Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2003 20:29:59 +0200 (EET) From: Jarkko Santala <jake@iki.fi> To: Christian Brueffer <chris@unixpages.org> Cc: Kevin Oberman <oberman@es.net>, Poul-Henning Kamp <phk@phk.freebsd.dk>, current@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: MAKEDEV(8) manpage Message-ID: <20030324202245.D401@trillian.santala.org> In-Reply-To: <20030324181450.GU36490@unixpages.org> References: <20030324133457.GR36490@unixpages.org> <20030324171215.7DBD85D07@ptavv.es.net> <20030324181450.GU36490@unixpages.org>
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On Mon, 24 Mar 2003, Christian Brueffer wrote: > On Mon, Mar 24, 2003 at 09:12:15AM -0800, Kevin Oberman wrote: > > > Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2003 14:34:57 +0100 > > > From: Christian Brueffer <chris@unixpages.org> > > > Sender: owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG > > > > > > On Mon, Mar 24, 2003 at 09:40:32AM +0200, Jarkko Santala wrote: > > > > On Sun, 23 Mar 2003, Poul-Henning Kamp wrote: > > > > > > > > > In message <20030323143507.GG36490@unixpages.org>, Christian Brueffer w= > > > rites: > > > > > >now that MAKEDEV has been gone for a while, the manpages (alpha and i3= > > > 86) > > > > > >can be nuked as well, right? > > > > > > > > > > Right. > > > > > > > > Although it might be considered dragging old baggage around, would it > > > > make sense to instead of zapping the man page completely write a new one > > > > that would at least give a clue on how things are done these days? > > > > > > > > Otherwise unclued people might just think there's something wrong with > > > > their system because the man page is missing and get even more confused. > > > > > > Well, people are supposed to read UPDATING before updating the system. > > > UPDATING already has an entry about this, so has the handbook, the > > > release notes etc. > > > > > > I think we can't really help people that don't read the recommended > > > documentation. > > > > I think POLA should apply to things like this (even across major > > releases). MAKEDEV has been around for a long time and most folks are > > used to it being there. It's simply something that most people assume > > will be there on a Unix-like system. > > > > Yes, people should read UPDATING and, better still, the release > > notes. But taking the added step of having a simple man page with a > > pointer to the devfs paper and saying that MAKEDEV is no more there will > > avoid a lot of confusion. > > > > The goal of documentation should not be to make it possible for > > sophisticated users to use the system. It should make it as > > easy as possible for all levels of users, including those new to Unix > > and BSD to use the system. > > I'll write a small manpage this evening which says that MAKEDEV is gone now > with a short summary of what devfs does. > Does that resolve your worries? Exactly what I had in mind, so sounds good to me. ;) You probably want to make it as generic as possible, so that keeping it up-to-date doesn't become a burden in the future. I'd hate to create any extra maintenance work to anyone, no matter how small. Thanks, -jake -- Jarkko Santala <jake@iki.fi> http://www.iki.fi/~jake/ System Administrator 2001:670:83:f08::/64 To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-current" in the body of the message
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