[FFmpeg-user] man ffmpeg absent

[Anatoly]

On Tue, 18 Jul 2017 00:32:14 +0300
ILJA SHEBALIN <iljashebalin2 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Thanks, I'll consider moving to Macports. I just wanted to know what
> is that
It must be source code, almost program(s) texts written in C programming
language.
> and how is that different from three binaries for OS X that I
> had downloaded before?
We compile it using C compiler and we'll get those binaries. Actually,
not only compiler involved, but set of tools, and we'll get some extra
resorces (man pages e.t.c). Whole process is called build process.
> What advantage does the bundle have over bare bone binary
> executables (UNIX execs in this case)?
Source code is OS/architecture independent.
I can choose which features to include (maybe I need xv output in
ffmgeg, maybe I don't need VP8 at all?).
Somtimes it's possible to optimize some things for CPU I have.
If I'm C programmer, I can enhance/fix something I need.
> Do they enhance my experience
> supplementing basic features with extra ones?
They can. But for that you need to know exactly that you want.

Generally, to build you need C toolchain (set of tools, Xcode in case
of MacOSX). Then you may run script that is in the base directory of
that you extracted:
./confugure --help
it will present you with list of options you may tweak. Some you use to
enhance, but setting right values to other may be necessary (for ex.
path to MANDIR differs in linuxes and BSD).
Then you do ./configure <your options> (this generate Makefile). Then
make (this start build process). Then make install.
mac ports is a thing that can do it all and more automatically for you.

But if reading man pages is just all you need, then take a look at 
http://ffmpeg.org/documentation.html. I see blocks "Command Line Tools"
and "Components" are same as man pages.