Mailing List Archive: man pages: dangling symlinks?

man pages: dangling symlinks?

May 5, 2011, 11:50 AM

Post #1 of 4 (1782 views)

Hi just out of curiousity I apt-get installed man to see man pages for
the mplayer or other program

the instalation threw a lot of:

Updating index cache for path `/opt/man/fr/man1'. Wait...mandb:
warning: /opt/man/fr/man1/ex.1.gz is a dangling symlink
mandb: warning: /opt/man/fr/man1/fakeroot.1.gz is a dangling symlink
mandb: warning: /opt/man/fr/man1/vi.1.gz is a dangling symlink
mandb: warning: /opt/man/fr/man1/view.1.gz is a dangling symlink
mandb: warning: /opt/man/fr/man1/faked.1.gz is a dangling symlink

3 questions:

1) what are dangling symlinks?

2) are they bad?

3) should I correct my installation due to these messages?

thanks
f(t)
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Re: man pages: dangling symlinks? [ In reply to ]

paul.hartman+maemo at gmail

May 5, 2011, 12:07 PM

Post #2 of 4 (1725 views)

Permalink

On Thu, May 5, 2011 at 1:50 PM, Francisco Diaz Trepat - gmail
<francisco.diaztrepat@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi just out of curiousity I apt-get installed man to see man pages for
> the mplayer or other program
>
> the instalation threw a lot of:
>
> Updating index cache for path `/opt/man/fr/man1'. Wait...mandb:
> warning: /opt/man/fr/man1/ex.1.gz is a dangling symlink
> mandb: warning: /opt/man/fr/man1/fakeroot.1.gz is a dangling symlink
> mandb: warning: /opt/man/fr/man1/vi.1.gz is a dangling symlink
> mandb: warning: /opt/man/fr/man1/view.1.gz is a dangling symlink
> mandb: warning: /opt/man/fr/man1/faked.1.gz is a dangling symlink
>
>
> 3 questions:
>
> 1) what are dangling symlinks?

It is a way of saying the target of the symlink does not exist.

> 2) are they bad?

Only if you are trying to read the manpage that does not exist. :)

> 3) should I correct my installation due to these messages?

The cause could be related to the removal of documentation from some
packages, maybe the manpage alternative is defined by the package but
the actual man page is not installed to the filesystem. If you don't
need to read one of those 4 manpages then I don't think it's anything
to worry about.
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Re: man pages: dangling symlinks? [ In reply to ]

francisco.diaztrepat at gmail

May 5, 2011, 4:39 PM

Post #3 of 4 (1723 views)

Permalink

As usual I end up thanking paul.

Thanks Paul,

:-)

f(t)

On 5/5/11, Paul Hartman <paul.hartman+maemo@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, May 5, 2011 at 1:50 PM, Francisco Diaz Trepat - gmail
> <francisco.diaztrepat@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hi just out of curiousity I apt-get installed man to see man pages for
>> the mplayer or other program
>>
>> the instalation threw a lot of:
>>
>> Updating index cache for path `/opt/man/fr/man1'. Wait...mandb:
>> warning: /opt/man/fr/man1/ex.1.gz is a dangling symlink
>> mandb: warning: /opt/man/fr/man1/fakeroot.1.gz is a dangling symlink
>> mandb: warning: /opt/man/fr/man1/vi.1.gz is a dangling symlink
>> mandb: warning: /opt/man/fr/man1/view.1.gz is a dangling symlink
>> mandb: warning: /opt/man/fr/man1/faked.1.gz is a dangling symlink
>>
>>
>> 3 questions:
>>
>> 1) what are dangling symlinks?
>
> It is a way of saying the target of the symlink does not exist.
>
>> 2) are they bad?
>
> Only if you are trying to read the manpage that does not exist. :)
>
>> 3) should I correct my installation due to these messages?
>
> The cause could be related to the removal of documentation from some
> packages, maybe the manpage alternative is defined by the package but
> the actual man page is not installed to the filesystem. If you don't
> need to read one of those 4 manpages then I don't think it's anything
> to worry about.
> _______________________________________________
> maemo-users mailing list
> maemo-users@maemo.org
> https://lists.maemo.org/mailman/listinfo/maemo-users
>
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