DESCC(8)                     System Administration                    DESCC(8)

NAME

       descc - the describe(1) source compiler

SYNOPSIS

       descc [ -hV ] sourcefile

DESCRIPTION

       This manual page documents descc version 1.0.7.

       descc compiles the describe source file sourcefile and saves the result
       to the system describe database.  If the  database  doesn't  exist,  or
       doesn't  have  type  BIN, then descc will set the database file type to
       BIN and the auxtype to 0x0000 after it has been updated.

OPTIONS

       -h   Show usage information.

       -V   Show version information.

FILE FORMATS

       The describe source file consists of comments and records.   A  comment
       is  any  line  starting  with the # character.  Each record consists of
       eight fields.  The first seven consist of one line of  text  and  begin
       with the following identifiers:

               Name:    (The name of the program.)
               Version: (The current version number.)
               Shell:   (The shell(s) the program was written for.)
               Author:  (The author or maintainer of the program.)
               Contact: (How to contact the Author, typically an
                         email address.)
               Where:   (Where the program should be installed.)
               FTP:     (An ftp site from which the program may be
                         obtained.)

       The  last  field  consists  of  multiple lines of text.  It should be a
       brief description of the program.  The following is  an  example  of  a
       complete record:

              Name:    describe
              Version: 1.0.7
              Shell:   GNO, ORCA/Shell
              Author:  James Brookes
              Contact: jamesb@ecst.csuchico.edu
              Where:   /usr/bin
              FTP:     apple2.caltech.edu, ground.isca.uiowa.edu

              Print  a  multi-line description obtained from the compiled 'de‐
              scribe' database; giving utility name, version, intended  shell,
              author, author's contact, where the utility is, as well as where
              the utility can be FTPd from on the InterNet.

       The describe database file consists of a Header, a set of Name Entries,
       and a set of Records, in the following format:

               Header
                  2 bytes:  Short Int, number of Name Entries

               Name Entries
                 36 bytes:  NULL-terminated string; name of the utility.
                  4 bytes:  Long Int, offset of the record in file.

               Records
                  8 variable-length NULL-terminated strings.

FILES

       /usr/lib/describe.db
              The system describe database. If the environment variable DESCDB
              is set, its value will be used instead.

ENVIRONMENT

       DESCDB Full path to the system describe database. If DESCDB is set, its
              value  is  used  instead  of  the  default location /usr/lib/de����
              scribe.db.

AUTHOR

       James Brookes <jamesb@ecst.csuchico.edu>.

HISTORY

       descu was incorporated into the GNO base  distribution  as  of  version
       1.0.4

SEE ALSO

       apropos(1), describe(1), man(1), whatis(1), descu(8).



GNO                             6 February 1998                       DESCC(8)