Date: Sat, 14 Mar 1998 20:07:02 -0800 From: Studded <Studded@dal.net> To: Annelise Anderson <andrsn@andrsn.stanford.edu> Cc: freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Help! Upgrade 2.2.5-RELEASE to 2.2-STABLE. Message-ID: <350B53E6.3AFFEAEB@dal.net> References: <Pine.BSF.3.96.980314171206.19968D-100000@andrsn.stanford.edu>
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[ Once again, narrowed to freebsd-stable. ] Annelise Anderson wrote: > > On Sat, 14 Mar 1998, Jordan K. Hubbard wrote: > > > > Obviously it doesn't work to respond to questions in freebsd-questions > > > (people don't read it until they run into trouble) or the newsgroup. > > > And not everyone subscribes to -stable. What you need is a README file > > > that arrives with the sources and ends up in /usr/src and has the latest > > > info on what has to be done that the make world won't do. > > > > Though that wouldn't have solved the login.conf problem. I think what > > you're really saying is that we need a better starter document that > > covers the latest errata and any special build instructions. :) > > > > Jordan > > I think I'm trying to say that the information on *how to get* the > latest errata and any special build instructions (or whatever) needs > to arrive with the goods; one can't expect people to pick up this > information in some other place--on some newsgroup or mailing list. Yes, absolutely. > At least, I think this has the best chance of reducing the repetitive > questions. The best way to reduce repetitive questions is to start responding to them more proactively. We need a spot on the www page that has responses to the real FAQ's that are happening on the list, and we need someone to keep it up to date. If we can put something like this together and advertise it in the stuff that comes with/on the CD in a few generations we will have trained people to help themselves more (not totally, but more). Also, it will be of tremendous help to the people that *answer* those FAQ's on the mailing lists (especially -questions). If we can point users to an accurate, thorough and step-by-step answer we'll dramatically reduce the number of, "Ok, I tried that but it didn't quite..." questions too, and reduce the load on the answerers. > For the cdrom sets, the brochure that goes in the package should > have a little note that says something about getting information > that became available after the cd's were made. This can be a > standard location, e.g., the location of the errata.txt file on > the web site or WC CDROM for a particular release. Agreed. The way I'd structure it is to have each answer in a .txt file and make them available on the ftp site. Some sort of e-mail autoresponder would also be nice. > For sources obtained with cvsup, a README file that ends up in the > one directory that has to be visited (/usr/src) that either provides > information or directs the reader to information is all that's needed. You're batting 3 for 3. :) I'd like to see a /usr/src/README with general info, and a /usr/src/README.NEW-SLICE-CODE for the really big changes. Then of course we have to train people to read these things. :) Obviously we aren't going to change any of this overnight, but we can start being more proactive about offering the info. At the same time, we have to be more didactic about making sure people read the right lists. I think this incident has been good in the sense that it's flushed some of the grouse out of the weeds. Let's not panic because we've got some feathers in the face. Doug -- *** Chief Operations Officer, DALnet IRC network *** *** Proud operator, designer and maintainer of the world's largest *** Internet Relay Chat server. 5,328 clients and still growing. *** Try spider.dal.net on ports 6662-4 (Powered by FreeBSD) To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-stable" in the body of the message
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