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Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2002 15:44:17 -0500
To: soren_andersen AT speedymail DOT org, cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
From: "Larry Hall (RFK Partners, Inc)" <lhall AT rfk DOT com>
Subject: Re: "RTFM'ing": readily accessible user documentation?
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At 03:17 PM 1/16/2002, Soren Andersen wrote:
>Hello,
>
>When I try to use `info blah' on my Cygwin system I get the error
>info: dir: No such file or directory
>
>Yes, this in in the FAQ (however, alternatively, not findable by any of 5 
>permutations of searches I ran on the List archives, just as an aside):


So what would you do to make such searches more productive?  


.
.
.
<snip some discussion of how the absence of an automated resolution to this
  issue is a problem>
.
.
.


That's my suggested addition (for today) to whatever it is that `setup' 
>does. I am not currently involved in hacking on `setup' so I won't be 
>contributing any patches on this issue; it will have to fall to someone 
>else to (maybe) implement this, for the time being (other priorities are 
>just unrefusable for me at present). Thanks for your attention.


Great but you realize that just because you weren't able to find 
relevant discussion of this topic in the archives that there hasn't been
any, right?  In case you're still wondering, there has been a discussion 
of this.  Solutions have been proposed too.  We're not lacking those (to 
just about any problem that gets raised on this list).  Although I 
appreciate a thoughtful proposal of a solution as much as the next guy,
I think folks on this list would prefer someone to follow through on a 
proposal.  If you're just going to propose and leave it for someone else
to implement your proposal, what's the motivation (for you proposing the 
solution and others who read it)?  Unless your proposal is so compelling
that it moves someone else (but for some reason not you), it's just more
fodder for the email archives (that folks may or may not ever review).
I mean, you do realize that Cygwin is an entirely volunteer-run effort
right?  Don't you think it might be a little insulting to volunteers, who
are doing allot of hard (sometimes grunt) work and who probably have their
own ideas about this subject and others, to have you suggest this and then
flatly state that you have no intention of pursuing this issue?  I mean,
why should someone else be more interested in this issue than you?  And 
if they are, why should they implement your proposal and not their own?
And if no one is going to implement your proposal, why send it to the 
list?  It just all seems a little pointless to me but maybe I'm missing
something.  While I'm sure that's not your intent to aggravate the hard
working contributors on this list, it's important to consider posts of 
this nature with a critical eye before posting.  No sense infuriating 
those who have worked so long and so hard to provide us all with what we 
have now.

Food for thought.


Larry Hall                              lhall AT rfk DOT com
RFK Partners, Inc.                      http://www.rfk.com
838 Washington Street                   (508) 893-9779 - RFK Office
Holliston, MA 01746                     (508) 893-9889 - FAX


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