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Re: Manual page width is fixed and I'd like it not to be


On Mon, 22 Nov 2004, Raye Raskin wrote:

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Christopher Faylor" <cgf-no-personal-reply-please@XXXXXX.XXX>
> To: <cygwin@XXXXXX.XXX>

<http://cygwin.com/acronyms/#PCYMTNQREAIYR>.  Thanks.

> Sent: Monday, November 22, 2004 5:35 PM
> Subject: Re: Manual page width is fixed and I'd like it not to be
>
> > On Mon, Nov 22, 2004 at 06:50:57PM -0500, Aaron Miller wrote:
> > > Thanks for the pointer, and I'll ask on the cygwin-xfree list as well.
> > > It's not really a query about xterm, though: using a shortcut that
> > > starts bash in a standard Windows command-shell which is 100 columns
> > > wide, if I ask for a manual page, I still get it formatted to eighty
> > > columns.  I mentioned xterms since that's what I prefer to use, but
> > > it's not by any means a problem exclusive to those.
> >
> > Ok, you and three or four other people made this point after I blocked
> > the subject here because I thought it was xterm specific.
> >
> > Instead, it isn't even cygwin-specific.  All of my man pages are
> > formatted to 80 columns on linux, too.  If you think about how man
> > works, where it caches the formatted output in a separate directory
> > it is easy to see why that is the case.
>
> Dear Christopher,
>
> There has to be a better way than refusing emails just because
> the word xterm is in the body of the message.
>
> I really don't like doing (granted, just a little) research and
> replying to a problem in a effort to help out just to get it
> moderated into the bit bucket because someone in power thinks
> the subject taints the purity of the cygwin mailing list.
>
> Assuming this message isn't blocked as well, here is my reply
> that was bounced earlier:
>
>  According to the man man page, $MANWIDTH should address your
>  precise issue, but on my system setting $MANWIDTH has no effect.
>  I guess this makes it a bug.  Either in the doc or the bin!

Well, that's not a full bug report, since man uses a cached cat page if
it's present.  So, unless your system doesn't have the cat directories,
you need to run "man -c" to force regeneration of cat pages.  That said, I
confirm that "MANWIDTH=20 man -c man" still produces an 80-column manpage.
But then, hey, it doesn't work on Linux (RedHat 9) either.  We must be
misreading the man manpage. :-)
	Igor
-- 
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     |,4-  ) )-,_. ,\ (  `'-'		Igor Pechtchanski, Ph.D.
    '---''(_/--'  `-'\_) fL	a.k.a JaguaR-R-R-r-r-r-.-.-.  Meow!

"The Sun will pass between the Earth and the Moon tonight for a total
Lunar eclipse..." -- WCBS Radio Newsbrief, Oct 27 2004, 12:01 pm EDT

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