Re: misc/46185: man pages fail in single user mode

[Manuel Bouyer <bouyer%antioche.eu.org@localhost>]

On Tue, Mar 13, 2012 at 03:55:00PM +0000, abs%absd.org@localhost wrote:
> NetBSD forsaken 6.0_BETA NetBSD 6.0_BETA (GENERIC) amd64
> 
> from NetBSD-daily (2012-03-09)
> >Description:
> NetBSD no longer ships with pregenerated catman pages - man generates them on 
> demand.
> 
> When it does this it writes them to /tmp, then displays to the user.
> 
> Unfortunately in single user /tmp is non writable, so this fails.
> >How-To-Repeat:
> - boot single user
> - run 'man fsck'
> >Fix:
> Workarounds:
> - mount / R/W. Sometimes issues the manpage is needed specifically to address 
> an issue with just this operation.
> - mount tmpfs on /tmp
> - mandoc /usr/share/man/... | less
> 
> A possible fix might be for man to default to piping its output direct to the 
> display/$PAGER
> 
> This may prove annoying for people who currently expect there to be an 
> actually temporary file which can be edited, but is less of an issue than no 
> manpage access in single user mode.

I guess man could try to create the file, and fall back to pipe if
creating the file fails.

-- 
Manuel Bouyer <bouyer%antioche.eu.org@localhost>
     NetBSD: 26 ans d'experience feront toujours la difference
--