accessdb

accessdb [-d] [database]

accessdb is a utility that dumps the contents of the man-db database to standard output in a human-readable format. The database contains indexed information about manual pages, including their locations, names, descriptions, and timestamps.This tool is primarily useful for debugging man-db issues, verifying that manual pages are properly indexed, or understanding how the manpage caching system works.

-d, --debug

Print debugging information

Path to database file (defaults to system man-db location)

The database format is specific to man-db and may change between versions. This tool is mainly for debugging; regular users rarely need to interact with the database directly. The database must be built using mandb before it can be accessed.

accessdb is part of the man-db package, which was originally written by John W. Eaton and later maintained by Colin Watson. The man-db project began in 1994 as a replacement for the older man package, introducing database caching for faster manual page lookups.

man(1), mandb(8), whatis(1), apropos(1)

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