net? Only later did forum posts show up.
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when do you usually use the man page for a complex command line tool to answer a question you have? (like git, openssl, rsync, curl, etc)
(edit: no need to say "i use --help then man")
@b0rk yeah if I know the tool has a good man page or help. I will try to use that first.
However, not all tools are equal. Some tools have not even a man page or something. In those cases a google search and stackoverflow often will do.
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i'm very curious about everyone who says "I'd look there first", if I want to figure out how to do something new I think I'll usually google how to do it rather than look at the man page, and then maybe later look at the man page to look up the details
(I've gotten enough of these answers:
- "I like that man pages don't require changing context"
- "with the man page I know I have the right version of the docs")@b0rk I do a grep or search on the help output or in the man page. Searching on terms..
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i think part of the reason I'm feeling interested in man pages right now even though I rarely use them is that search has gotten so much worse, it's frustrating, and it makes it feel more appealing to have trustworthy sources with clear explanations
@b0rk Ai is also not helping, if you are using llm? A good man page or help output can correct AIs.
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