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Date:      Thu, 31 Dec 1998 14:59:53 -0800
From:      Ludwig Pummer <ludwigp@bigfoot.com>
To:        mennis@ucsd.edu, freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: cat# directories
Message-ID:  <4.1.19981231145657.00a45100@mail-r>
In-Reply-To: <199812312144.NAA17299@ieng9.ucsd.edu>

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At 01:44 PM 12/31/98 , Mark Ennis wrote:
>Hi all,
>
>Does anyone know what the cat# directories are for, they
>are located inside the man directory alongside the man page directories?

Those are formatted manpages. You may notice that the first time you open a
manpage, you get a "Formatting manpage..." message. The man# file is being
formatted (run through troff or something like that) and then stored in the
cat# directory. Next time you open up that manpage, it is read straight
from the cat# directory instead of the man# directory, to save time.

>Are they necessary??  They seem to have the same file contents as the
>man pages.  Is this a UNIX thing or just a FreeBSD thing?

I suppose they aren't necessary if you don't mind waiting for the manpages
to format every time you open them. I don't know how to shut it off though.

--Ludwig Pummer ( ludwigp@bigfoot.com )
ICQ UIN: 692441 (  ludwigp@email.com  )

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