How to Tell When Man Page Changes?

[Dave Tweten]

I've always believed that the date man puts at the middle of the bottom of 
a man page is the date of last modification.  In at least the case of the 
ssh_config man page, that seems to be wrong.

I like to read lengthy man pages off dead trees instead of pixels.  To 
avoid killing too many trees, I've made a practice of checking the pixel 
copy's date against the dead-tree copy's date, and printing a new version 
only when the date changes.

For ssh_config, at least, that seems to be a bad idea.  My most recent 
paper copy is from FreeBSD 4.6, and has a date of September 25, 1999.  The 
most recent pixel copy from FreeBSD-STABLE says FreeBSD 4.8, and still has 
a date of September 25, 1999.  Looks like they should be identical.  
They're not.  At least the default for CheckHostIP reversed from "yes" to 
"no" from the 4.6 page to the 4.8 page.

Is the date at the bottom of the page supposed to be the date of last 
modification?  If not, what is it good for?  Is there some other 
recommended means of telling when a man page has changed?

Thanks for helping keep me up-to-date on the culture.
-- 
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