2.2. GNU info pages
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2.2. GNU info pages

Open Source 

Open Source

Info pages, which are another component of the built-in help system, are available for many software products from the GNU Project.[19] To get started, try typing info or info info or info some_program (such as info gcc) at the prompt. The navigation commands are different from those for the man pages: ? provides a list of commands and h starts a tutorial (but q still quits). It is worth checking the info pages for information on specific GNU programs.[20] You can also find the built-in documentation for the GNU C library (or glibc) by typing info libc at the prompt.[21]


[19] The GNU (short for GNU’s Not Unix) Project “was launched in 1984 to develop a complete Unix-like operating system which is free software,” as explained on its website.

[20] Even if you're not sure whether some_program is a GNU product, try typing info some_program and see what happens.

[21] As explained on its official website, glibc is the GNU Project's implementation of the C standard library, which is discussed in this Wikipedia article.

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Copyright © 2008 Joshua Glatt

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