[Bug 1942063] Re: /usr/man symlink breaks apropos man -k due to fsstnd

[Colin Watson]

This is a bit perplexing, because the transition to /usr/share/man
completed before Ubuntu even existed; I think it even predates my taking
over maintainership of man-db 20 years ago or so.  Is it really easier
to go through all of this mess with symlinks rather than just updating a
few extremely old scripts?  I know reflexes can be harder, but still,
it's been 20 years.

We can perhaps improve some documentation, but I don't currently think
it's going to be worth the development effort to improve handling of the
case where somebody has manually inserted a /usr/man symlink.

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Title:
  /usr/man symlink breaks apropos man -k due to fsstnd

Status in man-db package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  In the old days, man pages were stored under /usr/man.  Now, they are
  stored under /usr/share/man.  Ubuntu systems no longer have a /usr/man,
  so all our really old scripts and reflexes that look under /usr/man fail
  unless you think to add the helpful symlink "ln -s share/man /usr/man".

  But making that helpful symlink breaks "apropos" and "man -k" because
  in /etc/manpath.config are these two different locations for the "mandb" 
  index database:

      MANDB_MAP       /usr/man                /var/cache/man/fsstnd
      MANDB_MAP       /usr/share/man          /var/cache/man

  If you add the symlink for /usr/man, then the index.db file created 
  by "mandb" ends up under a sub-directory /var/cache/man/fsstnd where
  "apropos" and "man -k" can't find it.

  Of course you can add another helpful symlink "ln -s fsstnd/index.db 
  /var/cache/index.db" to work-around the "apropos" problem, or you can
  set your "MANPATH=/usr/man", but surely it doesn't need to be a problem
  in the first place.

  1. Please make "apropos" and "man -k" smarter.  Either they could look 
  in both /var/cache/man and /var/cache/man/fsstnd, or else "mandb" could
  resolve the symlink /usr/man to its absolute version /usr/share/man before
  looking it up in the manpath.config file and thus not create the unhelpful
  "/fsstnd" sub-directory that breaks "apropos".

  2. The man page for "mandb" and the manpath.config file make no 
  mention of the reason for the extra "/fsstnd" sub-directory.  The
  manpath.config file says the "FHS compliant" index.db location should
  be /var/cache/man/index.db and the "FSSTND compliant" location is under 
  /var/catman  Either remove the mysterious "/fsstnd" or explain it.

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04
  Package: man-db 2.9.1-1
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.8.0-63.71~20.04.1-generic 5.8.18
  Uname: Linux 5.8.0-63-generic x86_64
  ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu27.18
  Architecture: amd64
  CasperMD5CheckResult: skip
  Date: Mon Aug 30 04:37:46 2021
  EcryptfsInUse: Yes
  InstallationDate: Installed on 2020-10-07 (326 days ago)
  InstallationMedia: Lubuntu 20.04.1 LTS "Focal Fossa" - Release amd64 (20200731)
  SourcePackage: man-db
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

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