curl/docs/cmdline-opts/MANPAGE.md

curl man page generator

This is the curl man page generator. It generates a single nroff man page output from the set of sources files in this directory.

There is one source file for each supported command line option. The format is described below.

Option files

Each command line option is described in a file named <long name>.d, where option name is written without any prefixing dashes. Like the file name for the -v, --verbose option is named verbose.d.

Each file has a set of meta-data and a body of text.

Meta-data

Short: (single letter, without dash)
Long: (long form name, without dashes)
Arg: (the argument the option takes)
Magic: (description of "magic" options)
Tags: (space separated list)
Protocols: (space separated list for which protocols this option works)
Added: (version number in which this was added)
Mutexed: (space separated list of options this overrides)
Requires: (space separated list of features this option requires)
See-also: (space separated list of related options)
Help: (short text for the --help output for this option)
--- (end of meta-data)

Body

The body of the description. Only refer to options with their long form option version, like --verbose. The output generator will replace such with the correct markup that shows both short and long version.

Header

page-header is the nroff formatted file that will be output before the generated options output for the master man page.

Generate

./gen.pl mainpage

This command outputs a single huge nroff file, meant to become curl.1. The full curl man page.

./gen.pl listhelp

Generates a full curl --help output for all known command line options.