dhelp_parse(8)

✨ dhelp_parse — the Debian online help parser, bestie 💅

okay so you're looking at dhelp_parse, section 8 of the Debian Linux manual. she's a little parser, she's a little icon, and she's here to register your docs. let's get into it 🎀

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🌸 SYNOPSIS

dhelp_parse [ -r | -i | -a doc-base_file | -d doc-base_file ]

that's the whole vibe. pick one, babe. 👑

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🦋 DESCRIPTION

so what is this girl doing?? This program is used by package developers to register the documents included in a package. no cap. that's the whole job.

In most cases it is called by install-docs (see the doc-base package), which in turn is called from the postinst and prerm scripts of a Debian package. so like… it's usually the girl behind the girl, yk? iykyk 💅

An index of the registered documents is written in the directory /usr/share/doc/HTML. that's where the magic lives, fr fr ✨

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💖 OPTIONS 💖

okay bestie, here's the menu. every single one, no skipping:

• -h, --help — Displays the help page. simple. iconic. she's telling you how to use her 🫶
• -a — Adds the documentation found in the given doc-base files to the dhelp database. the "put it in" button. 🍓
• -d — Deletes the documentation found in the given doc-base files from the dhelp database. the "take it out" button. bye bestie 💀
• -i — Does an incremental update of the documents index for all documentation added with the -a switch after the last index update. it's giving "catch up on everything you missed" 🌈
• -r — Ignored, kept for compatibility. she's literally just standing there. she's a legacy queen and we respect her 👑

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🎀 PACKAGE DEVELOPERS 🎀

okay so real talk: You should usually rely on install-docs to do the work for you, but if for some reason you want to use dhelp_parse directly — and heads up, not recommended! — you have to call it like this:

postinst

if [ -x /usr/sbin/dhelp_parse ]; then
  dhelp_parse -a /var/lib/doc-base/documents/foo
fi

prerm

if [ -x /usr/sbin/dhelp_parse ]; then
  dhelp_parse -d /var/lib/doc-base/documents/foo
fi

Note that /var/lib/doc-base/documents/foo has to be a valid doc-base file (see the doc-base documentation). like, it has to actually be valid, bestie, no pretending 🙈

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👀 SEE ALSO

• dhelp(1)
• install-docs(8)

go read those too, they're the supporting cast and they ate 💅

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💜 AUTHOR

This package was written by Esteban Manchado Velázquez (zoso@debian.org). we love a legend, periodt 🫶

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and that's the tea ☕ — this page came to you from Debian, dated <b>29 May 2008</b>. yes she's vintage, yes she still slays. mwah 💋✨