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Date:      Sun, 25 Jan 2004 19:09:45 -0800
From:      Wes Peters <wes@softweyr.com>
To:        des@des.no (Dag-Erling =?iso-8859-1?q?Sm=F8rgrav?=), Diomidis Spinellis <dds@aueb.gr>
Cc:        cvs-all@FreeBSD.org
Subject:   Re: cvs commit: src/usr.bin/fetch fetch.1
Message-ID:  <200401251909.45346.wes@softweyr.com>
In-Reply-To: <xzp1xppt08v.fsf@dwp.des.no>
References:  <200401230450.i0N4omSZ049990@repoman.freebsd.org> <40123A86.3040102@aueb.gr> <xzp1xppt08v.fsf@dwp.des.no>

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On Saturday 24 January 2004 03:06 pm, Dag-Erling Sm=F8rgrav wrote:
> Diomidis Spinellis <dds@aueb.gr> writes:
> > Let us not forget that the Unix manual pages provide reference
> > material; they are not a user guide.  They historically have been
> > terse, to the point, and honest in admitting shortcomings (bugs).
> > While a user might find it helpful to read the environment variable
> > documentation in fetch(1), the correct thing to do in reference
> > material is to document the variables where they are implemented,
> > namely fetch(3), and provide a cross reference.
>
> Yes.  I'd like to see Wes's commit backed out, please.

Roger Wilco.  Is it OK to make a stronger recommendation that the user=20
consult fetch(3) for some rather critical information about how fetch(1)=20
really works?  As it stands, the fetch(1) page really requires reading of=20
fetch(3) as well, which is fine as long as we lead the reader there with=20
a rather blunt instrument.

=2D-=20

        Where am I, and what am I doing in this handbasket?

Wes Peters                                               wes@softweyr.com



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