Trouble opening help file

[waebbl]

When trying to open the help file (F1 or Menu -> Help -> Help), I get this error:

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Help file at /usr/share/doc/freecad-0.19.1/freecad.qhc
Help view: Error creating collection file '/usr/share/doc/freecad-0.19.1/freecad/freecad/freecad.qhc': Cannot create directory: /usr/share/doc/freecad-0.19.1/freecad/freecad.

I'm using Gentoo Linux, where both files, freecad.qhc and freecad.qch are installed in /usr/share/doc/freecad-<package-version>. Trying to open the files with the Qt distributed assistant tool gives the same result. It looks like the path <DOCDIR>/freecad/freecad is hard-coded somewhere in the qhc file. As a workaround, I created the dir structure and tried linking or copying the file, which both then gives the error:

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Help view: Error reading collection file '/usr/share/doc/freecad-0.19.1/freecad/freecad/freecad.qhc': Cannot unregister index tables in file /usr/share/doc/freecad-0.19.1/freecad/freecad/freecad.qhc.

As both files are shipped in binary form with the package, and no Qt help project files (freecad.qhp and freecad.qhcp) are shipped with the package, the files can not be recreated by distribution maintainers. Would it be possible to ship these project files with the package to allow the re-creation if necessary and provide correct, eventually distribution specific, locations?

OS: Gentoo/Linux (XFCE//usr/share/xsessions/xfce)
Word size of OS: 64-bit
Word size of FreeCAD: 64-bit
Version: 0.19.Unknown
Build type: Gentoo
Python version: 3.8.8
Qt version: 5.15.2
Coin version: 4.0.0
OCC version: 7.4.0
Locale: English/United States (en_US)

[SeanOfStJames]

I had the same problem under windows 10. Starting Freecad as Adminstrator and hitting F1 key solved the problem. It would appear that (at least in my case) it was a permissions issue.
After Freecad had created the necessary directory structure and files I was able to restart Freecad as a normal user and use the F1 key to launch help.

Try starting Freecad with sudo. If that doesn't work try creating the directory structure and assigning 777 to /usr/share/doc/freecad-0.19.1/freecad and eveyrthing below. Assuming that works you can then work back from there to secure your system appropriately.

[troymc]

I had the same problem under windows 10. Starting Freecad as Adminstrator and hitting F1 key solved the problem. It would appear that (at least in my case) it was a permissions issue.
After Freecad had created the necessary directory structure and files I was able to restart Freecad as a normal user and use the F1 key to launch help.

I was having the same problem getting the F1 help today in FreeCAD 0.19 on Windows 10 with

- Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8565U CPU @ 1.80GHz 1.99 GHz
- Installed RAM: 16.0 GB (15.8 GB usable)
- System type: 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
- Edition: Windows 10 Pro
- Version: 21H1
- OS build: 19043.1165
- Experience: Windows Feature Experience Pack 120.2212.3530.0

so I tried running FreeCAD as an administrator and it worked: I was able to get the F1 help.

Moreover, when I closed FreeCAD and re-launched it as a normal user (not admin), F1 help still worked. Yay!