Mailinglist Archive: opensuse-factory (331 mails)

[Joerg Mayer <jmayer@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Mon, Dec 31, 2007 at 12:08:40PM -0600, Rajko M. wrote:
> > P.S. not one of these tools comes with an on board manual, that is what
> > training and research are for.
>
> That's the right point James.

No, it isn't. Because the amount of training and *research* that is
needed to use an OS should be minimal. While using the accelerator etc
is basic training, trying to use the radio, navigation or speed
regulation isn't intuitive and requires the manual.
The same with a computer: You need to learn how to start/login to a system
and use it (graphically, command line, voice, mental control). You
shouldn't need training or research for all the tools individually.
See below why manpages are not comparable to manuals. They normally
don't explain the backgroundknowledge, just the features of the tool
itself.

> It is time to rethink about tradition to have manuals as a part of package.

Absolutely not. It seems you have some interesting notion of Unixish
systems. To make this a bit more understandable: That's just like
putting the online help in graphical applications into their own
package. Manpages are the online help of command line applications.
Also, they tend to be tiny when compared with the rest of the package.

> I need manuals to learn how to use tools (I missed many lectures), but I know
> that I use very small portion of installed software. The rest is used by
> other guys in my "shop", those that created scripts, and they don't need
> manuals.

Only very very few people - if any - know the meaning of all the command
line options of all the tools they *use*. They use a combination of manpages
and --help instead.

> So, what would be the best option if I want to have small, slick collection of
> software, but manuals available if want them. I guess separate collection of
> manuals, and package manager that will install them on request.

And the day Suse does this, I will switch distribution because the
mentality of the distribution no longer matches mine. So far one of the
big strengths of Suse was that it is equally usable for newbies, users
and powerusers.

 Ciao
     Joerg
--
Joerg Mayer                                           <jmayer@xxxxxxxxx>
We are stuck with technology when what we really want is just stuff that
works. Some say that should read Microsoft instead of technology.

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