Missing /opt/local/share/man/whatis DB

[Stephen Baber]

Hi MacPorts architects/maintainers,

Author of JPortsUI here.  I have built features into the next version
of my application that use the "whatis" DB to describe the executable
files installed after MacPorts completes a "port install foo".
Presently I am letting the user know that this feature won't work for
them until they Terminal in and run "sudo /usr/libexec/makewhatis
/opt/local/share/man".

My question is, were there configuration consequences that MacPorts
needed to avoid as the reason it does not "makewhatis" itself upon
updating or installing ports?  All I can foresee is that the
additional information might change expected responses from "apropos"
(which would never be used in a production shell script anyway).
Should I not even be encouraging my users to run "makewhatis" in your
"/opt/local/share/man/" directory?

Thanks,
Steve