Ubuntu
man-db package

apropos, whatis, man -k are broken, makewhatis is missing. Hardy heron i386 server.

Bug #229202 reported by canalside
2
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
man-db (Ubuntu)
Incomplete
Undecided
Unassigned

Bug Description

'apropos', 'whatis' and 'man -k' always return 'nothing appropriate', it seems that there is no whatis database.

'sudo makewhatis' command is missing.

'sudo find / -name makewhatis' can't find it.

'sudo apt-get install makewhatis' can't find it.

Found in Ubuntu Hardy Heron i386 server.

Revision history for this message
Colin Watson (cjwatson) wrote :

Please post the output of 'whatis --debug man'.

There are two major implementations of the man suite on Linux. Only one of them provides makewhatis. The one I maintain builds its database in other ways.

Changed in man-db:
status: New → Incomplete
Revision history for this message
canalside (canalside) wrote :
Download full text (4.1 KiB)

From the config file /etc/manpath.config:

Mandatory mandir `/usr/man'.
Mandatory mandir `/usr/share/man'.
Mandatory mandir `/usr/local/man'.
Path `/bin' mapped to mandir `/usr/share/man'.
Path `/usr/bin' mapped to mandir `/usr/share/man'.
Path `/sbin' mapped to mandir `/usr/share/man'.
Path `/usr/sbin' mapped to mandir `/usr/share/man'.
Path `/usr/local/bin' mapped to mandir `/usr/local/man'.
Path `/usr/local/bin' mapped to mandir `/usr/local/share/man'.
Path `/usr/local/sbin' mapped to mandir `/usr/local/man'.
Path `/usr/local/sbin' mapped to mandir `/usr/local/share/man'.
Path `/usr/X11R6/bin' mapped to mandir `/usr/X11R6/man'.
Path `/usr/bin/X11' mapped to mandir `/usr/X11R6/man'.
Path `/usr/games' mapped to mandir `/usr/share/man'.
Path `/opt/bin' mapped to mandir `/opt/man'.
Path `/opt/sbin' mapped to mandir `/opt/man'.
Global mandir `/usr/man', catdir `/var/cache/man/fsstnd'.
Global mandir `/usr/share/man', catdir `/var/cache/man'.
Global mandir `/usr/local/man', catdir `/var/cache/man/oldlocal'.
Global mandir `/usr/local/share/man', catdir `/var/cache/man/local'.
Global mandir `/usr/X11R6/man', catdir `/var/cache/man/X11R6'.
Global mandir `/opt/man', catdir `/var/cache/man/opt'.
Added section `1'.
Added section `n'.
Added section `l'.
Added section `8'.
Added section `3'.
Added section `2'.
Added section `3posix'.
Added section `3pm'.
Added section `3perl'.
Added section `5'.
Added section `4'.
Added section `9'.
Added section `6'.
Added section `7'.
`/usr/man' `' `1'
`/usr/share/man' `' `1'
`/usr/local/man' `' `1'
`/bin' `/usr/share/man' `0'
`/usr/bin' `/usr/share/man' `0'
`/sbin' `/usr/share/man' `0'
`/usr/sbin' `/usr/share/man' `0'
`/usr/local/bin' `/usr/local/man' `0'
`/usr/local/bin' `/usr/local/share/man' `0'
`/usr/local/sbin' `/usr/local/man' `0'
`/usr/local/sbin' `/usr/local/share/man' `0'
`/usr/X11R6/bin' `/usr/X11R6/man' `0'
`/usr/bin/X11' `/usr/X11R6/man' `0'
`/usr/games' `/usr/share/man' `0'
`/opt/bin' `/opt/man' `0'
`/opt/sbin' `/opt/man' `0'
`/usr/man' `/var/cache/man/fsstnd' `-1'
`/usr/share/man' `/var/cache/man' `-1'
`/usr/local/man' `/var/cache/man/oldlocal' `-1'
`/usr/local/share/man' `/var/cache/man/local' `-1'
`/usr/X11R6/man' `/var/cache/man/X11R6' `-1'
`/opt/man' `/var/cache/man/opt' `-1'
`1' `' `-5'
`n' `' `-5'
`l' `' `-5'
`8' `' `-5'
`3' `' `-5'
`2' `' `-5'
`3posix' `' `-5'
`3pm' `' `-5'
`3perl' `' `-5'
`5' `' `-5'
`4' `' `-5'
`9' `' `-5'
`6' `' `-5'
`7' `' `-5'

path directory /usr/local/sbin is in the config file
adding /usr/local/man to manpath
adding /usr/local/share/man to manpath

path directory /usr/local/bin is in the config file
/usr/local/man is already in the manpath
/usr/local/share/man is already in the manpath

path directory /usr/sbin is in the config file
adding /usr/share/man to manpath

path directory /usr/bin is in the config file
/usr/share/man is already in t...

Read more...

Revision history for this message
Colin Watson (cjwatson) wrote :

Try running:

  sudo /etc/cron.daily/man-db

(In Ubuntu 8.04, something similar will be done automatically, and there will be no more need to occasionally do this by hand after installing packages.)

Revision history for this message
canalside (canalside) wrote :

ran ' sudo /etc/cron.daily/man-db': apropos, whatis, man -k are working now, thanks.

This is Ubuntu 8.04 server, it looks like the problem may actually be with cron not running, is this a known bug?

Revision history for this message
Colin Watson (cjwatson) wrote :

Sorry, that was a misprint; I should have said "In Ubuntu 8.10, something similar will be done automatically, and ...".

This is also bug 50110, fixed - as noted - in intrepid.

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