POD2MAN(1) User Contributed Perl Documentation POD2MAN(1)
NAME
pod2man - Convert POD data to formatted *roff input
SYNOPSIS
pod2man [--section=manext] [--release[=version]] [--center=string] [--date=string] [--fixed=font]
[--fixedbold=font] [--fixeditalic=font] [--fixedbolditalic=font] [--name=name] [--official] [--lax]
[--quotes=quotes] [--verbose] [input [output] ...]
pod2man --help
DESCRIPTION
pod2man is a front-end for Pod::Man, using it to generate *roff input from POD source. The resulting
*roff code is suitable for display on a terminal using nroff(1), normally via man(1), or printing
using troff(1).
input is the file to read for POD source (the POD can be embedded in code). If input isn't given, it
defaults to STDIN. output, if given, is the file to which to write the formatted output. If output
isn't given, the formatted output is written to STDOUT. Several POD files can be processed in the
same pod2man invocation (saving module load and compile times) by providing multiple pairs of input
and output files on the command line.
--section, --release, --center, --date, and --official can be used to set the headers and footers to
use; if not given, Pod::Man will assume various defaults. See below or Pod::Man for details.
pod2man assumes that your *roff formatters have a fixed-width font named CW. If yours is called
something else (like CR), use --fixed to specify it. This generally only matters for troff output
for printing. Similarly, you can set the fonts used for bold, italic, and bold italic fixed-width
output.
Besides the obvious pod conversions, Pod::Man, and therefore pod2man also takes care of formatting
func(), func(n), and simple variable references like $foo or @bar so you don't have to use code
escapes for them; complex expressions like $fred{'stuff'} will still need to be escaped, though. It
also translates dashes that aren't used as hyphens into en dashes, makes long dashes--like this--into
proper em dashes, fixes "paired quotes," and takes care of several other troff-specific tweaks. See
Pod::Man for complete information.
OPTIONS
-c string, --center=string
Sets the centered page header to string. The default is "User Contributed Perl Documentation",
but also see --official below.
-d string, --date=string
Set the left-hand footer string to this value. By default, the modification date of the input
file will be used, or the current date if input comes from STDIN.
--fixed=font
The fixed-width font to use for vertabim text and code. Defaults to CW. Some systems may want
CR instead. Only matters for troff(1) output.
--fixedbold=font
Bold version of the fixed-width font. Defaults to CB. Only matters for troff(1) output.
--fixeditalic=font
Italic version of the fixed-width font (actually, something of a misnomer, since most fixed-width
fonts only have an oblique version, not an italic version). Defaults to CI. Only matters for
troff(1) output.
--fixedbolditalic=font
Bold italic (probably actually oblique) version of the fixed-width font. Pod::Man doesn't assume
you have this, and defaults to CB. Some systems (such as Solaris) have this font available as
CX. Only matters for troff(1) output.
-h, --help
Print out usage information.
-l, --lax
No longer used. pod2man used to check its input for validity as a manual page, but this should
now be done by podchecker(1) instead. Accepted for backwards compatibility; this option no
longer does anything.
-n name, --name=name
Set the name of the manual page to name. Without this option, the manual name is set to the
uppercased base name of the file being converted unless the manual section is 3, in which case
the path is parsed to see if it is a Perl module path. If it is, a path like
".../lib/Pod/Man.pm" is converted into a name like "Pod::Man". This option, if given, overrides
any automatic determination of the name.
Note that this option is probably not useful when converting multiple POD files at once. The
convention for Unix man pages for commands is for the man page title to be in all-uppercase even
if the command isn't.
-o, --official
Set the default header to indicate that this page is part of the standard Perl release, if
--center is not also given.
-q quotes, --quotes=quotes
Sets the quote marks used to surround C<> text to quotes. If quotes is a single character, it is
used as both the left and right quote; if quotes is two characters, the first character is used
as the left quote and the second as the right quoted; and if quotes is four characters, the first
two are used as the left quote and the second two as the right quote.
quotes may also be set to the special value "none", in which case no quote marks are added around
C<> text (but the font is still changed for troff output).
-r, --release
Set the centered footer. By default, this is the version of Perl you run pod2man under. Note
that some system an macro sets assume that the centered footer will be a modification date and
will prepend something like "Last modified: "; if this is the case, you may want to set --release
to the last modified date and --date to the version number.
-s, --section
Set the section for the ".TH" macro. The standard section numbering convention is to use 1 for
user commands, 2 for system calls, 3 for functions, 4 for devices, 5 for file formats, 6 for
games, 7 for miscellaneous information, and 8 for administrator commands. There is a lot of
variation here, however; some systems (like Solaris) use 4 for file formats, 5 for miscellaneous
information, and 7 for devices. Still others use 1m instead of 8, or some mix of both. About
the only section numbers that are reliably consistent are 1, 2, and 3.
By default, section 1 will be used unless the file ends in .pm in which case section 3 will be
selected.
-v, --verbose
Print out the name of each output file as it is being generated.
DIAGNOSTICS
If pod2man fails with errors, see Pod::Man and Pod::Simple for information about what those errors
might mean.
EXAMPLES
pod2man program > program.1
pod2man SomeModule.pm /usr/perl/man/man3/SomeModule.3
pod2man --section=7 note.pod > note.7
If you would like to print out a lot of man page continuously, you probably want to set the C and D
registers to set contiguous page numbering and even/odd paging, at least on some versions of man(7).
troff -man -rC1 -rD1 perl.1 perldata.1 perlsyn.1 ...
To get index entries on stderr, turn on the F register, as in:
troff -man -rF1 perl.1
The indexing merely outputs messages via ".tm" for each major page, section, subsection, item, and
any "X<>" directives. See Pod::Man for more details.
BUGS
Lots of this documentation is duplicated from Pod::Man.
NOTES
For those not sure of the proper layout of a man page, here are some notes on writing a proper man
page.
The name of the program being documented is conventionally written in bold (using B<>) wherever it
occurs, as are all program options. Arguments should be written in italics (I<>). Functions are
traditionally written in italics; if you write a function as function(), Pod::Man will take care of
this for you. Literal code or commands should be in C<>. References to other man pages should be in
the form "manpage(section)", and Pod::Man will automatically format those appropriately. As an
exception, it's traditional not to use this form when referring to module documentation; use
"L<Module::Name>" instead.
References to other programs or functions are normally in the form of man page references so that
cross-referencing tools can provide the user with links and the like. It's possible to overdo this,
though, so be careful not to clutter your documentation with too much markup.
The major headers should be set out using a "=head1" directive, and are historically written in the
rather startling ALL UPPER CASE format, although this is not mandatory. Minor headers may be
included using "=head2", and are typically in mixed case.
The standard sections of a manual page are:
NAME
Mandatory section; should be a comma-separated list of programs or functions documented by this
podpage, such as:
foo, bar - programs to do something
Manual page indexers are often extremely picky about the format of this section, so don't put
anything in it except this line. A single dash, and only a single dash, should separate the list
of programs or functions from the description. Functions should not be qualified with "()" or
the like. The description should ideally fit on a single line, even if a man program replaces
the dash with a few tabs.
SYNOPSIS
A short usage summary for programs and functions. This section is mandatory for section 3 pages.
DESCRIPTION
Extended description and discussion of the program or functions, or the body of the documentation
for man pages that document something else. If particularly long, it's a good idea to break this
up into subsections "=head2" directives like:
=head2 Normal Usage
=head2 Advanced Features
=head2 Writing Configuration Files
or whatever is appropriate for your documentation.
OPTIONS
Detailed description of each of the command-line options taken by the program. This should be
separate from the description for the use of things like Pod::Usage. This is normally presented
as a list, with each option as a separate "=item". The specific option string should be enclosed
in B<>. Any values that the option takes should be enclosed in I<>. For example, the section
for the option --section=manext would be introduced with:
=item B<--section>=I<manext>
Synonymous options (like both the short and long forms) are separated by a comma and a space on
the same "=item" line, or optionally listed as their own item with a reference to the canonical
name. For example, since --section can also be written as -s, the above would be:
=item B<-s> I<manext>, B<--section>=I<manext>
(Writing the short option first is arguably easier to read, since the long option is long enough
to draw the eye to it anyway and the short option can otherwise get lost in visual noise.)
RETURN VALUE
What the program or function returns, if successful. This section can be omitted for programs
whose precise exit codes aren't important, provided they return 0 on success as is standard. It
should always be present for functions.
ERRORS
Exceptions, error return codes, exit statuses, and errno settings. Typically used for function
documentation; program documentation uses DIAGNOSTICS instead. The general rule of thumb is that
errors printed to STDOUT or STDERR and intended for the end user are documented in DIAGNOSTICS
while errors passed internal to the calling program and intended for other programmers are
documented in ERRORS. When documenting a function that sets errno, a full list of the possible
errno values should be given here.
DIAGNOSTICS
All possible messages the program can print out--and what they mean. You may wish to follow the
same documentation style as the Perl documentation; see perldiag(1) for more details (and look at
the POD source as well).
If applicable, please include details on what the user should do to correct the error;
documenting an error as indicating "the input buffer is too small" without telling the user how
to increase the size of the input buffer (or at least telling them that it isn't possible) aren't
very useful.
EXAMPLES
Give some example uses of the program or function. Don't skimp; users often find this the most
useful part of the documentation. The examples are generally given as verbatim paragraphs.
Don't just present an example without explaining what it does. Adding a short paragraph saying
what the example will do can increase the value of the example immensely.
ENVIRONMENT
Environment variables that the program cares about, normally presented as a list using "=over",
"=item", and "=back". For example:
=over 6
=item HOME
Used to determine the user's home directory. F<.foorc> in this
directory is read for configuration details, if it exists.
=back
Since environment variables are normally in all uppercase, no additional special formatting is
generally needed; they're glaring enough as it is.
FILES
All files used by the program or function, normally presented as a list, and what it uses them
for. File names should be enclosed in F<>. It's particularly important to document files that
will be potentially modified.
CAVEATS
Things to take special care with, sometimes called WARNINGS.
BUGS
Things that are broken or just don't work quite right.
RESTRICTIONS
Bugs you don't plan to fix. :-)
NOTES
Miscellaneous commentary.
AUTHOR
Who wrote it (use AUTHORS for multiple people). Including your current e-mail address (or some
e-mail address to which bug reports should be sent) so that users have a way of contacting you is
a good idea. Remember that program documentation tends to roam the wild for far longer than you
expect and pick an e-mail address that's likely to last if possible.
HISTORY
Programs derived from other sources sometimes have this, or you might keep a modification log
here. If the log gets overly long or detailed, consider maintaining it in a separate file,
though.
COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
For copyright
Copyright YEAR(s) by YOUR NAME(s)
(No, (C) is not needed. No, "all rights reserved" is not needed.)
For licensing the easiest way is to use the same licensing as Perl itself:
This library is free software; you may redistribute it and/or modify
it under the same terms as Perl itself.
This makes it easy for people to use your module with Perl. Note that this licensing is neither
an endorsement or a requirement, you are of course free to choose any licensing.
SEE ALSO
Other man pages to check out, like man(1), man(7), makewhatis(8), or catman(8). Normally a
simple list of man pages separated by commas, or a paragraph giving the name of a reference work.
Man page references, if they use the standard "name(section)" form, don't have to be enclosed in
L<> (although it's recommended), but other things in this section probably should be when
appropriate.
If the package has a mailing list, include a URL or subscription instructions here.
If the package has a web site, include a URL here.
In addition, some systems use CONFORMING TO to note conformance to relevant standards and MT-LEVEL to
note safeness for use in threaded programs or signal handlers. These headings are primarily useful
when documenting parts of a C library. Documentation of object-oriented libraries or modules may use
CONSTRUCTORS and METHODS sections for detailed documentation of the parts of the library and save the
DESCRIPTION section for an overview; other large modules may use FUNCTIONS for similar reasons. Some
people use OVERVIEW to summarize the description if it's quite long.
Section ordering varies, although NAME should always be the first section (you'll break some man page
systems otherwise), and NAME, SYNOPSIS, DESCRIPTION, and OPTIONS generally always occur first and in
that order if present. In general, SEE ALSO, AUTHOR, and similar material should be left for last.
Some systems also move WARNINGS and NOTES to last. The order given above should be reasonable for
most purposes.
Finally, as a general note, try not to use an excessive amount of markup. As documented here and in
Pod::Man, you can safely leave Perl variables, function names, man page references, and the like
unadorned by markup and the POD translators will figure it out for you. This makes it much easier to
later edit the documentation. Note that many existing translators (including this one currently)
will do the wrong thing with e-mail addresses when wrapped in L<>, so don't do that.
For additional information that may be more accurate for your specific system, see either man(5) or
man(7) depending on your system manual section numbering conventions.
SEE ALSO
Pod::Man, Pod::Simple, man(1), nroff(1), podchecker(1), troff(1), man(7)
The man page documenting the an macro set may be man(5) instead of man(7) on your system.
The current version of this script is always available from its web site at
<http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/software/podlators/. It is also part of the Perl core distribution as
of 5.6.0.
AUTHOR
Russ Allbery <rra@stanford.edu>, based very heavily on the original pod2man by Larry Wall and Tom
Christiansen. Large portions of this documentation, particularly the sections on the anatomy of a
proper man page, are taken from the pod2man documentation by Tom.
COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
Copyright 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2006 by Russ Allbery <rra@stanford.edu>.
This program is free software; you may redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl
itself.
perl v5.8.8 2007-09-23 POD2MAN(1)
|