Manual pages that are missing from Linux man-pages

Below is a list of pages that I would like to see in the man-pages set. If you are thinking of writing one or more of these pages, then:

• It might be wise to let me know in advance, just in case someone else has started working on the page, or a related page. I may also be able point you at useful sources of information for the man page.
  
  
• You need to have a reasonably high degree of understanding of the topic, or be prepared to invest the time (e.g., reading source code, writing test programs) to gain that understanding. Writing test programs is important: quite a few kernel and glibc bugs have been uncovered while writing test programs during the preparation of man pages.
  
  
• Follow the existing formatting conventions for man pages. Some information about formatting is provided in the man(7) and man-pages(7) man pages. As an example of how these conventions are employed, have a look at the fcntl(2) man page and read its source file (man2/fcntl.2).
  
  
• The page must be submitted under some sort of license that permits the page to be freely redistributed and modified. Include that license or a reference to it, in the source code of the man page. Possible licenses include the GNU GPL, the BSD license, or a range of other licenses, some of which can be seen in existing man pages.
  
  
• You may find it useful to check the information in your page against the specifications in SUSv3/POSIX.1-2001 or against man pages on other implementations, but do not not violate the copyright on those publications by copying text from them.
  
  
• The GNU C library documents many of the functions that it provides using info(1). If you are thinking of writing a man page for a function that is already documented in info(1) format, then ideally this page needs to present information that is new or different from that provided by the info(1) page (for example, historical information about how the function has changed across various glibc versions, or variations in operation across C libraries; such information is often not present in info pages). (An alternative to consider is submitting a patch to the maintainers of the glibc documentation, if that is more appropriate.)

System Calls

/sys file system

There is no man page for the /sys file system: there probably should be a sys(5) page similar to proc(5). The kernel source file Documentation/filesystems/sysfs.txt provides a starting point for this page.

Library Functions

MPDIR=~/man-pages       # Directory containing uncompressed man-pages
GLIBCDIR=/SOME_DIR      # Directory containing glibc tree

for f in  $(cat $(find $GLIBCDIR -name Versions |
                egrep -v '/(hurd|mach)/') |
        egrep -v '({|}|^%)' |
        sed -e 's/#.*//' |
        tr ';' '\012' |
        sed 's/^  *//' |
        grep -v '^[_.]' |
        sort -u); do
    if ! test -f "$MPDIR/man3/$f.3" > /dev/null 2>&1 &&
                ! test -f "$MPDIR/man2/$f.2" > /dev/null 2>&1 ; then
        echo $f;
    fi
done

#define M_TRIM_THRESHOLD    -1
#define M_TOP_PAD           -2
#define M_MMAP_THRESHOLD    -3
#define M_MMAP_MAX          -4
#define M_CHECK_ACTION      -5
#define M_PERTURB           -6

The POSIX Threads API

And last, but far from least, the POSIX threads API. Note that there is an existing, outdated set of pages supplied with glibc that document the old LinuxThreads implementation. (These pages are written under a license that allows re-use, so some material that they contain could be used in new pages.)

What is required is a set of pages that document the complete API, describing details where LinuxThreads and NPTL diverge from the standard. The existing pthreads(7) man page, which gives an overview of Pthreads implementations on Linux, is designed as a background document for these man pages.

The list of required man pages is long (related functions can be grouped on a single page); those marked with more asterisks are probably the most desirable to get done first.

Function	Since glibc version	Notes
pthread_atfork(3)		*
pthread_attr_destroy(3)
pthread_attr_getaffinity_np(3)
pthread_attr_getdetachstate(3)
pthread_attr_getguardsize(3)
pthread_attr_getinheritsched(3)
pthread_attr_getschedparam(3)
pthread_attr_getschedpolicy(3)
pthread_attr_getscope(3)
pthread_attr_getstack(3)
pthread_attr_getstackaddr(3)
pthread_attr_getstacksize(3)
pthread_attr_init(3)
pthread_attr_setaffinity_np(3)
pthread_attr_setdetachstate(3)
pthread_attr_setguardsize(3)
pthread_attr_setinheritsched(3)
pthread_attr_setschedparam(3)
pthread_attr_setschedpolicy(3)
pthread_attr_setscope(3)
pthread_attr_setstack(3)
pthread_attr_setstackaddr(3)
pthread_attr_setstacksize(3)
pthread_barrierattr_destroy(3)
pthread_barrierattr_getpshared(3)
pthread_barrierattr_init(3)
pthread_barrierattr_setpshared(3)
pthread_barrier_destroy(3)
pthread_barrier_init(3)
pthread_barrier_wait(3)
pthread_cancel(3)		**
pthread_cleanup_pop(3)		**
pthread_cleanup_pop_restore_np(3)
pthread_cleanup_push(3)		**
pthread_cleanup_push_defer_np(3)
pthread_condattr_destroy(3)
pthread_condattr_getclock(3)
pthread_condattr_getpshared(3)
pthread_condattr_init(3)
pthread_condattr_setclock(3)
pthread_condattr_setpshared(3)
pthread_cond_broadcast(3)		**
pthread_cond_destroy(3)		**
pthread_cond_init(3)		**
pthread_cond_signal(3)		**
pthread_cond_timedwait(3)		**
pthread_cond_wait(3)		**
pthread_create(3)		***
pthread_detach(3)		***
pthread_equal(3)		***
pthread_exit(3)		***
pthread_getaffinity_np(3)
pthread_getattr_np(3)
pthread_getconcurrency(3)
pthread_getcpuclockid(3)
pthread_getschedparam(3)
pthread_getspecific(3)		**
pthread_join(3)		***
pthread_key_create(3)		**
pthread_key_delete(3)		**
pthread_kill(3)		*
pthread_kill_other_threads_np(3)
pthread_mutexattr_destroy(3)
pthread_mutexattr_getpshared(3)
pthread_mutexattr_gettype(3)
pthread_mutexattr_init(3)
pthread_mutexattr_setpshared(3)
pthread_mutexattr_settype(3)
pthread_mutex_consistent_np(3)	2.4
pthread_mutexattr_getrobust_np(3)	2.4
pthread_mutexattr_setrobust_np(3)	2.4
pthread_mutexattr_getprotocol(3)	2.4
pthread_mutexattr_setprotocol(3)	2.4
pthread_mutexattr_getprioceiling(3)	2.4
pthread_mutexattr_setprioceiling(3)	2.4
pthread_mutex_getprioceiling(3)	2.4
pthread_mutex_setprioceiling(3)	2.4
pthread_mutex_destroy(3)		**
pthread_mutex_init(3)		**
pthread_mutex_lock(3)		**
pthread_mutex_timedlock(3)		**
pthread_mutex_trylock(3)		**
pthread_mutex_unlock(3)		**
pthread_once(3)		**
pthread_rwlockattr_destroy(3)
pthread_rwlockattr_getkind_np(3)
pthread_rwlockattr_getpshared(3)
pthread_rwlockattr_init(3)
pthread_rwlockattr_setkind_np(3)
pthread_rwlockattr_setpshared(3)
pthread_rwlock_destroy(3)
pthread_rwlock_init(3)
pthread_rwlock_rdlock(3)
pthread_rwlock_timedrdlock(3)
pthread_rwlock_timedwrlock(3)
pthread_rwlock_tryrdlock(3)
pthread_rwlock_trywrlock(3)
pthread_rwlock_unlock(3)
pthread_rwlock_wrlock(3)
pthread_self(3)		**
pthread_setaffinity_np(3)
pthread_setcancelstate(3)
pthread_setcanceltype(3)
pthread_setconcurrency(3)
pthread_setschedparam(3)
pthread_setspecific(3)		**
pthread_sigmask(3)		*
pthread_spin_destroy(3)
pthread_spin_init(3)
pthread_spin_lock(3)
pthread_spin_trylock(3)
pthread_spin_unlock(3)
pthread_testcancel(3)		**
pthread_timedjoin_np(3)
pthread_tryjoin_np(3)
pthread_yield(3)		*
pthread_yield_np(3)