On Tue, 18 Jul 2000, Greywolf wrote:

> To replace, outright, man pages and the manner in which they are viewed
> would be folly.

Consider two new environment variables that a new man(1) checked:
$MAN_FORMAT and $MAN_VIEWER.

If `man some_program' shot out plain text and fed it to $PAGER, by
default, would you be not unhappy with a new man(1) really being quite
different than it is now?

To wit:
$MAN_FORMAT=text|dvi|ps|html|...
$MAN_VIEWER=lynx|$PAGER|netscape|gv|...

I agree that removing the current functionality--plain text to a pager to
a terminal--should never, ever, go away. My other post did not mean to
suggest that. Just like you say, I want to extend and add options, not
take away the reasonable defaults and good functionality that exist.


--
Chris
www.innerfireworks.com