STYLE.MDOC(5)

NAME
style.mdoc - FreeBSD manual page style guide

DESCRIPTION
This file specifies the preferred style for manual pages in the FreeBSD source tree.

  Code Examples

-   Use literal formatting for examples and literal shell commands, e.g.:

        Then run
        .Ql make install clean .

    which renders as:

    Then run ‘make install clean’.

    The incorrect way would be to use macros like style.mdoc to stylize the command invocation:

        Then run
        .Ql Nm make Cm install Cm clean .

    which renders as:

    Then run ‘make install clean’.

-   The ‘’ macro is the preferred macro for formatting literal inline fragments. Historically, “” was the preferred way before the deprecation of.

  HARDWARE Section
Driver manuals in section four should have a HARDWARE section describing hardware known to work with the driver. This section is drawn verbatim into the Release Hardware Notes, therefore there are several things to note:

-   The introductory sentence should be in the form:

        The
        .Nm
        driver supports the following $device_class:

    Followed by the list of supported hardware.

    This defines what driver the subsection is referring to, and allows the reader to search through the Hardware Notes not only for the device models they have, but also for the device type they are looking to acquire.

-   The supported hardware should be listed as a bullet list, or if complexity requires, a column list. These two list types create very neat subsections with clean starting and stopping points.

  EXAMPLES Section

-   Format the EXAMPLES section in the following way:

        .Bl -tag -width 0n
        .It Sy Example 1\&: Doing Something
        .Pp
        The following command does something.
        .Bd -literal -offset 2n
        .Ic # make -VLEGAL
        .Ed
        .It Sy Example 2\&: Doing Something Different
        .Pp
        The following command does something different.
        .Bd -literal -offset 2n
        .Ic # bectl list
        .Ed
        .Pp
        It is good to know this command.
        .El

    which renders as:

    Example 1: Doing Something

        The following command does something.

            # make -VLEGAL

    Example 2: Doing Something Different

        The following command does something different.

            # bectl list

        It is good to know this command.

  Lists

-   The -width argument to the .Bl macro should match the length of the longest rendered item in the list, e.g.:

        .Bl -tag -width "-a address"
        .It Fl a Ar address
        Set the address.
        .It Fl v
        Print the version.
        .El

    In case the longest item is too long and hurts readability, the recommendation is to set the -width argument to ‘indent’, e.g.:

        .Bl -tag -width "indent"
        .It Cm build
        Build the port.
        .It Cm install
        Install the port.
        .It Fl install-missing-packages
        Install the missing packages.
        .El

  Synopsis Formatting

-   Do not put whitespace between alternative parameters separated with a pipe (“|”), e.g.:

        .Cm compression Cm on Ns | Ns Cm off
        .Cm install Fl -all Ns | Ns Ar portname Ar ...

    which in the SYNOPSIS section is rendered as:

        compression on|off
        install --all|portname ...

-   Use to stylize characters that are command modifiers (e.g., “”,, “@” or “=”). For example:

        .Sm off
        .Fl -meet Cm = Ar who Oo Cm , Ar who " " Ar "..." Oc Cm @ Ar where
        .Sm on

    which renders as:

    --meet=who[,who ...]@where

    instead of:

        .Sm off
        .Fl -meet No = Ar who Oo , Ar who " " Ar "..." Oc @ Ar where
        .Sm on

    which would render as:

    --meet=who[,who ...]@where

    It is important to realize that in the correct example, “”,, “@” and “=” are stylized with. At the same time, the square brackets (“[]”) are not stylized as they do not belong to the syntax of the --meet flag.

  Quoting

-   Use the “” (“”) macro for quoting. Use the ‘’ (‘’) macro for quoting inside quotes. The use of the "" ("") macro is usually not necessary.

  Variables

-   Use instead of for sysctl(8) variables like kdb.enter.panic.

-   Use the angle brackets <> (“<>”) macro for arguments (file ...) when they are mixed with similarly stylized macros like ~ or, e.g.:

        .Va critical_filesystems_ Ns Aq Ar type

    which renders as:

    critical_filesystems_<type>

    instead of:

        .Va critical_filesystems_ Ns Ar type

    that would be rendered as:

    critical_filesystems_type

SEE ALSO
man(1), mandoc(1), mdoc(7), roff(7), style(9)

HISTORY
This manual page first appeared in FreeBSD 13.0.

AUTHORS
Mateusz Piotrowski <0mp@FreeBSD.org>