BUILD.MAN.MK(5)

📦 version 3.1, in nixos 26.05, nixpkgs unstable

✨ build.man.mk — bsdbuild compilation of UNIX manual pages ✨

Okay so bestie, this is the File Formats Manual for build.man.mk, and it's literally everything you need to know about compiling UNIX manual pages with bsdbuild. Let's get into it 💅

💖 NAME 💖

build.man.mk — bsdbuild - compilation of UNIX manual pages. That's the whole name, no cap. It's giving "I process man pages" energy.

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

.include <bsd.man.mk>

That's the only line, bestie. Simple. Slay.

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

The build.man.mk module processes UNIX manual pages files in mandoc(1) format into presentation-ready documents in ASCII, PostScript, PDF or HTML format. Like, it takes your mandoc source and turns it into something you can actually look at. Iconic.

💀 TARGETS 💀

Okay so here are all the targets you can run. Each one is a different vibe, and ngl, they're all valid:

  • all-catman — Produce preformatted manual pages from the specified mandoc source files. And it fails silently (no cap) on systems where mandoc/nroff are unavailable, or where preformatted manual pages are not preferred. It's giving "ghost mode" 😶
  • clean-man — Clean up output files. That's it. Just cleanup. 🧹
  • install-man-dirs — Create empty section directories in ${MANDIR}. Directory creation slay. 📁
  • install-man — Install the manpages into ${MANDIR}. Yes bestie, put them where they belong. 💖
  • install-manlinks — Install the manpage symlinks into ${MANDIR}. Symlinks are iconic. 🔗
  • man — Display a manpage (passed via the MAN argument), by feeding its ASCII formatted version to ${PAGER}. So you can actually read the thing. 👀
  • manlinks — Scan the ${MAN*} sources and auto-generate a .manlinks.mk file defining links for function names (i.e., where .Fn appears in a SYNOPSIS or ".nr nS 1" block), or where the special directive "MANLINK(name)" appears in a comment. Auto-generation is main character energy. ✨
  • lint — Parse only, produce no output. Display verbose warnings. It's the "just checking" vibe. 🔍

Vibe check: all targets present and accounted for. Periodt.

🎀 VARIABLES 🎀

These are the variables you need to know. Fr fr, don't skip them, bestie.

  • MAN[1-9] — List of mandoc input source files (with the .[1-9] extension). So like foo.1, bar.8, etc. Got it. 📚
  • MANDOC — Mandoc processor (usually "mandoc" or "nroff -Tmandoc", depending on platform). This is typically set by a ./configure script (the needed test is included by default in all configure scripts by mkconfigure(1)). So you probably don't have to touch it. Slay. 🛠️
  • MANLINKS — A list of symbolic links that should be created by the install target. The elements of this list are of the form "Foo.1:Bar.1", where "Bar.1" is the symbolic link, and "Foo.1" is the destination manpage. Typically, MANLINKS is defined in the .manlinks.mk files which are auto-generated by the manlinks target. Link city, population: your manpages. 🔗

Highkey obsessed with how straightforward these are.

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

👑 HISTORY 👑

build.man.mk first appeared in BSDBuild 1.0 — the way that's giving "OG status" 👑.

And just so you know, BSDBuild is based on the 4.4BSD build system. Periodt. 💅

Not me writing a whole love letter to a build system 😭. Hope this helped you understand build.man.mk without falling asleep. Now go process some man pages and slay ✨.

Debian — July 14, 2015 — BUILD.MAN.MK(5) — that's the whole thing. Love ya! 💖

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