# Installing ports without man pages



## j4ck (Jun 6, 2013)

Hi,

How can I install a port without it's man page? I've tried `make -DNOPORTDOCS=yes install` but with no effects. Also I have tried /etc/src.conf, also no effects.


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## DutchDaemon (Jun 6, 2013)

NOPORTDOCS only controls additional documentation installed in DOCSDIR. It does not apply to standard man pages and info pages. This according to the Porter's Handbook, 5.14.4. By the way, src.conf does not apply to port builds, only to base system builds.

There is a NO_INSTALL_MANPAGES in bsd.port.mk. You might try setting that.


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## jozze (Jun 6, 2013)

If you use the -D flag for make you don't have to set its value. Also, I think NOPORTDOCS refers to documentation in /usr/local/share/doc and doesn't affect the man pages.

I think ports install their man pages automatically, but if you're 100% sure you don't need them, you can simply run`# rm -rf /usr/local/man`.

However, deleting them sounds like a bad idea. It doesn't cost much to keep them:
my own manpages for ~600 ports + the man program

```
$ du -hs /usr/local/man
 37M /usr/local/man
$ du -hs /usr/bin/man
 24k /usr/bin/man
```
This is equivalent to memory of combined 13 floppies. There will virtually be NO gain whatsoever, from deleting these things.


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## kpa (Jun 6, 2013)

There aren't that many ports that support the NO_INSTALL_MANPAGES option. 


```
firewall ~ # grep --exclude '/usr/ports/Mk/*' -l -r NO_INSTALL_MANPAGES /usr/ports | wc -l
     413
firewall ~ #
```


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## ShelLuser (Jun 6, 2013)

Ok, curiosity killed the cat but I can't help myself anyway.. Why would you want to do this?

Because manual pages are somewhat your "last line of defence", to bring this a little more poetic. If you haven't used a particular command for quite a while then chances are high that its manualpage can help you to find the right parameter to use (or give you a heads up on what the program actually does).

And of course there's more: how about _using_ manual pages to find a command which provides a particular functionality? Using this apropos(1) command you can actually search through your manual pages for a certain keyword.

Oh, and although @jozze is completely right up there he forgot one, actually 2 

Using manpath I discovered some more:


```
$ manpath
/usr/share/man:/usr/local/man:/usr/share/openssl/man:/usr/local/lib/perl5/5.14.2/man:/usr/local/lib/perl5/5.14.2/perl/man
$ du -hs /usr/local/lib/perl5/5.14.2/man
2.5M    /usr/local/lib/perl5/5.14.2/man
$ du -hs /usr/local/lib/perl5/5.14.2/perl/man
3.0M    /usr/local/lib/perl5/5.14.2/perl/man
```
(I ignored everything in the base system because that's not affected by ports)

Although I doubt that this extra 5Mb is going to be the big issue I figured I might as well mention it anyway.


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