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This is Info file help2man.info, produced by Makeinfo version 1.67 from
the input file help2man.texi.

INFO-DIR-SECTION GNU admin
START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
* help2man: (help2man).      Automatic manual page generation.
END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY

   This file documents the GNU `help2man' command which produces simple
manual pages from the `--help' and `--version' output of other commands.

   Copyright (C) 1999, 2000, 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

   Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are
preserved on all copies.

   Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of
this manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that
the entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
permission notice identical to this one.

   Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this
manual into another language, under the above conditions for modified
versions, except that this permission notice may be stated in a
translation approved by the Foundation.


File: help2man.info,  Node: Top,  Next: Overview,  Up: (dir)

`help2man'
**********

   `help2man' produces simple manual pages from the `--help' and
`--version' output of other commands.

* Menu:

* Overview::                    Overview of `help2man'.
* Invoking help2man::           How to run `help2man'.
* Including text::              Including additional text in the output.
* Makefile usage::              Using `help2man' with `make'.
* Reports::                     Reporting bugs or suggestions.
* Availability::                Obtaining `help2man'.


File: help2man.info,  Node: Overview,  Next: Invoking help2man,  Prev: Top,  Up: Top

Overview of `help2man'
**********************

   `help2man' is a tool for automatically generating simple manual
pages from program output.

   Although manual pages are optional for GNU programs other projects,
such as Debian require them (*note Man Pages: (standards)Man Pages.)

   This program is intended to provide an easy way for software authors
to include a manual page in their distribution without having to
maintain that document.

   Given a program which produces reasonably standard `--help' and
`--version' outputs, `help2man' can re-arrange that output into
something which resembles a manual page.


File: help2man.info,  Node: Invoking help2man,  Next: Including text,  Prev: Overview,  Up: Top

How to Run `help2man'.
**********************

   The format for running the `help2man' program is:

     `help2man' [OPTION]... EXECUTABLE

   `help2man' supports the following options:

`-n STRING'
`--name=STRING'
     Use STRING as the description for the `NAME' paragraph of the
     manual page.

     By default (for want of anything better) this paragraph contains
     `manual page for PROGRAM VERSION'.

     This option overrides an include file `[name]' section (*note
     Including text::.).

`-s SECTION'
`--section SECTION'
     Use SECTION as the section for the man page.  The default section
     is 1.

`-m MANUAL'
`--manual=MANUAL'
     Set the name of the manual section to SECTION, used as a centred
     heading for the manual page.  By default `User Commands' is used
     for pages in section 1, `Games' for section 6 and `System
     Administration Utilities' for sections 8 and 1M.

`-S SOURCE'
`--source=SOURCE'
     The program source is used as a page footer, and often contains
     the name of the organisation or a suite of which the program is
     part.  By default the value is the package name and version.

`-i FILE'
`--include=FILE'
     Include material from FILE (*note Including text::.).

`-I FILE'
`--opt-include=FILE'
     A variant of `--include' for use in Makefile pattern rules which
     does not require FILE to exist.

`-o FILE'
`--output=FILE'
     Send output to FILE rather than `stdout'.

`-N'
`--no-info'
     Suppress inclusion of a `SEE ALSO' paragraph directing the reader
     to the Texinfo documentation.

`--help'
`--version'
     Show help or version information.

   By default `help2man' passes the standard `--help' and `--version'
options to the executable although alternatives may be specified using:

`-h OPTION'
`--help-option=OPTION'
     help option string

`-v OPTION'
`--version-option=OPTION'
     version option string


File: help2man.info,  Node: Including text,  Next: Makefile usage,  Prev: Invoking help2man,  Up: Top

Including Additional Text in the Output
***************************************

   Additional static text may be included in the generated manual page
by using the `--include' and `--opt-include' options (*note Invoking
help2man::.).

   The format for files included with these option is simple:

     [section]
     text
     
     /pattern/
     text

   Blocks of verbatim *roff text are inserted into the output either at
the start of the given `[section]' (case insensitive), or after a
paragraph matching `/pattern/'.

   Patterns use the Perl regular expression syntax and may be followed
by the `i', `s' or `m' modifiers (*note perlre(1): (*manpages*)perlre.)

   Lines before the first section or pattern which begin with `-' are
processed as options.  Anything else is silently ignored and may be
used for comments, RCS keywords and the like.

   The section output order is:

     NAME
     SYNOPSIS
     DESCRIPTION
     OPTIONS
     EXAMPLES
     *other*
     AUTHOR
     REPORTING BUGS
     COPYRIGHT
     SEE ALSO

   Any `[name]' or `[synopsis]' sections appearing in the include file
will replace what would have automatically been produced (although you
can still override the former with `--name' if required).

   Other sections are prepended to the automatically produced output for
the standard sections given above, or included at *other* (above) in
the order they were encountered in the include file.


File: help2man.info,  Node: Makefile usage,  Next: Reports,  Prev: Including text,  Up: Top

Using `help2man' With `make'
****************************

   A suggested use of `help2man' in Makefiles is to have the manual
page depend not on the binary, but on the source file(s) in which the
`--help' and `--version' output are defined.

   This usage allows a manual page to be generated by the maintainer and
included in the distribution without requiring the end-user to have
`help2man' installed.

   An example rule for the program `prog' could be:

     prog.1: $(srcdir)/main.c
             -$(HELP2MAN) --output=$@ --name='an example program' ./prog

   The value of `HELP2MAN' may be set in `configure.in' using either of:

     AM_MISSING_PROG(HELP2MAN, help2man, $missing_dir)

   for `automake', or something like:

     AC_PATH_PROG(HELP2MAN, help2man, false // No help2man //)

   for `autoconf' alone.


File: help2man.info,  Node: Reports,  Next: Availability,  Prev: Makefile usage,  Up: Top

Reporting Bugs or Suggestions
*****************************

   If you find problems or have suggestions about this program or
manual, please report them to <bug-help2man@gnu.org>.


File: help2man.info,  Node: Availability,  Prev: Reports,  Up: Top

Obtaining `help2man'
********************

   The latest version of this distribution is available on-line from:

     `ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/help2man/'



Tag Table:
Node: Top1106
Node: Overview1670
Node: Invoking help2man2376
Node: Including text4374
Node: Makefile usage5908
Node: Reports6826
Node: Availability7101

End Tag Table
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