Configuring apropos and whatis - (The windex file)

by Jeff Hunter, Sr. Database Administrator

Overview

Many UNIX users are familiar with the apropos and whatis commands.

The whatis command is used to display a one-line summary about a

keyword as in the following example:

# whatis scsi
scsi scsi (4) - configuration files for
SCSI target drivers

The apropos command is used to locate commands by keyword lookup.

The apropos utility displays the man page name, section number, and a
short description for each man page whose NAME line contains keyword
as in the following example:

# apropos IDE
dad dad (7d) - driver for IDE disk
devices
uata uata (7d) - IDE Host Bus Adapter
Driver

Creating /usr/share/man/windex

Before using either the apropos, whatis, or make -k commands, it is

necessary to create the system generated index file:
/usr/share/man/windex. Failing to have this file generated will result in
the following error when attempting to use any of the above commands:

# apropos IDE
/usr/share/man/windex: No such file or directory

To create the /usr/share/man/windex, use the catman, as in the

following example:

# /usr/bin/catman -w

This utility will search the MANPATH and create the windex file. If you
would like to specify which directories yourself, you can use the -M
switch.