# dh_installman

## NAME



           dh_installman - install man pages into package build directories
    


## SYNOPSIS



           **dh_installman**[_debhelper options_] [_manpage_ ...]
    


## DESCRIPTION



           **dh_installman** is a debhelper program that handles installing man
           pages into the correct locations in package build directories.
    
           In compat 10 and earlier, this program was primarily for when
           upstream's build system does not properly install them as a part
           of its install step (or it does not have an install step).  In
           compat 11 and later, it also supports the default searchdir plus
           --sourcedir like dh_install(1) and has the advantage that it
           respects the nodoc build profile (unlike dh_install(1)).
    
           Even if you prefer to use dh_install(1) for installing the
           manpages, **dh_installman** can still be useful for converting the
           manpage encoding to UTF-8 and for converting _.so_ links (as
           described below).  However, that part happens automatically
           without any explicit configuration.
    
           You tell **dh_installman** what man pages go in your packages, and it
           figures out where to install them based on the section field in
           their **.TH** or **.Dt** line. If you have a properly formatted **.TH** or **.Dt**
           line, your man page will be installed into the right directory,
           with the right name (this includes proper handling of pages with a
           subsection, like **3perl** , which are placed in _man3_ , and given an
           extension of _.3perl_). If your **.TH** or **.Dt** line is incorrect or
           missing, the program may guess wrong based on the file extension.
    
           It also supports translated man pages, by looking for extensions
           like _.ll.8_ and _.ll_LL.8_ , or by use of the **--language** switch.
    
           If **dh_installman** seems to install a man page into the wrong
           section or with the wrong extension, this is because the man page
           has the wrong section listed in its **.TH** or **.Dt** line. Edit the man
           page and correct the section, and **dh_installman** will follow suit.
           See man(7) for details about the **.TH** section, and **mdoc**(7) for the
           **.Dt** section. If **dh_installman** seems to install a man page into a
           directory like _/usr/share/man/pl/man1/_ , that is because your
           program has a name like _foo.pl_ , and **dh_installman** assumes that
           means it is translated into Polish. Use **--language=C** to avoid
           this.
    
           After the man page installation step, **dh_installman** will check to
           see if any of the man pages in the temporary directories of any of
           the packages it is acting on contain _.so_ links. If so, it changes
           them to symlinks.
    
           Also, **dh_installman** will use man to guess the character encoding
           of each manual page and convert it to UTF-8. If the guesswork
           fails for some reason, you can override it using an encoding
           declaration. See manconv(1) for details.
    
           From debhelper compatibility level 11 on, **dh_install** will fall
           back to looking in _debian/tmp_ for files, if it does not find them
           in the current directory (or wherever you've told it to look using
           **--sourcedir**).
    


## FILES



           debian/_package_.manpages
               Lists man pages to be installed.
    
               Supports substitution variables in compat 13 and later as
               documented in debhelper(7).
    


## OPTIONS



           **-A** , **--all**
               Install all files specified by command line parameters in ALL
               packages acted on.
    
           **--language=**_ll_
               Use this to specify that the man pages being acted on are
               written in the specified language.
    
           **--sourcedir=**_dir_
               Look in the specified directory for files to be installed.
               This option requires compat 11 or later (it is silently
               ignored in compat 10 or earlier).
    
               Note that this is not the same as the **--sourcedirectory** option
               used by the **dh_auto_**_*_ commands. You rarely need to use this
               option, since **dh_installman** automatically looks for files in
               _debian/tmp_ in debhelper compatibility level 11 and above.
    
           _manpage_ ...
               Install these man pages into the first package acted on. (Or
               in all packages if **-A** is specified).
    


## EXAMPLES



           An example _debian/package.manpages_ file could look like this:
    
             doc/man/foo.1
             # Translations
             doc/man/foo.da.1
             doc/man/foo.de.1
             doc/man/foo.fr.1
             # NB: The following line is considered a polish translation
             # of "foo.1" (and not a manpage written in perl called "foo.pl")
             doc/man/foo.pl.1
             # ...
    


## NOTES



           An older version of this program, dh_installmanpages(1), is still
           used by some packages, and so is still included in debhelper.  It
           is, however, deprecated, due to its counterintuitive and
           inconsistent interface. Use this program instead.
    


* * *