Description of Problem: when running the "man /etc/shadow" command, the man executable attempts to read the actual /etc/shadow file and display it to the screen; when run as root, the file is displayed, otherwise, the message "/etc/shadow: Permission denied" appears immediately prior to "No manual entry for /etc/shadow" Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): man-1.5i2-0.7x and man-1.5i2-6 How Reproducible: always Steps to Reproduce: 1. man /etc/shadow 2. 3. Actual Results: see above Expected Results: see above Additional Information:
Why do you think this is a problem? I think it's a feature (man /usr/src/foo/doc/foo.1 can be quite useful at times). Someone with root access is probably not stupid enough to type "man /etc/shadow" while someone is watching his screen (and even then, nobody will be able to remember the MD5 hashes).
This is (IMHO) a problem from the standpoint that I want to get information on the /etc/shadow file, I don't want it to try to use the /etc/shadow file as the actual man page. I agree that "man /usr/src/foo/file.1" can be useful; it seems (to me at least) too confusing, though - perhaps a switch telling man to "use the argument as the man file name, not the man query term" would work just as well (i.e. "man -f /usr/src/foo/file.1")?
"man 5 shadow" is what you want.
Or "whatis shadow".
I think by using a "/", you clearly indicate you want a file, so an extra switch is not necessary.