2.4 Help

The HELP system in NEMO is manyfold.

• Inline help, using the help= system keyword, is available for each program. Since this is compiled into the program, you can copy a program to another system, without all the NEMO ssystem support, and still have a little bit of help.

• manual pages for programs, functions, and file formats, all in good old UNIX tradition. All these files live in $NEMO/man and below. Several interfaces to the manual pages are now available:
  • good old UNIX man(1), but make sure the MANPATH environment variable includes the $NEMO/man directory. The manlaser script can print out the manual pages in a decent form.
  • The X-windows utility xman(1) provides a point-and-click interface, and also has a decent whatis interface. No hypertext though, but very fast since it directly interprets the cat files.
  • The Tcl/Tk X-windows utility tkman formats manual pages on-the-fly and allows hypertextual moving around. and has lots of good options, such as dynamic manipulation of the MANPATH elements, a history and bookmark mechanism etc.
  • Under GNOME the gman formats tool has nice browsing capabilities.
  • The html formatted manual pages. Has limited form of hypertext, but contains the links to general UNIX manual pages, if properly addressed. Since installation is a bit tricky^2.10, the home base (http://www.astro.umd.edu/nemo/ is your best bet to start surfing).

• This manual, the The NEMO User and Programmers Guide, contains information on a wide level, aimed at beginners as well as advanced users. The manual is also available in html.