Very Computer

When the command 'man -k' or 'apropos' is used, the following error
message displays:

fg: no job control
apropos:  manpath is null
Error executing formatting or display command
System command exited with status 256

If I use the 'manpath' command, the contents of the MANPATH variable
_does_ display (it's not null!).

Anyone has a idea what can be done?  I cannot even find the 'fg' command.
Thanks.

--

  ===========================================================================
  William Beckner - System Manager/SysAdmin for the Resource Sharing Alliance
  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
          "The computer is mightier than the pen, the sword,
           and usually, the programmer."
  ===========================================================================

: I just installed Slackware 2.2.0 (kernel 1.2.1) this weekend, but I've run
: into some trouble...

: When the command 'man -k' or 'apropos' is used, the following error
: message displays:

: fg: no job control
...

: Anyone has a idea what can be done?

Concerning man, apropos and the like: you might get
sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/Linux/system/Manual-pagers/man-1.4c.tar.gz
and install that.

(You might also retrieve the apropos you had before installing
Slackware 2.2.0. What shell are you running, that doesn't know
about fg?)

: : I just installed Slackware 2.2.0 (kernel 1.2.1) this weekend...

: : When the command 'man -k' or 'apropos' is used, the following error

I have exactly the same problem - apropos thinks the MANPATH is null when
it is not and can't seem to grasp fg.

Perhaps related (I am, as one notices, not a UNIXX guru...) is the
nightly email I get from cron, which I never got until switching from 2.1
to 2.2:

updatedb: new database would be empty

: What shell are you running, that doesn't know
: about fg?)

bash. Obviously, it knows about fg. There's something else going on.

--
       Mark A. Stevens, M.D.           Assistant Professor of Psychiatry

     Galveston, TX  77555-0428      |  Phone: (409) 772-3474
                <URL:http://shrinkatron.utmb.edu/~mstevens>

Quote:> But what is the text of your apropos file?

       Mark A. Stevens, M.D.           Assistant Professor of Psychiatry

     Galveston, TX  77555-0428      |  Phone: (409) 772-3474
                <URL:http://shrinkatron.utmb.edu/~mstevens>

If anyone has a better fix please post it!

----------------------- CUT HERE ---------------------

#! /bin/sh
#
# apropos -- search the whatis database for keywords.
#
# Copyright (c) 1990, 1991, John W. Eaton.
#
# You may distribute under the terms of the GNU General Public
# License as specified in the README file that comes with the man
# distribution.  
#
# John W. Eaton

# Department of Chemical Engineering
# The University of Texas at Austin
# Austin, Texas  78712
#
# apropos-1.4 aeb 941007
#
#       *** NOTE: this file has been tampered with
#

# how to avoid hardcoding the following??  manpath=$MANPATH does not work because
# MANPATH is colon-delimited.  Is there a facility in bash to do this kind of
# string manipulation??  would be nice to avoid running a program just to do this
# simple task.
manpath="/usr/local/man /usr/man /usr/man/preformat /usr/X11/man /usr/openwin/man"
PAGER=/usr/bin/less

if [ $# = 0 ]
then
    echo "usage: `basename $0` keyword ..."
    exit 1
fi

if [ "$manpath" = "" ]
then
    echo "apropos: manpath is null"
    exit 1
fi

if [ "$PAGER" = "" ]
then
    PAGER="%pager%"
fi

# avoid using a pager if only output is "nothing appropriate"
nothing=
found=0
while [ $found = 0 -a -n "$1" ]
do
    for d in $manpath /usr/lib
    do
        if [ -f $d/whatis ]
        then
            if grep -is "$1" $d/whatis > /dev/null
            then
                found=1
            fi
        fi
    done
    if [ $found = 0 ]
    then
        nothing="$nothing $1"
        shift
    fi
done

if [ $found = 0 ]
then
    for i in $nothing
    do
        echo "$i: nothing appropriate"
    done
    exit
fi

while [ $1 ]
do
    for i in $nothing
    do
        echo "$i: nothing appropriate"
    done
    nothing=
    found=0
    for d in $manpath /usr/lib
    do
        if [ -f $d/whatis ]
        then
            if grep -i "$1" $d/whatis
            then
                found=1
            fi
        fi
    done

    if [ $found = 0 ]
    then
        echo "$1: nothing appropriate"
    fi

    shift
done | $PAGER

exit

----------------------- CUT HERE ---------------------

Good luck!

-Steve Coile

Quote:>If appropos, man -k (or whatis) fail then you need to rebuild
>your wahtis database. In each manual directory (/usr/man, /usr/local/man,
>/usr/X11R6/man, etc) there should be a file containing a list of manual
>pages and their short description in ASCIIbetical order. If this file
>is old or corrupted use makewhatis to rebuild it. Note some version of
>makewhatis nuke your existing database when you use makewhatis -u. To fix try

PATH=/usr/local/bin:/bin:/usr/ucb:/usr/bin

libdir=/usr/lib

if [ $# = 0 ]
then
    echo "usage: `basename $0` keyword ..."
    exit 1
fi

manpath=`/usr/bin/man --path | tr : '\040'`

if [ "$manpath" = "" ]
then
    echo "whatis: manpath is null"
    exit 1
fi

if [ "$PAGER" = "" ]
then
    PAGER="/usr/bin/less -s"
fi

while [ $1 ]
do
    found=0
    for d in $manpath /usr/lib
    do
        if [ -f $d/whatis ]
        then
            grep -i "$1" $d/whatis
            status=$?
            if [ "$status" = "0" ]
            then
                found=1
                export found
            fi
        fi
    done

    if [ "$found" = "0" ]
    then
        echo "$1: nothing appropriate"
    fi

    shift
done | $PAGER

exit
---

Joel L. Seber                           | Dry humor is wasted around here.
SUN Workstation Laboratory Manager      |                 -Joel L. Seber
Center for Manufacturing Research       |
      and Technology Utilization        | recursive, adj.
Tennessee Technological University      |     See 'recursive'
Box 5077 Brown Hall                     |
Cookeville, TN  38505                   | What if there were no hypothetical

more info:                              |

: Hi all.  I also had problems with this, so I got out my trusty hatchet, and
: paid a visit to /usr/bin/apropos.  The result is given below.
: If anyone has a better fix please post it!

...
: if [ "$PAGER" = "" ]
: then
:     PAGER="%pager%"
: fi
...

The better fix is to get man-1.4c from sunsite or your favourite
mirror, and install it. The above fragment leads one to suspect
that not apropos, but apropos.sh got installed in the
Slackware /usr/bin.
[A correct /usr/bin/apropos does not contain any % signs.]

Quote:> In comp.os.linux.setup you write:

> ::  But what is the text of your apropos file?

> : now. If you can point me to the file to which you're referring, I'll tell

> /usr/bin/apropos

       Mark A. Stevens, M.D.           Assistant Professor of Psychiatry

     Galveston, TX  77555-0428      |  Phone: (409) 772-3474
                <URL:http://shrinkatron.utmb.edu/~mstevens>

No!!! apropos is REALLY broken in Slackware 2.2. As man -k just invokes
apropos it is also broken.
I copiued the apropos back from Slackware 2.1 and all was well again. The
whatis dateabase is fine.

Brian McIlwrath
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory,
Chilton, Didcot, Oxon, UK.

: No!!! apropos is REALLY broken in Slackware 2.2. As man -k just invokes
: apropos it is also broken.

I have had some requests from people who no longer have access to the working
copy of /usr/bin/apropos. For anyone else who needs it here it is:

#!/bin/sh
#
# apropos -- search the whatis database for keywords.
#
# Copyright (c) 1990, 1991, John W. Eaton.
#
# You may distribute under the terms of the GNU General Public
# License as specified in the README file that comes with the man
# distribution.  
#
# John W. Eaton

# Department of Chemical Engineering
# The University of Texas at Austin
# Austin, Texas  78712
#
# apropos-1.3 aeb 940331
#

PATH=/usr/local/bin:/bin:/usr/ucb:/usr/bin

libdir=/usr/lib

if [ $# = 0 ]
then
    echo "usage: `basename $0` keyword ..."
    exit 1
fi

manpath=`/usr/bin/man --path | tr : '\040'`

if [ "$manpath" = "" ]
then
    echo "whatis: manpath is null"
    exit 1
fi

if [ "$PAGER" = "" ]
then
    PAGER="/usr/bin/less -s"
fi

while [ $1 ]
do
    found=0
    for d in $manpath /usr/lib
    do
        if [ -f $d/whatis ]
        then
            grep -i "$1" $d/whatis
            status=$?
            if [ "$status" = "0" ]
            then
                found=1
                export found
            fi
        fi
    done

    if [ "$found" = "0" ]
    then
        echo "$1: nothing appropriate"
    fi

    shift
done | $PAGER

exit

        ftp.netcom.com:/pub/ze/zenon/linux/tmp

                -Zenon