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Configure Manpages Locally on the Virtual Server

The UNIX man utility displays the BSD UNIX manual pages for the specified command. For example, the manual pages (manpages) for the ls command can be seen using man this way:

  % man Ls

The man command is located in the root area of the file system on the host machine of your virtual server. As a virtual server user you do not have access to install additional manpages into that area. But, you can install manpages locally and then configure the man command to see the manpages you install.

Use the -m flag for the man command to designate additional directories for manpages. The -m flag is immediately followed by the directory to be searched:

  % man -m '<directory_from_root>' <command>

For example, if you want to read the manpages for a locally installed Perl 5 module (the CGI module in this example), you can use syntax like this:

  % man -m '/usr/home/<username>/usr/local/lib/perl5/man/' CGI

When man is run this way, any manpages for the "CGI" module in the specified directory will be shown.

You can create an alias in the ~/.cshrc file on your virtual server so that you need not type the entire path and directory for the locally installed manpages each time you use man. Add this line at the bottom of your ~/.cshrc file:

  alias man man -m '<directory_from_root>'

So, for the perl5 manpages above the line to add to the ~/.cshrc file is:

  alias man man -m '/usr/home/michael/usr/local/lib/perl5/man/'

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