What should be in a manual page? A#3.6: Whatever is necessary.
for manual pages, based on which section (chapter) the manual page is in. Templates with the suggested manual page formats are available in the file templates[version_number].shk at the usual ftp sites. For programs in particular (typically Chapters 1, 6, and 8), here are some sections that should be in the man page. The order of the first three are mandatory due to how some automated tools work. The sequence on the remainder are suggested: NAME – name and one line description SYNOPSIS – list of options and arguments DESCRIPTION – a detailed description OPTIONS – explanation of the flags ENVIRONMENT – relevant environment variables and their semantics, if appropriate FILES – related files, if appropriate BUGS – known bugs, if appropriate AUTHOR – your name and contact info, typically an email address. Include your smail address at your own risk. LEGALITIES – Commercial, freeware, shareware, public domain, copyleft, … ? ATTRIBUTIONS – Give credit when due.
