Thanks. :-) All thinks considered, I'm wondering if I shouldn't just write my own man(1) implementation in pure JavaScript... I mean, I can't possibly imagine it to be hard...
On Thu, 30 Aug 2018 at 22:59, Ralph Corderoy <ra...@inputplus.co.uk> wrote: > Hi John, > > > > The locations vary, e.g. a user's $MANPATH. Have the user specify > > > it? > > > > That won't help... when I said how "*(NodeJS) shells out to the system > > to locate manpages for display/processing"*, I was mainly referring to > > how Node talks to the system's man(1), asking it where the pages are > > located that address a user-specified topic, etc. Or if the user wants > > to run `apropos` and get a search rolling, it need to know what to run > > / what arguments to pass to locate manpages.. :( > > It seems the tail's wagging the dog for that to hold things up. > Implement something that works on a common platform or two and have > user's of others come forward with their solution for their platform. > `Good enough', not perfect. > > One approach is to run several attempts of common command and option > combinations until a good exit status with reasonable looking output is > seen, e.g. man(1), whatis(1), apropos(1), whereis(1). If all those > fail, punt to a simple search of $MANPATH. > > -- > Cheers, Ralph. > https://plus.google.com/+RalphCorderoy > >
