From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Jul 3 19:39:28 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C3A97106566C for ; Fri, 3 Jul 2009 19:39:28 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from kei-29ij@myamail.com) Received: from dos.kaslist.com (dos.kaslist.com [66.160.134.9]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 71F878FC12 for ; Fri, 3 Jul 2009 19:39:28 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from kei-29ij@myamail.com) Received: from dos.kaslist.com [66.160.134.9] by dos.kaslist.com with esmtpsa (TLSv1:AES128-SHA:128) (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1MMnzh-0003YQ-8L; Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:00:21 -0700 Message-Id: <3A9B9A2F-9BC0-4150-89FB-66E379F9D0A9@myamail.com> From: Fred C To: Polytropon In-Reply-To: <20090703150148.6ba53cb1.freebsd@edvax.de> Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v935.3) Date: Fri, 3 Jul 2009 12:00:18 -0700 References: <20090702072125.6a3e513d.freebsd@edvax.de> <64c038660907020728q5b78fb9av1b60591716b9d733@mail.gmail.com> <20090703150148.6ba53cb1.freebsd@edvax.de> X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.935.3) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.5 Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: POLL: Linux preferences from FreeBSD users X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:39:29 -0000 On Jul 3, 2009, at 6:01 AM, Polytropon wrote: > On Thu, 2 Jul 2009 08:28:01 -0600, Modulok wrote: >> That and Linux seems to only ever get the abridged version of manual >> pages. When you compare manual pages for an equivalent commands >> between FreeBSD and most Linux flavors, it really shows. I noticed >> this when I went from Debian to FreeBSD. "Finally! Real >> documentation!" > > There ware two things that I found to be solved better in FreeBSD than > in various Linusi: > > 1. Amount of manual pages: FreeBSD does not only document commands, > it documents configuration files, kerlen interfaces, library functions > and maintenance procedures. The tradition of manual pages furthermore > is carried by third party software (ports), e. g. "man opera" - you > would not guess that it existed. In the opposite, try to find a > manpage of some KDE program (as if anyone would read manpages for > KDE things). > > 2. Quality of documentation: The manpages are excellently written. > No "look at our Wiki" or "this page intentionally left free" there. > furthermore, the OS's source is very tidy, uses good names for > functions, variables and datatypes, and has lots of useful comments. > > As a developer, documentation is a MUST HAVE for me. Having all > the documentation avaliable "off line" right after installation > is very good. > > Sadly, Linux didn't (doesn't?) offer this. I agree, the linux documentation is very scarce. Having good man pages is very convenient, specially when you are in a data center with just a console on a cart. Having to go online to check some badly organised wiki is not always convenient or possible. I also have my share of frustration with the logs. The messages in the log files are often inconsistent and unhelpful. In this following example the kernel is reporting a disk error but forgot to specify the most important information, the disk. Jul 3 00:07:53 locdata204 kernel: [5706229.550000] res 41/40:00:52:4a:73/83:02:27:00:00/00 Emask 0x9 (media error) -fred-