Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2001 15:06:07 -0600 From: "Mike Meyer" <mwm-dated-1008623167.dd779c@mired.org> To: "Joe & Fhe Barbish" <barbish@a1poweruser.com> Cc: questions@freebsd.org Subject: RE: /etc/hosts file ? FBSD doc suck Message-ID: <15383.50879.147812.912148@guru.mired.org> In-Reply-To: <61440221@toto.iv>
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Joe & Fhe Barbish <barbish@a1poweruser.com> types: > The type of information you provided is what is missing in the FBSD > handbook. In the technical documentation writers world it's called > descriptive supporting background information. The handbook and man > pages are written in a reference style which is targeted at an > audience who all ready has an in-depth understanding of how things > work. Some of the man pages you all most have to have the authors > level of knowledge to understand what it means. As others have pointed out, the man pages really are intended as references for people who understand the system. And they aren't always complete or accurate. That's what happens when you have a few 10s of thousands of people writing and documenting programs. FreeBSD is a largely volunteer organization. Anyone is free to make contributions. If you now understand the man page and can provide text, please submit a pr with the changes. > I have 25 years installing operating systems on large IBM mainframe > machines. I have read more technical manuals they I care to remember. > I have seen manuals that are easy to comprehend and some that are so > bad they should have never been printed. I think I have the > background to judge how well a technical manual supports a software > product. So I make this statement as constructive criticism. FBSD > will never penetrate the main line pc operating system market or > ever make a dent in Microsoft's market share until the handbook, > man pages and install procedure become user friendly, up to date > and current with the version of the software in current distribution. I suspect that most of the people working on FreeBSD care little about "penetration of the main line pc operating system market". They care that it's the best tool around to do the jobs that they need it to do, and they work on making it better for that, not for mainline use. > These are all lacking in the newly published second edition of the > FBSD handbook. I hope Wind River the new FBSD supporter will also > see this and invest in a technical writer to redo the documentation. > The software product may be the best in it's niche but with out good > Documentation it will just not become popular. Wind River seems to be providing even less support than BSDI and Walnut Creek - they aren't even selling CDROM sets. > Is becoming popular not what we FBSD users want to see? Some would argue that it's already the most popular Unix variant around. And no, becoming popular is *not* high on most users want list. It's *far* more important that FreeBSD stay stable, reliable and flexible. If you want it to become more popular, feel free to start a "FreeBSD for the IT professional" handbook. Again - FreeBSD is a volunteer project. If you don't like something about it, the best way to get it fixed is to do it yourself. <mike -- Mike Meyer <mwm@mired.org> http://www.mired.org/home/mwm/ Independent WWW/Perforce/FreeBSD/Unix consultant, email for more information. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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