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X-Authentication-Warning: slinky.cs.nyu.edu: pechtcha owned process doing -bs
Date: Mon, 10 Nov 2003 11:34:20 -0500 (EST)
From: Igor Pechtchanski <pechtcha AT cs DOT nyu DOT edu>
Reply-To: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
To: Don Sharp <dwsharp AT iee DOT org>
cc: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
Subject: Re: Info versus Man
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Message-ID: <Pine.GSO.4.56.0311101132080.811@slinky.cs.nyu.edu>
References: <ldmqqvcmqtegf0hn29rusk12rr4ss5tp9r AT 4ax DOT com> <3FAD6706 DOT 58495361 AT dessent DOT net>
 <3FAEB5FF DOT 38C5A9A2 AT iee DOT org>
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While I'd recommend 'pinfo' over 'info' any day, to be fair to 'info', it
also displays man pages if the info pages can't be found.  Also, while
we're on the subject of info vs man, man pages are much better for global
search, while info is better for structured delivery of information.
FWIW, I use both.
	Igor

On Sun, 9 Nov 2003, Don Sharp wrote:

> Try pinfo. If it doesn't find an info page it'll look for a man page.
>
> HTH
>
> Don Sharp
>
> Brian Dessent wrote:
>
> > zzapper wrote:
> > >
> > > Hi Ya All
> > >
> > > Is INFO just a viewer for Man Pages, or does it have it's own
> > > database?
> > >
> > > Is INFO preferred to MAN ??
> > >
> > > (Sorry for hogging this NG recently)
> > > zzapper
> >
> > Yes, they are completely seperate.  The 'info' program reads and
> > displays texinfo documents, which live in /usr/info.  texinfo documents
> > are organized into nodes, which leads to a sort of link structure or
> > heirarchy.  The 'info' program is just one way of formatting/viewing
> > them, they can also be easily formatted as PostScript, HTML, etc.
> >
> > The 'man' program formats and displays manpages which are a much older
> > format (nroff/groff).  They contain markup to make sections stand out,
> > highlight commands vs. normal text, etc. but they are still essentially
> > flat text files with embellishment.  They live in /usr/man.
> >
> > The GNU people decided one day that man pages had worn out their welcome
> > and so they developed the texinfo project to support a new format of
> > documentation.  Thus, the preferred docu for all the GNU utils are the
> > texinfo files, and the manpages are really an afterthought in a lot of
> > cases.  However many people hate the 'info' program and just want plain
> > old manpages, so I wouldn't expect them to go away any time soon.
> > Personally I have mixed feelings about both.  If you ever try to use the
> > manpage for 'bash' you quickly realize how cumbersome it is, compared to
> > viewing the HTML version of the texinfo docs online.  However, for quick
> > and dirty things that basically consist of a short summary of some
> > options the manpage cannot be beat.
> >
> > Brian

-- 
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     |,4-  ) )-,_. ,\ (  `'-'		Igor Pechtchanski, Ph.D.
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