Date: Mon, 9 Oct 2006 12:12:53 -0400 From: Tom Rhodes <trhodes@FreeBSD.org> To: Giorgos Keramidas <keramida@FreeBSD.org> Cc: trhodes@FreeBSD.org, danger@FreeBSD.org, doc@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: docs/103807: wicontrol(8) manpage contains a broken URL Message-ID: <20061009121253.7c320c32.trhodes@FreeBSD.org> In-Reply-To: <20061009100329.GB80688@gothmog.pc> References: <200609291202.k8TC2Uh0057728@www.freebsd.org> <1033416441.20061001194915@rulez.sk> <20061009100329.GB80688@gothmog.pc>
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On Mon, 9 Oct 2006 13:03:29 +0300 Giorgos Keramidas <keramida@freebsd.org> wrote: > On 2006-10-01 19:49, Daniel Gerzo <danger@freebsd.org> wrote: > > Friday, September 29, 2006, 2:02:30 PM, it has been written: > > >>Description: > > > The manpage to wicontrol(8) contains an URL which point to a page > > > which doesnt exist anymore: > > > http://www.cs.rice.edu/~astubble/wep/wep_attack.html > > > > I had a look at this one and it really seems that the URL is does not > > exist any more. I searched webarchive for this document and was able > > to find it. > > > > The last working archive of this page is located at: > > http://web.archive.org/web/20031211192719/http://www.cs.rice.edu/~astubble/wep/wep_attack.html > > > > Next, I tried to make a simple google search for its title and I was > > able to find a few mirrors of this document. > > > > http://www.google.com/search?client=opera&rls=en&q=Using+the+Fluhrer,+Mantin,+and+Shamir+Attack+to+Break+WEP&sourceid=opera&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8 > > > > Now, I would like to ask you guys, what is preffered? To change the > > reference to the existing URL, or to remove such reference? I think we > > don't usually use URL as refences, but there are a few man pages that > > still use it. Thoughts? > > Well, opinions can vary about this topic. > > I recently talked about the list of Atheros-based WLAN adapters, with > Sam Leffler, and he prefers having a single URL in the manpage, instead > of a wireless card list which is instantly out of date when something > changes in the web page. > > Other people prefer having as much information as possible locally, so > they have worked and have done a tremendously good job at having our own > web pages generated from manpage sources (i.e. the supported hardware > lists on http://www.freebsd.org/). > > I'm not sure if there is a silver bullet for deciding about this. > > In this particular case, I think that web.archive.org can be used, as > long as we have a licence to quote their stuff. What are the terms of > use for web.archive.org links? This is dangerous ground to tread indeed. Personally, I have always looked at the idea that it would be much better to have a list in the manual page for release information. That and links may become outdated, get moved or removed completely, etc. So personally I feel URLs in manual pages are typically a bad idea unless they are covering a piece of information we need not or can not include; such as a standard. What you could do is archive the last version of it, put it into your personal space at FreeBSD.org/~danger/XXX and link there, otherwise I personally feel we should ask -doc and see how many people are in favor of removing it. I've CC:ed doc on this, where *I* would just normally remove it. Perhaps more voices would be useful here. -- Tom Rhodes
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