help2man

help2man [options] executable

help2man generates man pages from a program's `--help` and `--version` output. It parses the structured help text and formats it as troff-style man page source, creating basic documentation automatically.The tool produces minimal man pages suitable for programs that follow GNU conventions for help output. Additional content can be added via include files (`.h2m`), which support inserting text before or after automatically generated sections using `[section]` headers.

EXECUTABLE

Program whose --help and --version output will be used to generate the man page.

Short description for the NAME section.

Man page section number (default: 1).

Include extra material from file. The file uses `[section]` headers to place text.

Like -i but does not fail if file is missing.

Suppress the "see also info page" pointer.

Write output to file instead of stdout.

Name of the manual (e.g., "User Commands").

Source of the program (e.g., "FSF", "Debian").

Set locale for fetching help output (default: "C").

Drop libtool `lt-` prefix from program name.

Name of Texinfo manual to reference.

Alternative help option string to use instead of --help.

Alternative version option string to use instead of --version.

Use this version string instead of running the program's version option.

Include stderr output when parsing option output.

Show help2man version.

Output quality depends heavily on the format of the program's `--help` output. Works best with GNU-style option formatting (leading dashes, aligned descriptions). Programs with non-standard help text may produce poorly formatted man pages that require manual editing. Does not document features not mentioned in `--help` output.

help2man was created by Brendan O'Dea as part of the GNU project to automate man page generation for GNU utilities during the build process.

man(1), pod2man(1), ronn(1)