Since there's no man page for update-alternatives, I have been writing one. Below is what I have so far; I'd be happy to receive comments.
Thanks, -- Charles Briscoe-Smith White pages entry, with PGP key: <URL:http://alethea.ukc.ac.uk/wp?95cpb4> PGP public keyprint: 74 68 AB 2E 1C 60 22 94 B8 21 2D 01 DE 66 13 E2 UPDATE-ALTERNATIVES(8) Debian GNU/Linux UPDATE-ALTERNATIVES(8) NAME update-alternatives - maintain symbolic links determining default commands SYNOPSIS update-alternatives [options] --install link name path priority [--slave link name path]... update-alternatives [options] --remove name path update-alternatives [options] --auto name update-alternatives [options] --display name DESCRIPTION update-alternatives creates, removes, maintains and dis- plays information about the symbolic links comprising the Debian alternatives system. It is possible for several programs fulfilling the same or similar functions to be installed on a single system at the same time. For example, many systems have several text editors installed at once. This gives choice to the users of a system, allowing each to use her favourite edi- tor, but makes it difficult for a program to make a good default choice of editor to invoke if the user has not specified a particular preference. Debian's alternatives system aims to solve this problem. A generic name in the filesystem is shared by all files providing interchangable functionality. The alternatives system and the system administrator together determine which actual file is referenced by this generic name. For example, if the text editors ed(1) and nvi(1) are both installed on the system, the alternatives system will cause the generic name /usr/bin/editor to refer to /usr/bin/nvi by default. The system administrator can override this and cause it to refer to /usr/bin/ed instead, and the alternatives system will not alter this setting until explicitly requested to do so. The generic name is not a direct symbolic link to the selected alternative. Instead, it is a symbolic link to a name in the administration directory, which in turn is a symbolic link to the actual file referenced. The default administration directory is /etc/alternatives. This is done so that the system administrator's changes can be confined to the /etc directory: the FSSTND (q.v.) gives reasons why this is a Good Thing. It is often useful for a number of alternatives to be syn- chronised, so that they are changed as a group. When each package providing a file with a particular DEBIAN 27 November 1997 1 UPDATE-ALTERNATIVES(8) Debian GNU/Linux UPDATE-ALTERNATIVES(8) functionality is installed, update-alternatives is called to add information about that file to the alternatives system. OPTIONS Exactly one action must be specified if update-alterna- tives is to perform any meaningful task. Any number of the common options may be specified together with any action. COMMON OPTIONS --verbose Generate more comments about what update-alterna- tives is doing. This option is not yet imple- mented. --quiet Don't generate any comments unless errors occur. This option is not yet implemented. --test Don't actually do anything, just say what would be done. This option is not yet implemented. --help Give some usage information (and say which version of update-alternatives this is). --version Tell which version of update-alternatives this is (and give some usage information). --altdir directory Specifies the directory in which the alternatives system stores the symlinks the system administrator is expected to adjust. By default, this is /etc/alternatives. --admindir directory Specifies the directory in which state information about the alternatives system is stored. By default, this is /var/lib/dpkg/alternatives. ACTIONS --install link name path pri [--slave link name path] ... TBW --remove name path TBW --auto name TBW --display name TBW DEBIAN 27 November 1997 2 UPDATE-ALTERNATIVES(8) Debian GNU/Linux UPDATE-ALTERNATIVES(8) FILES /etc/alternatives/ The default alternatives directory. Can be over- ridden by the --altdir option. /var/lib/dpkg/alternatives/ The default administration directory. Can be over- ridden by the --admindir option. EXIT STATUS TBW DIAGNOSTICS TBW BUGS If you find a bug, please report it using the Debian bug- tracking system, or, if that is not possible, email the author directly. If you find any discrepancy between the operation of update-alternatives and this manual page, it is a bug, either in the implementation or the documentation; please report it. AUTHOR Debian GNU/Linux update-alternatives 1.4.0.19 is copyright (C) 1995 Ian Jackson. It is free software; see the GNU General Public Licence version 2 or later for copying con- ditions. There is NO warranty. This manual page is copyright 1997 Charles Briscoe-Smith. This is free documentation; see the GNU General Public Licence version 2 or later for copying conditions. There is NO WARRANTY. You can find the GNU GPL in /usr/doc/copyright/GPL.gz on any Debian system. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS TBW SEE ALSO FSSTND DEBIAN 27 November 1997 3 -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] .
