whatis and apropos don't work

[Scot L. Harris]

On Thu, 2005-12-15 at 22:18, Yunus wrote:
> Dear All,
>  
> I'm using FC3. I tried to issue these commands  below at terminal
> window:
>       [yunus at localhost ] whatis ls      
>       bash: ls nothing apropriate              <<== i always get this
> message
>                        and
>       [yunus at localhost ] apropos browser
>       bash: browser nothing apropriate    <<== i always get this
> message
>  
> Could anyone help me with this problem?
>  
> Thanks in advance!

Most likely you need to run /usr/sbin/makewhatis.

This will create the database those commands use to search.