Date: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 17:51:57 -0600 (MDT) From: Warren Block <wblock@wonkity.com> To: Brooks Davis <brooks@freebsd.org> Cc: freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: /etc/motd update Message-ID: <alpine.BSF.2.11.1408131744140.86015@wonkity.com> In-Reply-To: <20140813230750.GD85079@spindle.one-eyed-alien.net> References: <alpine.BSF.2.11.1408131411390.3442@wonkity.com> <20140813230750.GD85079@spindle.one-eyed-alien.net>
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On Wed, 13 Aug 2014, Brooks Davis wrote: > On Wed, Aug 13, 2014 at 02:23:00PM -0600, Warren Block wrote: >> The existing /etc/motd breaks many of our document rules and has some >> weird language constructs. The current version in HEAD: >> http://svnweb.freebsd.org/base/head/etc/motd?view=co >> >> Here is a rewrite. URLs are now the only thing on a line, instead of >> inline and hard to locate. No contractions are used. Odd phrases are >> rephrased: >> >> Here is the proposed new version and a diff: >> http://www.wonkity.com/~wblock/motd/motd >> http://www.wonkity.com/~wblock/motd/motd.diff > >> Making it clear that commands are to be typed without quotes is a little >> difficult. This file is plain text, so no out-of-band highlighting is >> available. ANSI colors or bold could be used, but the terminal is not >> guaranteed to be able to display them. The only really clear way would >> be to put commands on a separate line, indented. That takes up more >> space, maybe not a big deal. >> >> The other issue is whether we should mention the search box on the web >> page, which is not very effective at finding things. >> >> Comments and suggestions welcome. > > My first thought was that it's definitely better, but too long since 25 > rows of text won't fit on the default console. > > My second thought was that a better approach might be to replace most of > the contents with a URL like: > > http://freebsd.org/getting-started-with-freebsd-11 > > and a reference to a local copy of the content a release time. That > would allow unlimited formatting, let us target different user > audiences, and let us improve the online version over time. That would allow much more vertical space in the actual "intro" file, and clearer explanations: Type man man for an introduction to manual pages. Where should the intro file be stored? /usr/doc is not always present.
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