On Thu, 04 Jul 2019 10:37:35 +0100, Bob Dunlop wrote: > nvi > text data bss dec hex filename > 27061 2048 256 29365 72b5 /usr/bin/nvi > 442019 18688 144 460851 70833 /usr/lib64/libvi.so.0 > 430302 17628 2552 450482 6dfb2 /lib64/libncursesw.so.6
This type of output was not something I was familiar with. I can see that size(1) produces output in this format, given a list of object files, but what method did you use to produce the list of files, excluding common operating system libraries? More generally, this highlighted to me a gap in my knowledge about how to discover utilities that fill a particular need without first knowing their names. I had already forgotten the route I took to discovering size(1) within minutes of discovering it. It began with a web search for the column headings in the output and ended with some poking around on the local system. I discovered ldd(1) in a similarly poorly remembered fashion, but it's clearly not the whole solution. I was inspired to read man(1)'s manual page and to belatedly try out man -k and man -K. However, it is difficult to devise keywords that are specific enough to select the right manual pages and generic enough to appear in their short descriptions. For example, the short description of size(1) does not make any mention of object files: $ man -f size size (1) - list section sizes and total size. Even if it did mention object files, that would need to be the terminology that came to mind if I wanted to find size(1) using: $ apropos -a object size (It seems to me that man -k has no direct equivalent to the -a option of apropos.) So, I still feel in want of a good categorised summary of well-known commands, or at least a search technique that can expand my search to include conceptually-related terms. Patrick -- Next meeting: BEC, Bournemouth, Tuesday, 2019-08-06 20:00 Check to whom you are replying Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk