---
name: "man.conf"
section: "5"
platform: "freebsd"
package: "base"
version: "16.0-CURRENT-20261027-61c70dc16a79"
release: "FreeBSD 16.0-CURRENT (2026-10-27)"
platforms: ["linux", "freebsd", "openbsd", "macos"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/man.conf"
---

# man.conf(5)

man(1) and manpath(1) configuration files

## NAME

**man.conf** – [man(1)](/man/1.md) and [manpath(1)](/manpath/1.md) configuration files

## DESCRIPTION

The **man.conf** file is used to configure the manual search path, locales, and utility set for [man(1)](/man/1.md) and its related utilities. During initialization, [man(1)](/man/1.md) reads the configuration files located at */usr/local/etc/man.d/\*.conf* and */etc/man.conf*.

The files contained in */usr/local/etc/man.d/\*.conf* are intended to be used by the [ports(7)](/ports/7.md) system for extending the manual set to support additional paths and locales. */etc/man.conf* is intended to be used by the local administrator to set additional policy.

Currently supported configuration variables include:

- MANCONFIG

  Overrides the default location to import additional manual configuration files. Defaults to */usr/local/etc/man.d/\*.conf*.

- MANPATH

  Adds the specified directory to the manual search path.

- MANLOCALE

  Indicates support is available for the given locale.

For pages in a given language, overriding the default toolset for display is supported via the following definitions:

- EQN\_*LANG*

  - NROFF\_*LANG*

  - PIC\_*LANG*

  - TBL\_*LANG*

  - TROFF\_*LANG*

  - REFER\_*LANG*

  See the EXAMPLES section for how to use these variables.

## IMPLEMENTATION NOTES

The parser used for this utility is very basic and only supports comment characters (#) at the beginning of a line.

## FILES

- */etc/man.conf*

  System configuration file.

- */usr/local/etc/man.d/\*.conf*

  Local configuration files.

## EXAMPLES

A perl port that needs to install additional manual pages outside of the default location could install a file in */usr/local/etc/man.d/perl.conf* with the following contents:

```
# Add perl man pages to search path
MANPATH /usr/local/lib/perl5/5.8.9/man
MANPATH /usr/local/lib/perl5/5.8.9/perl/man
```

A Japanese localization port could install a custom toolset and include a file in */usr/local/etc/man.d/ja-man-doc.conf* with the following contents:

```
# Setup Japanese toolset
MANLOCALE	ja_JP.eucJP
EQN_JA		/usr/local/bin/geqn
PIC_JA		/usr/local/bin/gpic
TBL_JA		/usr/local/bin/gtbl
NROFF_JA	/usr/local/bin/groff -mandoc -dlang=ja_JP.eucJP
TROFF_JA	/usr/local/bin/groff -mandoc -dlang=ja_JP.euc.jp
```

If the system administrator decides to override the *LOCALBASE* [make(1)](/make/1.md) variable causing all [ports(7)](/ports/7.md) to be installed into */opt* instead of */usr/local*, specifying the following in */etc/man.conf* will accommodate this change:

```
# Look for additional configuration files
MANCONFIG /opt/etc/man.d/*.conf
```

## SEE ALSO

[apropos(1)](/apropos/1.md), [man(1)](/man/1.md), [manpath(1)](/manpath/1.md), [whatis(1)](/whatis/1.md)