Re: MANPATH not handled correctly

On Sun, Jan 08, 2017 at 11:26:33AM -0800, Steve Kargl wrote:
> MANPATH is not handled correctly.  According to the documentation
> in apropos(1) and whatis(1):
> 
>   MANPATH   The standard search path used by man(1) may be changed by
>             specifying a path in the MANPATH environment variable.  Invalid
>             paths, or paths without manual databases, are ignored.
>             Overridden by -M.  If MANPATH begins with a colon, it is
>             appended to the default list; if it ends with a colon, it is
>             prepended to the default list; or if it contains two adjacent
>             colons, the standard search path is inserted between the
>             colons.  If none of these conditions are met, it overrides the
>             standard search path.
> 
> I have a manpage named mkpic in $HOME/man/man1.  I also have the FreeBSD
> installed manpages, e.g., /usr/share/man/man1/cat.1.gz.  If I have
> 'setenv MANPATH :$HOME/man' in my .cshrc file, then the following occurs:  
> 
> % setenv | grep MANPATH
> MANPATH=:/home/kargl/man
> % apropos mkpic
> (Warning: MANPATH environment variable set)
> mkpic(1) - construct a contour image in MIFF image format
> % apropos cat
> (Warning: MANPATH environment variable set)
> matrix(3) - Array and matrix allocation for FFT library
> 
> So, the above description of MANPATH is incorrect as :/home/kargl/man
> should have been appended to the default MANPATH.
> 
> Interestingly, manpath(1) seems to described what actually happens
> (long lines wrapped):
> 
> % unsetenv MANPATH
> % manpath
> /home/kargl/man:/usr/local/man:/usr/share/man:/usr/share/openssl/man:\
>    /usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/man:/usr/local/lib/perl5/5.20/perl/man:\
>    /usr/local/share/xpdf/man
> % setenv MANPATH :$HOME/sman
> % manpath
> (Warning: MANPATH environment variable set)
> :/home/kargl/man
> 
> The expected result according apropos(1) and whatis(1) for last command is
> 
> % manpath
> /home/kargl/man:/usr/local/man:/usr/share/man:/usr/share/openssl/man:\
>    /usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/man:/usr/local/lib/perl5/5.20/perl/man:\
>    /usr/local/share/xpdf/man:/home/kargl/man
> 
> Instead of (un)fixing the documentation for apropos(1) and whatis(1), it
> would be preferable to fix manpath to match the description in those
> manpages.  In addition, the Warning should be removed or at least an
> option should be available to suppress the (useless/annoying) Warning.
> This would restore man(1), apropros(1), and whatis(1) to its historical
> behavior prior to svn revision 213317.
> 
> If the documentation for apropos(1) and whatis(1) is unfixed, then manpath(1)
> should have HISTORY and BUGS sections.  The BUGS section should explicitly
> not that MANPATH is no longer a changeable environmental variable by a
> user without incurring the Warning.
> 

Sounds like a bug, I will have a look as soon as I can

Thanks for reporting,
Best regards,
Bapt