debmany1

Usage

Overview

Select a manpage or files in /usr/share/doc from a Debian package for viewing with "man", "sensible-pager" or an alternative viewer. The list of files is displayed in a dialog. Supported locations for Debian packages are: local .deb-file, a package in the repository or an installed package.

--help

display a short usage guide and exit

-k

Display the manpage using your preferred viewer (must support .gz files) if you use KDE - this is the short form of -m 'kfmclient exec man:%s'. "kfmclient" is a part of the package "konqueror" (at least in Debian Buster).

-x

Display the manpage using your preferred viewer (must support .gz files) if you use KDE/GNOME/Xfce - this is the short form of -m 'xdg-open man:%s'. "xdg-open" is a part of the package "xdg-utils" (at least in Debian Buster).

-m manpageviewer

Optionally set a manpage viewer. The viewer must support .gz files. You must define the complete request. "%s" gets replaced with the path to the manpage. If "%s" is missing " %s" is appended to the manpageviewer. The manpageviewer must be enclosed with "" or '' - see examples. If you use a graphical viewer you must ensure that you have access to your desktop (if necessary: sux or ssh with X-forwarding)

-o otherviewer

Optionally set a viewer for other files (/usr/share/doc).

-L limit

If a file which must be downloaded exceeds this limit, you are asked if the download should start. Without unit the value is in bytes. You can append K, M, G or T to the value to change the unit.

-l lang1[,...]

English manpages are displayed always. If you want more languages you can specify them here. Provide a comma separated list of the folder names in the manpage folders (/usr/share/man) - e.g. de,fr or "zh*" if you want to see all Chinese manpages (Simplified and Traditional Chinese as well). It is safe always to use "*" at the end of your language. Character set versions automatically generated during installation are not available for selection.

-z

Zenity (a graphical dialog) is used to select the files and if necessary to enter the package name. You must have the rights to start X programs. This option combined with the parameters -k, -x or -m and -o make it possible to use debmany without console.

The manpages are temporarily extracted to a temporary directory under /tmp (or /var/tmp, if /tmp is not a directory). You can override the path if you set and export the environment variable TMPDIR or set it as a temporary variable.

You need to have the Debian package "whiptail" (preferred) or "dialog" as well as "apt" installed.

Examples

debmany coreutils

Show all manpages from the installed Debian package "coreutils" using man.

debmany 3dchess

Show all manpages from the package "3dchess" using man. Since it is not already installed the package is accessed from the repository - even downloading is done if needed.

debmany test.deb

Show all manpages from the local Debian package "./test.deb" using man.

debmany -k sc

Use your preferred man-viewer (for KDE users).

debmany -g sc

Use your preferred man-viewer (for GNOME users).

debmany -x sc

Use your preferred man-viewer (for KDE/GNOME/XFCE users).

debmany -z -k

Uses "zenity" to select files and to enter the package name.

TMPDIR=~/tmp debmany -m 'konqueror man:%s' sc

Use ~/tmp as temporary folder and Konqueror as viewer.

alias debmany='debmany -l de -L 5M -k'; debmany -m man -l "zh*" foo

Set an alias with your preferred options and override them if needed.

vi /usr/local/bin/ask # after saving: chmod 755 ask

#!/bin/dash
read -p "program to use: " pgm
eval $pgm "$1"

debmany -o ask
Every time you select other files from a package you will be asked which program to use.