ManOpen

Overview

ManOpen is a MacOS X GUI application for viewing Unix manual pages, which are the standard documentation for Unix command line programs, programmer libraries, and other system information. It can open files directly or be given titles, in which case it will display the output from the `man' command-line program. An apropos interface is also provided, which is basically a quick-and-dirty search of the man page databases. Services are provided to other applications to open selected files/titles or do apropos searches using the selected text.

ManOpen can be useful for opening a man page without dropping down to the command line, browsing and searching through long and complex man pages, or simply for printing them out.

Also included is an `openman' command line tool, which is similar to man except it will display the man pages in ManOpen.app instead of directly to the terminal.

Screenshots

Well, one screenshot anyways. There is a small version (about 33K) and a full-size version (about 106K).

Installation

There are versions for MacOS X, MacOS X Server 1.2, and OPENSTEP/Mach machines. Source code is also available.

To install the app, first unpack the distribution. Two forms are provided; a .dmg disk image which should just be double-clickable (easiest), and a .tar.gz archive. The easiest way to unpack the .tar.gz distribution is by using Scott Anguish's OpenUp application, which if you don't have already is available at stepwise.com. Alternatively, it can be unpacked at the command line: cd to the directory where the ManOpen distribution was downloaded, and type gnutar xzf ManOpen-2.5.X.b.tar.gz

Unpacking the distribution should create a directory with a README, the ManOpen application, the openman command-line tool, and openman's man page (openman.1).

Place the application in one of the standard Application directories, such as /Applications, /Network/Applications, or ~/Applications. If you want to install the openman tool, put it in one of the directories in the Unix $PATH, such as /usr/local/bin or ~/bin. Put its openman.1 man page in a standard man page directory, such as /usr/local/man/man1.

Download

The current version is 2.5.

MacOS X 10.x disk image
MacOS X 10.x tar.gz
Source code (an old-style ProjectBuilderWO project and Xcode project)
As mentioned, ManOpen is available for older operating sytems as well:
MacOS X Server 1.2 binary
OPENSTEP/Mach binary and source code

Version History

Version 2.5, May 2005

Fixes operation on MacOS X 10.4 (Tiger)
Has a Section pulldown for quickly jumping to man page sections
Handles the "x-man-page" URL scheme introduced by Apple in the MacOS X 10.3 version of Terminal.app
Includes a preference to select the default x-man-page viewer
Page numbers are added when printing
Open and Apropos panels remember their position if non-modal
Open and Apropos panels can be closed with escape or Command-. keys
Find Previous shortcut on MacOS X is now Command-Shift-g, as per Apple UI guidelines
Declares 1, 2, 3, 4, ... , 9 file extensions as man pages on Mac OS X
Worked around MacOS X 10.3 man(1) change so that the Man Search Path works for Apropos searches again
Pops up a warning if many windows will be opened when using the Open Selection button in a man page window
Accepts entries of the form "3 printf" in the Open Title panel
A few other minor fixes

Version 2.4, March 2003

Space bar pages down (shift-space pages up)
Switched Cmd-O and Cmd-Shift-O; Cmd-O now brings up title panel and Cmd-Shift-O brings up File Open panel
Can rearrange man paths in preferences
Added preference to open title panel on startup
Titles get added to Open Recent menu on MacOS X
Gzipped man pages are now handled
Fixed bug with Page Setup changes not being remembered
Fixed crash on launch when opening files from Finder
Fixed bug causing cancel buttons to appear as blue
Mouse cursor changes over hyperlinks
Printing works in the Apropos window now
openman command line tool now has -b option to avoid forcing ManOpen.app to the front
Fink's /sw/share/man is added to the default man path if it exists
Avoids treating binary files as man pages
Apropos list sorted alphabetically
Preferences uses "org.clindberg.ManOpen" now
Added note on tcsh completion for openman to help
Hyperlinks supported on OPENSTEP (uses RTF Help links)

Version 2.3.2, October 2001

Fixed another crasher under MacOS X 10.1
Find panel works again in OPENSTEP
Changed some defaults setting names; occasional conflict caused crashes on MacOS X Server 1.2

Version 2.3.1, October 2001 (MacOS X-only release)

Fixed bug that caused crashes under MacOS X 10.1

Version 2.3, April 2001

Colors are now settable in preferences
Added menu items to list man sections
Version number shows in Info panel
Preference to keep open title/apropos panels open
Opening files explicitly sometimes wouldn't work
openman now forces ManOpen to the front
A couple of other minor bug fixes and improvements

Version 2.2, December 2000

Fixed bugs that prevented ManOpen from working if it was located under a directory that had spaces in its name
Much improved window maximize behavior
Better MacOS X icon (though it still needs a completely new one)
A couple of other minor bug fixes and improvements

Version 2.1, October 2000

Runs on MacOS X Public Beta
Added apropos(1) interface
Added hyperlinking of referenced man pages
Added font preference
Can choose manual section when opening titles
A few other minor bug fixes and improvements

Version 2.0, October 1999

First MacOS X Server version

Feedback

I'm always interested in bug reports, suggestions, comments, or any other feedback (and I'd like to thank all those who have written in so far). I can be reached at lindberg@clindberg.org.