HOWTO documents.
You will find traditional Linux software package documentation, such as
manual pages, under the /usr/share/man directory, with documentation
for each installed software package under /usr/share/doc.
Linux manual pages are compressed text files that contain succinct
information about how to use a program. Each manual page generally
provides a short summary of a command’s use, a synopsis of command-line
options, an explanation of the command’s purpose, potential caveats or bugs,
the name of the author, and a list of related configuration files and programs.
For example, you can learn how to read manual pages by using the man
command to display its own manual page, as follows:
matthew@seymour:~$ manAfter you press Enter, a page of text appears on the screen or in your window
on the desktop. You can scroll through the information by using your
keyboard’s cursor keys, read, and then press the Q key to quit reading.
Many of the software packages also include separate documents known as
HOWTOs that contain information regarding specific subjects or software.
With a HOWTO document that is a simple text file in compressed form (with
filename ending in .gz), you can easily read the document by using the
zless command, which is a text pager that enables you to scroll back and
forth through documents. (Use the less command to read plain-text files.)
You can start the command by using less, followed by the complete
directory specification and name of the file, or pathname, like this:
Click here to view code image
matthew@seymour:~$ less /usr/share/doc/httpd-2.0.50/README
To read a compressed version of this file, use the zless command in the
same way:
Click here to view code image
matthew@seymour:~$ zless /usr/share/doc/attr-2.4.1/CHANGES.gz
After you press Enter, you can scroll through the document using your cursor
keys. Press the Q key to quit.
With a HOWTO document in HTML format, you can simply read the
information using a web browser, such as Firefox. Or if you are reading from
a console, you can use the links or lynx text-only web browsers, like this:
Click here to view code image
matthew@seymour:~$ links /usr/share/doc/stunnel-4.0.5/stunnel.html