.\" Copyright (C), 1995, Graeme W. Wilford. (Wilf.)
.\" Copyright (c) 2002 Colin Watson.
.\"
.\" You may distribute under the terms of the GNU General Public
.\" License as specified in the file docs/COPYING.GPLv2 that comes with the
.\" man-db distribution.
.\"
.\" Thu Sep 21 19:22:47 BST 1995  Wilf. (G.Wilford@ee.surrey.ac.uk)
.\"
.ip "manual page"
A file containing descriptions related to the use of a function or program
or the structure of a file.
The name of the file is formed from the title of
the manual page followed by a period followed by the name of the section
that it resides in, optionally followed by an extension.
The format of the file is \*N and may be compressed,
having a suitable compression extension appended.
.ip "cat page"
A formatted manual page suitable for viewing on a vt100-type terminal.
.ip "stray cat page"
A cat page that does not have a relative manual page on the system, i.e. only
the cat page was supplied or the manual page was removed after the cat page
had been created.
.ip section
Each manual page or cat page hierarchy is divided into sections, each
section having its own directory.
Manual page hierarchy section names
begin with \(oqman\(cq and cat page sections with \(oqcat\(cq.
.ip extension
A package may provide manual pages with filenames ending in a
package-specific extension name.
This allows manual pages with the same
title to coexist in the same manual page hierarchy and section without
sharing the same filename.
It also provides a further mechanism for man
to select the correct manual page.
.ip "manual page hierarchy"
A directory tree divided into manual page sections, each containing a
collection of manual pages.
.ip "cat page hierarchy"
A directory tree divided into cat page sections, each containing a
collection of cat pages.
.ip "traditional cat page hierarchy"
The same location as the manual page hierarchy.
.ip "alternate cat page hierarchy"
A separate location to that of the traditional cat page hierarchy.
.ip "traditional cat page"
A cat page located in a traditional cat page hierarchy.
.ip "alternate cat page"
A cat page located in an alternate cat page hierarchy.