System User's Guide: Operating System and Devices

AIX Documentation

This section discusses the online documentation available for AIX.

IBM eServer pSeries Information Center

IBM eServer pSeries Information Center provides a portal to AIX documentation as well as access to tools and resources. From the Information Center, the entire AIX software documentation library for releases 4.3, 5.1, and 5.2 are available. Each book released in 5.1 and 5.2 are available in PDF format, and abstracts for books released in 5.2 are provided. Other tools and resources include:

An error message database showing users what the error messages mean and, in many cases, how they can recover from them. This database also provides information for LED codes, and error identifiers.
A resources page that links users to other IBM and non-IBM Web sites proven useful to system administrators, application developers, and users.
Several how-to's that provide users with step-by-step instructions for completing system administrator and user tasks.
Several FAQs (frequently asked questions) that provide users with quick answers to common questions.
Links to related frequently used documentation from IBM, including white papers, Redbooks, and technical reports on topics such as RS/6000 SP and HACMP for AIX.
A link to the documentation search tool is provided for each release, along with links to the release notes and readme files.
A link to the entire pSeries and RS/6000 hardware documentation library.

Using the IBM eServer pSeries Information Center

To bring up the Information Center on an AIX system, do the following:

On the AIX command line, type:
```
infocenter
```
Press Enter.
OR
From the CDE Help panel, select the Information Center icon.
OR
Go to the following Web address:
http://publib16.boulder.ibm.com/pseries/en_US/infocenter/base

Documentation Library Service

The Documentation Library Service allows you to read, search, and print online HTML documents and provides a library application that appears in your web browser. The application includes links to read installed documents and a search form that you can use to search for text. When you search, a results page displays the results of the search with links to the documents containing the search target words.

Starting with AIX 5.1, you can also download printable versions of books.

Two types of forms are provided: a global search form that shows all the volumes installed on a search server, and a specific search form that only searches a specific set of volumes, such as the manuals for an application.

The documentation library service allows you to search documents that have been registered with the search service. The system administrator registers the documents. You cannot search the Internet or any unregistered documents on your search server.

If you write HTML documents at your site, your system administrator can add these documents to the documentation library so that you can read, search, and print the documents.

Using the Documentation Library Service

You can use the Documentation Library Service to do the following tasks:

To read the documentation installed in your system's default library, do one of the following:
- Type docsearch at the command line.
- Open the CDE Desktop Help subpanel. Click on the documentation search service icon, which looks like binoculars.
  Note: If you have a copy of the AIX 4.3 (or later version) CD, you can read it on a PC. Insert the CD into the CD-ROM drive on your PC. If the documentation CD is AIX 4.3.3 or later, use a Web browser to open the CD file called readme.htm that is located in the top directory of the CD. If you have an AIX 4.3.0 through AIX 4.3.2 version of the Base Documentation CD, open the usr/share/man/info/en_US/a_doc_lib/aixgen/topnav/topnav.htm file.
To open a library stored on a remote documentation server, in your browser's location bar, type the following Web address:
```
http://server_name[:port_number]/cgi-bin/ds_form
```
The global search form opens, where you can search the documents stored on the server with the name that you specified in server_name. You can also view all of the books by category.
Note: You need type the port_number only if the port is not the standard 80.
For example, if you want to search the registered documents on a search server named hinson and it uses port 80, type:
```
http://hinson/cgi-bin/ds_form
```
After the search form for a server displays in your browser, you can create a bookmark that takes you back to the server. Your system administrator can also create a Web page that contains links to all of the different documentation servers in an organization.
The documentation is also available for reading and searching at the following Web address: http://www.ibm.com/servers/aix/library. Note that while this site contains the AIX base operating system documentation, it may not contain other documentation installed on your local documentation server.
Specific search forms are usually launched from search links inside HTML documents. They typically appear on the pages of applications manuals or help files. For example, each page in the library has a search link. Clicking on one of these search links launches a specific search form that allows you to search only the library volumes.

After the library application opens, you can click the Help link in the upper-right corner for instructions about how to use the library.

Changing the Documentation Library Service Language

By default, when you open the CDE Desktop icons for the documentation search service or the base library, the documents display in the same language as your CDE Desktop.

However, you might need to see the documentation in a language that is different from your desktop language. For example, your desktop runs in your native language but the manuals may only be available in English. You can change your documentation language so that documents display in a different language from that used in your desktop.

Notes:

The procedure described below does not affect the language used if you are opening a document or search form from an HTML link inside another document. These steps affect only the language used for the documentation search service or the base library desktop icons.
Make sure there is documentation already installed for the language you want to use.

You can change your documentation language by running the following command:

/usr/bin/chdoclang locale

Where locale is the locale name that is the new language for viewing and searching documentation. Locale names can be found in "Locale Naming Conventions" in AIX 5L Version 5.2 National Language Support Guide and Reference.

You must log out and then log back in to see the language change take effect.

If you are using the CDE Desktop, you must also edit your Desktop file $HOME/.dtprofile so that your documentation language setting in your $HOME/.profile file will be read during CDE login. To do this, complete the following steps:

Open your .dtprofile file in the dtpad editor by typing the following command:
```
dtpad $HOME/.dtprofile
```
Find the line that contains the following text:
```
DTSOURCEPROFILE=true
```
If there are any comment (#) characters at the start of that line, delete only the # characters, not the entire line. If there are no comment characters, close the editor.
Save your changed .dtprofile file.
Log out and log back in.

For example, if you want to change your documentation language to Spanish (locale name es_ES), type the following command:

/usr/bin/chdoclang es_ES

Log out and log back in to your desktop.

After you change your documentation language, you can delete the language setting so that documentation will again display in the same language as your desktop. To delete your language setting, type the following command:

/usr/bin/chdoclang -d

Log out and log back in to your desktop.