debmany - Online in the Cloud

PROGRAM:

NAME

debmany - select manpages or documentation files from installed packages, packages from
the repository or .deb-files for viewing using "man", "sensible-pager" or an alternative
viewer.

SYNOPSIS

debmany --help
debmany [-v[v]] [-k|-g|-x] [-m manpageviewer] [-o otherviewer] [-L limit] [-l lang1[,...]]
package|package.deb
debmany [-v[v]] [-k|-g|-x] [-m manpageviewer] [-o otherviewer] [-L limit] [-l lang1[,...]]
-z [package|package.deb]

DESCRIPTION

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 Etch).

-g Display the manpage using your preferred viewer (must support .gz files) if you use
GNOME - this is the short form of -m 'gnome-open man:%s'. "gnome-open" is a part of
the package "libgnome2-0" (at least in Debian Etch).

-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 Etch).

-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, -g, -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 "curl"
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.

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