monkdiscuss
Perlbotics
<p>
While trying to look-up a shortcut for man-pages in <em>[id://43037]</em>,
I noticed that there is no such thing as a <c>[man://]</c> tag.
Although, I know that there are various flavours of Unix, it would be
convenient to point to a site such as [http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi] for
further reading. E.g. <c>[man://env]</c> ⇒ [http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=env|env] could be linked to
[http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=env], which will present a default man-page for FreeBSD. There, the reader can select the same man-page for another Unix flavour if desired.
<p>
Potential variations could include (with <c>env</c> as an example):
<dl>
<dt><c>[man://env]</c> ⇒ [http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=env|env]</dt>
<dd>look-up 'env' for any Unix (FreeBSD by default)
<br><small>(→ http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?<strong>query=env</strong>)</small>
</dd>
<dt><c>[man://env(1)]</c> ⇒ [http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=env&sektion=1|env(1)]</dt>
<dd>look-up 'env' in section (1) / note the
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Gateway_Interface|CGI]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attribute-value_pair|NVP]:
<c>sektion=1</c> (not(!) section)
<br><small>(→ http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=env&<strong>sektion=1</strong>)</small>
</dd>
<dt><c>[man1://env]</c> ⇒ [http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=env&sektion=1|env(1)]</dt>
<dd>same: look-up 'env' in section (1) / analogue: man2, man3, etc.
</dd>
<dt><c>[man1://env|env (1) manpage]</c> ⇒ [http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=env&sektion=1|env (1) manpage]</dt>
<dd>same but user defined text</dd>
<dt><c>[man://env(SunOS 5.10)]</c> ⇒ [http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=env&manpath=SunOS+5.10|env (SunOS 5.10)]</dt>
<dd>specification of a distinct OS - could be challenging to implement reliably / note the
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Gateway_Interface|CGI]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attribute-value_pair|NVP]:
<c>manpath=SunOS+5.10</c>
<br><small>(→ http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=env&<strong>manpath=SunOS+5.10</strong>)</small>
</dd>
<dt><c>[apropos://env]</c> ⇒ [http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=env&apropos=1|(apropos) env]</dt>
<dd>don't know if that makes sense, but if <c>[man://]</c> is possible, <c>[apropos://]</c> is easy / note the
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Gateway_Interface|CGI]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attribute-value_pair|NVP]:
<c>apropos=1</c>
<br><small>(→ http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=env&<strong>apropos=1</strong>)</small>
</dd>
</dl>
At least the <c>[man://]</c> and <c>[man1://] [man2://] ...</c>
variants should be straightforward to implement.<br>
The [http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi|freebsd service] seems to exist for several years, so there is a little bit of confidence that it will be available in the future.
</p>
<p>
For Windows related references to the <strike>KB</strike>
[http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1| MS Knowledge Base],
the
<c>[mskb://]</c> tag could
be useful. E.g. <c>[mskb://245225]</c> ⇒
[http://support.microsoft.com/kb/245225|MSKB 245225] being a link to
[http://support.microsoft.com/kb/245225].
Analogue: <c>[mskb://245225|HOW TO: Configure and Test a PERL Script with IIS 4.0, 5.0, 5.1, and 6.0]</c>
⇒
[http://support.microsoft.com/kb/245225|HOW TO: Configure and Test a PERL Script with IIS 4.0, 5.0, 5.1, and 6.0].
</p>
<p>I am not sure if linking to those sites might have some legal implications... </p>
<p>
Update: NVP = [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attribute-value_pair|Name/Value Pair], nowadays <em>Attribute/Value Pair</em> <br>
Update2: samples highlighting the differences added; links for
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Gateway_Interface|CGI],
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attribute-value_pair|NVP],
and
[http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1|KB]
added. <br>
Update3: Summary and update [id://720539|here].<br>
<ins>
Update4: Today, 16-mar-2009, the <c>[man://]</c> shortcut has become reality!
Thanks to [pmdev] - especially [jdporter] - for implementing this suggestion.
</ins>
</p>