Installed: sys-apps/man-1.6 The PAGER variable in /etc/man.conf overrides the default used pager (/usr/bin/less -is) if set. In the manpage of man where the -P option is described, the environment variables MANPAGER and PAGER are mentioned to override the default pager. However, the PAGER variable in /etc/man.conf is not mentioned, which makes this information erroneous. When the environment variables MANPAGER and PAGER are unset, the default pager will be used according to the manpage, but this isn't always true. In case the PAGER variable in /etc/man.conf is set to something different then the default pager, this overrides the default pager. This incomplete/erroneous information can lead to a big guest why the default pager is not used like expected. Knowing the PAGER variable in /etc/man.conf also overrides the pager default would have made the quest superfluous. Therefore, I think this essential information should be included in the manpage where the -P option is described, too. Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. vi /etc/man.conf 2. .. change the command for PAGER (/usr/bin/less -is) to something else (for example: /usr/bin/less) 3. unset MANPAGER 4. unset PAGER 5. man man 6. man chgrp (don't quit this manpage for the next test) 7. switch to (or open) another terminal 8. pgrep -fl chgrp Actual Results: ========================= output of step 5: man man ========================= [...cut...] -P pager Specify which pager to use. This option overrides the MANPAGER environment variable, which in turn overrides the PAGER vari- able. By default, man uses /usr/bin/less -is. [...cut...] ================================= output of step 8: pgrep -fl chgrp ================================= 15658 man chgrp 15661 sh -c (cd /usr/share/man && (echo ".ll 14.1i"; echo ".nr LL 14.1i"; echo ".pl 1100i"; /bin/gunzip -c '/usr/share/man/man1/chgrp.1.gz'; echo ".\\\""; echo ".pl \n(nlu+10") | /usr/bin/gtbl | /usr/bin/nroff -Tascii -c -mandoc | /usr/bin/less -i) 15662 sh -c (cd /usr/share/man && (echo ".ll 14.1i"; echo ".nr LL 14.1i"; echo ".pl 1100i"; /bin/gunzip -c '/usr/share/man/man1/chgrp.1.gz'; echo ".\\\""; echo ".pl \n(nlu+10") | /usr/bin/gtbl | /usr/bin/nroff -Tascii -c -mandoc | /usr/bin/less -i) Expected Results: I suggest including the information about the PAGER var in /etc/man.conf in the manpage of man, so the description of the -P option would look like this: -P pager Specify which pager to use. This option overrides the MANPAGER environment variable, which in turn overrides the PAGER environment variable, which in turn overrides the PAGER variable in /etc/man.conf. By default, man uses /usr/bin/less -is. Gentoo Base System version 1.6.12 Portage 2.0.51.19 (default-linux/x86/2005.0, gcc-3.3.5-20050130, glibc-2.3.4.20041102-r1, 2.6.11.11 i686) ================================================================= System uname: 2.6.11.11 i686 AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2600+ Python: dev-lang/python-2.3.5 [2.3.5 (#1, Apr 27 2005, 23:41:20)] distcc 2.18.3 i686-pc-linux-gnu (protocols 1 and 2) (default port 3632) [disabled] ccache version 2.3 [disabled] dev-lang/python: 2.3.5 sys-apps/sandbox: [Not Present] sys-devel/autoconf: 2.13, 2.59-r6 sys-devel/automake: 1.4_p6, 1.5, 1.6.3, 1.7.9-r1, 1.8.5-r3, 1.9.5 sys-devel/binutils: 2.15.92.0.2-r10 sys-devel/libtool: 1.5.18-r1 virtual/os-headers: 2.6.11-r2 ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="x86" AUTOCLEAN="yes" CFLAGS="-O2 -march=athlon-xp -pipe" CHOST="i686-pc-linux-gnu" CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc /usr/kde/2/share/config /usr/kde/3.2/share/config /usr/kde/3.3/env /usr/kde/3.3/share/config /usr/kde/3.3/shutdown /usr/kde/3.4/env /usr/kde/3.4/share/config /usr/kde/3.4/shutdown /usr/kde/3/share/config /usr/lib/X11/xkb /usr/lib/mozilla/defaults/pref /usr/share/config /var/bind /var/qmail/alias /var/qmail/control" CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/gconf /etc/terminfo /etc/env.d" CXXFLAGS="-O2 -march=athlon-xp -pipe" DISTDIR="/data/linux/gentoo/distfiles" FEATURES="autoaddcvs autoconfig buildpkg distlocks sandbox sfperms strict" GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://ftp.snt.utwente.nl/pub/os/linux/gentoo ftp://ftp6.uni-muenster.de/pub/linux/distributions/gentoo http://gentoo.mirror.sdv.fr http://ftp.belnet.be/mirror/rsync.gentoo.org/gentoo/ http://gentoo.inode.at/" MAKEOPTS="-j2" PKGDIR="/data/linux/gentoo/packages/amd_athlon-xp" PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/compile" PORTDIR="/usr/portage" SYNC="rsync://rsync.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage" USE="x86 X aalib alsa apm arts avi berkdb bitmap-fonts cdr crypt cups curl directfb dvd dvdr dvdread eds emboss encode esd fam flac foomaticdb fortran gdbm gif gnome gpm gstreamer gtk gtk2 imagemagick imlib ipv6 java jpeg ldap libg++ libwww mad mikmod mmx motif mozilla mp3 mpeg mysql ncurses nls ogg oggvorbis opengl oss pam pdflib perl png python qt quicktime readline ruby samba sdl slang spell sse ssl svga tcltk tcpd tiff truetype truetype-fonts type1-fonts unicode vorbis xine xml xml2 xmms xv zlib video_cards_nvidia userland_GNU kernel_linux elibc_glibc" Unset: ASFLAGS, CBUILD, CTARGET, LANG, LC_ALL, LDFLAGS, LINGUAS, PORTDIR_OVERLAY
I'd suggest that you take your suggestions upstream. This is really not something that Gentoo should patch. http://primates.ximian.com/~flucifredi/man/
Can you tell me how I should take it upstream? Should I send an email or ... how does that work?
(In reply to comment #2) > Can you tell me how I should take it upstream? Should I send an email or ... how > does that work? Did you have a look at the referred homepage? If so, then it should be really clear how to report this upstream. If it's still not clear, then yes, send an email b/c there is no upstream bugzilla for man.