How do I install the manpage from node.js' source tarball?

Question

I have downloaded node.js tarball from its website, and now I would like install the manpage that comes with it so that I can view it by typing:

 man nodejs

How can I do this?

What is the reason for installing Node.JS from source? If you have a valid reason, that's fine, but it makes things like this more complicated than needed in some cases where you only need a more recent version than in Ubuntu. And have you run the make doc command as suggested in the README.md ? — gertvdijk, Jan 18 '13 at 21:07
You said there are manpages that come with the tarball, but I don't see any in the file. — Ken Kinder, Jan 18 '13 at 21:08
Here's the general question: How do I manually install a man page? — Flimm, Jan 18 '13 at 21:52

gertvdijk · Accepted Answer · 2013-01-18T21:24:09.287

4

It's not man nodejs, but man 1 node. And it will be there by default.

It will be installed for you with the regular installation method (e.g. sudo make install) as the tools/install.py called from the Makefile will take care of it:

if 'freebsd' in sys.platform or 'openbsd' in sys.platform:
  action(['doc/node.1'], 'man/man1/')
else:
  action(['doc/node.1'], 'share/man/man1/')

In other words, it installs node.1 for you in /usr/share/man/man1/.

To read the manpage directly from the source, you can do:

man /path/to/nodejssource/doc/node.1

edited Jan 18 '13 at 21:24

answered Jan 18 '13 at 21:16

gertvdijk

67,947

I see I misunderstood the man 1 node syntax. I voted to delete my answer. – chaskes Jan 18 '13 at 21:24
@user117123 No need to delete your answer. It provides a great way for viewing documentation anyway. :) – gertvdijk Jan 18 '13 at 21:25
Ok, I undeleted, but clarified. Thanks. :) – chaskes Jan 18 '13 at 21:28

chaskes · Answer 2 · 2013-01-18T21:27:47.847

2

In addition to the man page, Node sets up its own help server.

npm help <term>

or to get started:

npm help npm

The documentation is also online at: Node.js API docs

edited Jan 18 '13 at 21:27

answered Jan 18 '13 at 21:14

chaskes

15,246

thanks. I just saw your first comment and edited my answer. – chaskes Jan 18 '13 at 21:20
The node.1 is the exact file I want to link to man so that it will see it when I type man node – Patryk Jan 18 '13 at 21:21
okay :) yeah, other documentation methods like npm help provide a lot more, but the node command also features a manpage, just for the convenience. – gertvdijk Jan 18 '13 at 21:21

How do I install the manpage from node.js' source tarball?

2 Answers2