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Don't forget the often overlooked "apropos"!


My problem with apropos (and man, for that matter) is related to how at least one major distribution handles the man pages. Rather than bundling the man pages with the applications, the man pages for many applications are bundled together in one base package. When this is done regardless of whether or not the application is actually on the system, apropos and man continually return information on applications which are not on the system.


"Google for manpages" as it's called... Especially helpful on a system without an internet connection :)


In my opinion it sucks. It is possible that I suck, but I almost never can find what I'm searching for with it.

Now I found that full text search is man -K, but it searches through sources so it can also be quite useless. Is there a desktop full text search for man pages? It should use rendered man pages. It could be a fun project. Google doesn't count and I use it already.


Great write-up and overview, thanks!


Find something that is a good fit for you and in demand (preferably rising), avoid niche and fads. Be good at that one thing and a handful of directly related tech. Keep yourself informed about other stuff to the degree where you can hold an intelligent informed conversation and contribute to decisions. Use your spare time to satisfy intellectual itches. Expect periods of boredom in any job. Look after your spine.


I read this and thought "Lotus Notes, the early days"


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