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Message-ID: <3A8B35A8.E8BEEA00@ece.gatech.edu>
Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2001 20:49:28 -0500
From: "Charles S. Wilson" <cwilson AT ece DOT gatech DOT edu>
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To: Jonathan Kamens <jik AT curl DOT com>
CC: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
Subject: Re: Followup on eliminating symlink ReadFile calls -- it's not necessary
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Jonathan Kamens wrote:

> The mailing list is not documentation. 

Yes.  It is.  They are called "archives".  They are searchable, so you
can find the information you need.  However, just like "regular"
documentation, not every question has already been asked -- so you might
need to ask a new question once in a while...

> People should be able to
> download and use Cygwin in an effective manner by consulting its
> documentation.  They should not need to subscribe to the mailing list
> and pick up tips over time just to learn how to tweak Cygwin into an
> effective configuration.

The net release of cygwin is *NOT* a product.  It is a work in
progress.  It changes daily.  The most effective means of distributing
information about a rapidly changing set of tools is a mailing list or
newsgroup, not a relatively static set of web-based documentation, and
certainly not a printed/bound book.

And yes, you *should* subscribe to the mailing list if you use cygwin. 

However, there should be little need to "pick up tips" to "tweak Cygwin"
if you are doing relatively normal stuff.  It's "effective" in its
default configuration *for most users*.  Not very many people routinely
build applications with, what was it in your case?, "thousands of source
files"?

This is not to say, however, that the documentation couldn't be
improved.  Certainly it could be better.  Many of the questions on this
list, however, ARE answered in the documentation that exists currently. 
The problem is, people don't read it.  So, MORE documentation == more
stuff folks don't read.  That *really* motivates me to add
documentation.  How about you?  (Note: ever look in /usr/doc/Cygwin/*
and /usr/doc/* ?  How many times has Corinna referred people, again and
again, to /usr/doc/Cygwin/inetutils-X.X.X.README or
/usr/doc/Cygwin/openssh-xxxxx.README ?)

And by the way, I personally provide LOTS of documentation with the
packages I've contributed to the cygwin project.  And who can miss my
five-page "Updated: ncurses-5.X-Y" announcement messages?  <Having
established my right to write this rant...>

> If you've had to mention it on the mailing list several times, that's
> all the more indication that it should be documented in the persistent
> documentation.

With this, we can all agree.  However, one thing that many folks seem to
miss: not only is the code open source, but also the documentation is,
as well.  PLEASE contribute.  If you're not a programmer, contribute
documentation.  And *hope* people will read it.

--Chuck

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