Apropos - Revision history

QuBe: Add home-manager section

2026-04-02T18:34:15Z

Add home-manager section

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:34, 2 April 2026
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	}		}
	</syntaxhighlight>		</syntaxhighlight>
	This will create an immutable cache in sync with <code>environment.systemPackages</code>~~. Note that it will not be populated with programs from home-manager~~. Since it is immutable, the <code>mandb</code> command (see below) will fail.		This will create an immutable cache in sync with <code>environment.systemPackages</code>. Since it is immutable, the <code>mandb</code> command (see below) will fail.

	Some programs might set ~~this option~~ to true by default. ~~For~~ example~~, this~~ is ~~the case of~~ [[fish]], which uses it to automatically create completions (see [fish_update_completions](https://fishshell.com/docs/current/cmds/fish_update_completions.html)).		If you are using home-manager, the above will not populate the cache with the programs installed that way, instead add this to your <code>home.nix</code>:
			<syntaxhighlight lang="nix">
			{
			programs.man.generateCaches = true;
			}
			</syntaxhighlight>

			Some programs might set one of these options to true by default, in that case you might still need to set the other to true manually. An example of such a program is [[fish]], which uses it to automatically create completions (see [fish_update_completions](https://fishshell.com/docs/current/cmds/fish_update_completions.html)).

	To generate it manually, run:		To generate it manually, run:

QuBe: Update syntax to match https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/488395, Reorder sections so that "nix-way" is first, Warn automatic way is not home-manager compatible, Note option is set by fish

2026-04-02T18:16:36Z

Update syntax to match https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/488395, Reorder sections so that "nix-way" is first, Warn automatic way is not home-manager compatible, Note option is set by fish

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:16, 2 April 2026
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	By default as of NixOS 21.05, <code>apropos</code>, <code>whatis</code> and <code>man -k</code> do not find anything when run, because the man page index cache is not generated.		By default as of NixOS 21.05, <code>apropos</code>, <code>whatis</code> and <code>man -k</code> do not find anything when run, because the man page index cache is not generated.

	To ~~generate it manually (and again to update it when new software is installed)~~, ~~run~~:		To build the cache automatically, you can set this in your system configuration:
	<syntaxhighlight lang="~~console~~">		<syntaxhighlight lang="nix">
	~~$ sudo mkdir -p /var/~~cache~~/man/nixos~~		{
	~~$ sudo mandb~~		documentation.man.cache.enable = true;
			}
	</syntaxhighlight>		</syntaxhighlight>
			Or in older versions:
	~~To enable automatically building the immutable cache, you can set~~ in ~~your system configuration~~:
	<syntaxhighlight lang="nix">		<syntaxhighlight lang="nix">
	{		{
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	}		}
	</syntaxhighlight>		</syntaxhighlight>
	~~Note that this~~ will ~~rebuild the~~ cache ~~every time you change anything~~ in <code>environment.systemPackages</code>, ~~and will make~~ the <code>mandb</code> command fail.		This will create an immutable cache in sync with <code>environment.systemPackages</code>. Note that it will not be populated with programs from home-manager. Since it is immutable, the <code>mandb</code> command (see below) will fail.

			Some programs might set this option to true by default. For example, this is the case of [[fish]], which uses it to automatically create completions (see [fish_update_completions](https://fishshell.com/docs/current/cmds/fish_update_completions.html)).

			To generate it manually, run:
			<syntaxhighlight lang="console">
			$ sudo mkdir -p /var/cache/man/nixos
			$ sudo mandb
			</syntaxhighlight>
			This will need to be re-run to update the cache when new software is installed.

	[[Category:Configuration]]		[[Category:Configuration]]

Pigs: add category configuration

2025-05-18T17:51:56Z

add category configuration

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:51, 18 May 2025
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	</syntaxhighlight>		</syntaxhighlight>

	To enable automatically building the immutable cache, you can set:		To enable automatically building the immutable cache, you can set in your system configuration:
	<syntaxhighlight lang="nix">		<syntaxhighlight lang="nix">
	{		{
Line 14:		Line 14:
	</syntaxhighlight>		</syntaxhighlight>
	Note that this will rebuild the cache every time you change anything in <code>environment.systemPackages</code>, and will make the <code>mandb</code> command fail.		Note that this will rebuild the cache every time you change anything in <code>environment.systemPackages</code>, and will make the <code>mandb</code> command fail.

			[[Category:Configuration]]

SigmaSquadron: syntaxhighlight fix

2025-04-17T16:49:30Z

syntaxhighlight fix

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:49, 17 April 2025
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	To generate it manually (and again to update it when new software is installed), run:		To generate it manually (and again to update it when new software is installed), run:
	<syntaxhighlight lang=~~bash~~>		<syntaxhighlight lang="console">
	sudo mkdir -p /var/cache/man/nixos		$ sudo mkdir -p /var/cache/man/nixos
	sudo mandb		$ sudo mandb
	</syntaxhighlight>		</syntaxhighlight>

	To enable automatically building the immutable cache, you can set:		To enable automatically building the immutable cache, you can set:
	<syntaxhighlight lang=nix>		<syntaxhighlight lang="nix">
	documentation.man.generateCaches = true;		{
			documentation.man.generateCaches = true;
			}
	</syntaxhighlight>		</syntaxhighlight>
	Note that this will rebuild the cache every time you change anything in <code>environment.systemPackages</code>, and will make the <code>mandb</code> command fail.		Note that this will rebuild the cache every time you change anything in <code>environment.systemPackages</code>, and will make the <code>mandb</code> command fail.

imported>Ncfavier: Restore instructions for generating the cache manually

2021-06-19T09:51:18Z

Restore instructions for generating the cache manually

← Older revision		Revision as of 09:51, 19 June 2021
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	By default as of NixOS 21.05, <code>apropos</code>, <code>whatis</code> and <code>man -k</code> do not find anything when run~~. To enable automatically building~~ the man page index ~~caches, you can set:~~		By default as of NixOS 21.05, <code>apropos</code>, <code>whatis</code> and <code>man -k</code> do not find anything when run, because the man page index cache is not generated.

			To generate it manually (and again to update it when new software is installed), run:
			<syntaxhighlight lang=bash>
			sudo mkdir -p /var/cache/man/nixos
			sudo mandb
			</syntaxhighlight>

			To enable automatically building the immutable cache, you can set:
	<syntaxhighlight lang=nix>		<syntaxhighlight lang=nix>
	documentation.man.generateCaches = true;		documentation.man.generateCaches = true;
	</syntaxhighlight>		</syntaxhighlight>
			Note that this will rebuild the cache every time you change anything in <code>environment.systemPackages</code>, and will make the <code>mandb</code> command fail.

imported>Ncfavier: document documentation.man.generateCaches

2021-06-11T22:45:17Z

document documentation.man.generateCaches

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:45, 11 June 2021
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	As of NixOS 18.09, <code>apropos</code> (and ~~likely also~~ <code>~~whatis~~</code>~~) does~~ not find anything when run. ~~This is because~~ the ~~Apropos database is not generated automatically.~~		By default as of NixOS 21.05, <code>apropos</code>, <code>whatis</code> and <code>man -k</code> do not find anything when run. To enable automatically building the man page index caches, you can set:

	~~To generate it manually (and again to update it when new software is installed), run:~~		<syntaxhighlight lang=nix>
	<syntaxhighlight lang=~~bash~~>		documentation.man.generateCaches = true;
	~~sudo mkdir -p /var/cache/~~man~~/nixos~~
	~~sudo mandb~~
	</syntaxhighlight>		</syntaxhighlight>


	~~For more information, see:~~
	* {{issue\|14472\|Make NixOS module to update apropos database}}
	* {{pull\|18521\|mandb: fix apropos}}

imported>Jtojnar: updated with a command that works for me

2019-12-31T05:07:03Z

updated with a command that works for me

← Older revision		Revision as of 05:07, 31 December 2019
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	To generate it manually (and again to update it when new software is installed), run:		To generate it manually (and again to update it when new software is installed), run:
	<syntaxhighlight lang=bash>		<syntaxhighlight lang=bash>
	su -~~l root -c~~ mandb		sudo mkdir -p /var/cache/man/nixos
			sudo mandb
	</syntaxhighlight>		</syntaxhighlight>

imported>Hhm: isuues titles

2019-02-06T00:48:16Z

isuues titles

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:48, 6 February 2019
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	For more information, see:		For more information, see:
	* {{issue\|14472}}		* {{issue\|14472\|Make NixOS module to update apropos database}}
	* {{pull\|18521}}		* {{pull\|18521\|mandb: fix apropos}}

imported>Hhm: Created page with "As of NixOS 18.09, `apropos` (and likely also `whatis`) does not find anything when run. This is because the Apropos database is not generated automatica..."

2019-02-06T00:44:57Z

Created page with "As of NixOS 18.09, <code>apropos</code> (and likely also <code>whatis</code>) does not find anything when run. This is because the Apropos database is not generated automatica..."

New page

As of NixOS 18.09, <code>apropos</code> (and likely also <code>whatis</code>) does not find anything when run. This is because the Apropos database is not generated automatically.

To generate it manually (and again to update it when new software is installed), run:
<syntaxhighlight lang=bash>
su -l root -c mandb
</syntaxhighlight>

For more information, see:
* {{issue|14472}}
* {{pull|18521}}