# makewhatis(1)

    NAME
         makewhatis - build the whatis(5) database

    SYNOPSIS
         makewhatis directory

    DESCRIPTION
         Makewhatis  makes  the  whatis(5)  database  in  the  given  manual  page
         directory.   This database is used by man(1) to map titles to manual page
         names and by whatis(1) to give one line descriptions.  See whatis(5)  for
         a  desciption  of  what  a  whatis  database  should  look  like  and the
         restrictions that are placed on the NAME sections so that makewhatis  can
         make whatis lines out of the manual pages.

    SEE ALSO
         whatis(5).

    BUGS
         Removing only font and size changes from the NAME section  is  often  not
         enough.

    AUTHOR
         Kees J. Bot (kjb@cs.vu.nl)