Configuring Apropos And Whatis

Configuring apropos and whatis - (The windex file) by Jeff Hunter, Sr. Database Administrator Overview Many UNIX users are familiar with the apropos and whatis commands. The whatis command is used to display a one-line summary about a keyword as in the following example: # whatis scsi scsi scsi (4) SCSI target drivers

- configuration files for

The apropos command is used to locate commands by keyword lookup. The apropos utility displays the man page name, section number, and a short description for each man page whose NAME line contains keyword as in the following example: # apropos IDE dad devices uata Driver

dad (7d)

- driver for IDE disk

uata (7d)

- IDE Host Bus Adapter

Creating /usr/share/man/windex Before using either the apropos, whatis, or make -k commands, it is necessary to create the system generated index file: /usr/share/man/windex. Failing to have this file generated will result in the following error when attempting to use any of the above commands: # apropos IDE /usr/share/man/windex: No such file or directory

To create the /usr/share/man/windex, use the catman, as in the following example: # /usr/bin/catman -w

This utility will search the MANPATH and create the windex file. If you would like to specify which directories yourself, you can use the -M switch.