From owner-cvs-all Tue Jun 22 1:32:52 1999 Delivered-To: cvs-all@freebsd.org Received: from allegro.lemis.com (allegro.lemis.com [192.109.197.134]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 14D27152C5; Tue, 22 Jun 1999 01:32:40 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from grog@freebie.lemis.com) Received: from freebie.lemis.com (freebie.lemis.com [192.109.197.137]) by allegro.lemis.com (8.9.1/8.9.0) with ESMTP id SAA13902; Tue, 22 Jun 1999 18:02:42 +0930 (CST) Received: (from grog@localhost) by freebie.lemis.com (8.9.3/8.9.0) id SAA99957; Tue, 22 Jun 1999 18:02:53 +0930 (CST) Date: Tue, 22 Jun 1999 18:02:52 +0930 From: Greg Lehey To: Mike Smith Cc: hm@hcs.de, dfr@nlsystems.com, peter@FreeBSD.org, cvs-all@FreeBSD.org, FreeBSD Hackers Subject: All this and documentation too? (was: cvs commit: src/sys/isa sio.c) Message-ID: <19990622180252.J76907@freebie.lemis.com> References: <199906220823.BAA01443@dingo.cdrom.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Mailer: Mutt 0.95.4i In-Reply-To: <199906220823.BAA01443@dingo.cdrom.com>; from Mike Smith on Tue, Jun 22, 1999 at 01:23:24AM -0700 WWW-Home-Page: http://www.lemis.com/~grog X-PGP-Fingerprint: 6B 7B C3 8C 61 CD 54 AF 13 24 52 F8 6D A4 95 EF Organization: LEMIS, PO Box 460, Echunga SA 5153, Australia Phone: +61-8-8388-8286 Fax: +61-8-8388-8725 Mobile: +61-41-739-7062 Sender: owner-cvs-all@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk On Tuesday, 22 June 1999 at 1:23:24 -0700, Mike Smith wrote: >> >> Anyway, i don't think you are asking for too much - of what use is a shiny >> new design of a new subsystem in the very basic FreeBSD architecture if just >> some handful few people knew how it works and how to use it ? > > Gosh, that would make it just like every other shiny new subsystem. > > Folks, just cut the carping and write your own documentation. The > architects can't, Of course they can. > and won't write it for you. And they might, too. phk has frequently expressed a desire to either write documentation on existing systems, or at least help others do so. I'm in the process of writing technical docs for Vinum. The biggest problem is knowing what to write and how to describe it. > It has never happened that way (anywhere, on any project), Of course it has. It's just uncommon in the FreeBSD environment. In many large projects, you don't do any code until you have a clear definition of what you're going to do. > and it never will. My father never had a computer, and his father never did, so I never will have one. What an argument. > Documentation is written after the fact, by someone else. That's the worst kind of documentation. In fact, most UNIX documentation is written by the authors. After the fact, admittedly. Hopefully the change of subject line and recipients will get some more representative views on this subject. Greg -- See complete headers for address, home page and phone numbers finger grog@lemis.com for PGP public key To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe cvs-all" in the body of the message