Mailinglist Archive: opensuse (3236 mails)

[abrahams@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Paul W. Abrahams)]

Eilert Brinkmann wrote:

> "Paul W. Abrahams" <abrahams@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > > > I wish there was some way of publicizing the `umask=0' incantation
> > > > so that people wouldn't have to keep asking about it.  I certainly
> > > > don't blame you for not knowing about it.
> > >
> > > Well, this options are documented in the man page for mount (section
> > > "Mount options for fat"). Unfortunately this is a place where many
> > > people don't find this information. (I had to answer questions
> > > concerning this problem more than once...) As many users want to mount
> > > vfat partitions, this issue should also be described in the printed
> > > manual. (I don't know if the SuSE manual mentions it.)
> >
> > I chose the word `publicizing' carefully.  Yes, it is documented,
> > and probably even documented in more than one place.  The problem is
> > that it's not documented in the places where people look for the
> > information when they discover that their vfat partitions aren't
> > writable.
>
> Agreed.

Now that I think about it, the problem is not exactly that the information is
in the wrong place.  It's that there are two pieces of information you need,
and they're not connected.   The description of fstab does mention umask but
doesn't say how to use it to make a vfat partition writable.   If you have
trouble with the partition, the fstab man page is the natural place to look
for the answer.  But it's all too easy to see and then ignore the mention of
umask because the *implication* of the information isn't mentioned.

The essence of good technical writing is not just to describe things but to
anticipate the reader's questions.

Paul


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