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Date:      21 Jan 2002 00:29:23 -0800
From:      swear@blarg.net (Gary W. Swearingen)
To:        Cliff Sarginson <cliff@raggedclown.net>
Cc:        freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: How to change a FreeBSD clock time
Message-ID:  <fobsfoksyk.sfo@localhost.localdomain>
In-Reply-To: <20020120071937.GA1341@raggedclown.net>
References:  <002501c1a0d2$6682a9a0$0301a8c0@wintellect.com> <20020119102526.GA5105@raggedclown.net> <uek7ueqieq.7ue@localhost.localdomain> <20020120110618.U60575@wantadilla.lemis.com> <ydwuydpqqi.uyd@localhost.localdomain> <20020120071937.GA1341@raggedclown.net>

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Cliff Sarginson <cliff@raggedclown.net> writes:

> I think it is interesting that someone says a PR should be raised
> against something in FreeBSD, that is the same in all Unix systems
> but is different in Linux.  What is probably the problem here is that
> coming from Linux to FreeBSD carries with it the assumption, perhaps
> understandably, that somehow everything on both systems is sort of the
> same.

That surely is a common problem, but it's not the only problem.  Some
FreeBSD newbies have never used any unixy OS.  Some, like me have used
many, but never had the authority to set the time and never learned how.
I try to look at man pages and other documentation from the viewpoint of
someone who needs it, not as someone who can often guess how it works
from their long experience.

There are at least two clocks on these systems.  The "date" command only
reports the value of one of them and it's not a bad assumption that it
only sets the one that it reports.  I just don't understand why people
so often object to a man page being made less unambiguous or more helpful.

> What is called for is probably not a PR for the date page, but
> someone to create some kind of brief list of surprises for Linux users
> coming to FreeBSD. It would have never have occurred to me that a Linux
> user would not know about the "date" command, but that is because I
> have worked on Unix systems for a long time. When I first started
> looking at Linux this hwclock stuff suprised me !

I think I've seen a list or two like that, but they're 're only as good
as your ability and interest in memorizing them and should only be a
suppliment to decent documentation that explains what FreeBSD does
without the need for guessing and experimentation that is so commonly
needed in unix.  (I had access to a bookcase full of good DEC VAX
documenation for several years, and remember it perhaps too fondly.)
 
> Btw "apropos time" does throw up the "date" command.

Sorry, I DID look for it, but missed it in that long, messy scroll.
A lot of newbies wouldn't have the patience to examine it, I'll bet.

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