Yelp (software)

Yelp, also known as the GNOME Help Browser^[1] is the default help viewer for GNOME that allows users to access help documentation.^[5] Yelp follows the freedesktop.org help system specification^[6] and reads mallard, DocBook, man pages, info, and HTML documents.^[7] HTML is available by using XSLT to render XML documents into HTML.^[8]

Yelp

Original author(s)	Mikael Hallendal and Alexander Larsson[1]
Initial release	October 27, 2001; 23 years ago (2001-10-27)[2]
Stable release	42.2[3] / 17 October 2022; 2 years ago (17 October 2022)
Repository	gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/yelp
License	GPLv2[4]
Website	yelp.io

Yelp has a search feature^[9] as well as a toolbar at the top for navigation through previously viewed documentation.^[10]

Yelp can be accessed by typing yelp either into GNOME Shell, after pressing Alt+F2 within GNOME, or within a terminal^[11] using the yelp [file] format.^[1][12] The command gnome-help can also be used to access Yelp.^[13]

Although Yelp is not required for GNOME to function, it is required to view GNOME's help documentation.^[14] Ubuntu also uses yelp to provide a customized help interface for its software.^[15]

A format string vulnerability in GNOME versions 2.19.90 and 2.24 allowed arbitrary code execution through Yelp.^[16]