-d

Print debugging information.

-q

Produce no warnings.

-s

Do not spend time looking for or adding information to the databases regarding stray cats.

-p

Do not spend time checking for deleted manual pages and purging them from the databases.

-c

By default, mandb will try to update any previously created databases. If a database does not exist, it will create it. Thisoption forces mandb to delete previous databases and re-create them from scratch, and implies --no-purge. This may be neces‐sary if a database becomes corrupt or if a new database storage scheme is introduced in the future.

-u

Create user databases only, even with write permissions necessary to create system databases.

-t

Perform correctness checks on manual pages in the hierarchy search path. With this option, mandb will not alter existingdatabases.

-f

Update only the entries for the given filename. This option is not for general use; it is used internally by man when it hasbeen compiled with the MAN_DB_UPDATES option and finds that a page is out of date. It implies -p and disables -c and -s.

-C

Use this user configuration file rather than the default of ~/.manpath.

-?

Show the usage message, then exit.

--usage

Print a short usage message and exit.

-V

Show the version, then exit.EXIT STATUS0 Successful program execution.1 Usage, syntax, or configuration file error.2 Operational error.3 A child process failed.DIAGNOSTICSThe following warning messages can be emitted during database building.<filename>: whatis parse for page(sec) failedAn attempt to extract whatis line(s) from the given <filename> failed. This is usually due to a poorly written manual page,but if many such messages are emitted it is likely that the system contains non-standard manual pages which are incompatiblewith the man-db whatis parser. See the WHATIS PARSING section in lexgrog(1) for more information.<filename>: is a dangling symlink<filename> does not exist but is referenced by a symbolic link. Further diagnostics are usually emitted to identify the<filename> of the offending link.<filename>: bad symlink or ROFF `.so' request<filename> is either a symbolic link to, or contains a ROFF include request to, a non existent file.<filename>: ignoring bogus filenameThe <filename> may or may not be a valid manual page but its name is invalid. This is usually due to a manual page with sec‐tional extension <x> being put in manual page section <y>.<filename_mask>: competing extensionsThe wildcard <filename_mask> is not unique. This is usually caused by the existence of both a compressed and uncompressedversion of the same manual page. All but the most recent are ignored.FILES/etc/manpath.configman-db configuration file./var/cache/man/index.(bt|db|dir|pag)An FHS compliant global index database cache.Older locations for the database cache included:/usr/man/index.(bt|db|dir|pag)A traditional global index database cache./var/catman/index.(bt|db|dir|pag)An alternate or FSSTND compliant global index database cache.