How to reference man pages in CS papers?

Question

Hi, I am busy writing my thesis (so, I guess this could count as a homework question). Now, one of the things that came up was the Unix select system call. I would like to add a reference to the appropriate man page, but all I can find that seems the slight bit official is the Single Unix Specification site that wants my money first. Sure, the Linux guys all have man pages, but they have real geeky urls that don't look like they will stay around forever. What to do? So far I am referring to See SELECT(2) UNIX man page...

Answer 1

Try Googling man <command>. I find them frequently available here: http://linux.die.net/man/2/select.

Answer 2

http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/functions/select.html

The path used to get there: open the Wikipedia article for "Single UNIX Specification", follow the external link at the bottom to "Single UNIX Specification, Version 3", and you are now reading the full text of the specification. From there, "System Interfaces", and chose the one you want. This is also a very useful reference while programming.

Answer 3

I like to use the OpenBSD man pages, and their site has been there since 1995...

see: select(2)

Answer 4

You need to ask your graduate college how you should reference this in your thesis. They will have strict rules about how to do it. If it makes it easier, see if your library has a copy of the The Linux Programmer's Reference -- assuming that it describes the select(2) call -- and reference it as a book