Re: [Modules] difference on MANPATH for tcsh between v3.2 vs v5.4

[Xavier D. <xav...@gm...>]

Hello Laurent,

There were a specific treatment for MANPATH on Modules 3.2 that
initialized it to a value defined at compilation when changing this
path.

There is no more such specific treatment from Modules 4 onwards. But
instead the solution described by Paul, to add a trailing ":" to the
variable, is advised.

You may initialize MANPATH to this value during the initialization of
Modules, in the initrc configuration file
(/etc/environment-modules/initrc):

setenv MANPATH :

Best regards,
Xavier


Le mar. 28 mai 2024 à 19:12, Paul Markfort <pau...@gm...> a écrit :
>
> Hopefully, this will help (both in solving the problem, and as a temporary fix).
>
> % module --version
> Modules Release 5.4.0 (2024-02-20)
>
> % echo $MANPATH
> :man::/stage/site/modules/default/man
>
> % module append-path MANPATH /tmp
>
> % echo $MANPATH
> :man::/stage/site/modules/default/man:/tmp
>
>
> I have (since before I started using 3.2) been pre-setting MANPATH like this (note my modules install is on an nfs share).
>
> The trick is the blank entry ":.. or "..::..."  which causes man to search the default locations (the :man: is just an artifact to keep the :: - it used to be a documented feature).
>
>
> On 2024-05-27 8:36 AM, Laurent BESSON wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> > Recently, I found that a simple < man ls > was no more working in my tcsh unix environment. Which is a bit surprising ! A < man > command reporting < No manual entry for ls > is quite odd on a Unix system !
> >
> > After a bit of investigation, I found that my MANPATH variable was defined to < /tool/platform/lsf/8.0/man > without any mention to < /usr/share/man > or other regular unix man page dir. Weird ! But it explains why < man ls > was not working !
> >
> > When using 5.4.0 version of Modules, here what I see, starting from a fresh terminal :
> >
> >
> >    1.  Before any module load, MANPATH variable is unset
> >    2.  < man ls > is working fine
> >    3.  Loading a module that has a < append-path > on MANPATH
> >    4.  < man ls > is no more working
> >    5.  MANPATH value is < /tool/platform/lsf/8.0/man >
> >
> > But when using a very old version of Modules, precisely 3.2.10 (from 2012 !!!!), I see :
> >
> >
> >    1.  Before any module load, MANPATH variable is unset
> >    2.  < man ls > is working fine
> >    3.  Loading a module that has a < append-path > on MANPATH
> >    4.  < man ls > is still working fine
> >    5.  MANPATH value is < /tool/platform/lsf/8.0/man:/usr/share/man:/usr/local/share/man >
> >
> > So, from my point of view, there is a regression on behavior of Modules when switching from 3.2 to 5.4
> >
> > Could I have your opinions on this topic ? Is it a bug or a feature ?
> >
> > Best regards,
> > Laurent.