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Subject: RE: PATH and HOME in cygwin
Date: Thu, 3 Jun 2004 15:09:13 -0700
Message-ID: <7D036BD3216A084DB1BD9D62BCEAF29049A418@mail1irv.inside.istor.com>
From: "Chris Carlson" <ccarlson AT istor DOT com>
To: <cygwin AT cygwin DOT com>
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Interesting reference (bash scripting guide).  I want to take more time
to read it.

I found it took me a while (20 some-odd years ago) to completely
understand the man structure and format.  I found some AT&T documents on
man and, after much reading, came to understand the sections, the
subsections and the overall concept of man pages.  Now it's easy for me,
and I can usually find exactly what I need in a man page quickly.
Unfortunately, Linux seems to be leaning toward keeping things in info
format.  More up-to-date documentation can be found there, so I've
learned how to use Emacs to peruse info manuals.

Because of the efforts I went through to learn how to read documentation
in Unix, I understand a newbie struggling with it.

Then there's the question of how up-to-date documents are.  When an
application was enhanced, were the man pages updated?  Are there
features that aren't documented that I want to use?

I try to be understanding with questions.  If they're totally ignorant
and lazy, I might kindly tell them where to look, but if it appears like
they've made a little effort, I'll try and answer them.

Chris Carlson
iStor Networks, Inc.


-----Original Message-----
From: cygwin-owner AT cygwin DOT com [mailto:cygwin-owner AT cygwin DOT com] On Behalf
Of Hannu E K Nevalainen
Sent: Thursday, June 03, 2004 1:00 PM
To: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
Subject: RE: PATH and HOME in cygwin

> From: Chris Carlson
> Sent: Thursday, June 03, 2004 6:29 PM

<SNIP>
> I'm just suggesting that we show a little patience to people who may
not
> be as well versed in Unix as you are.  It is the impatient,
> condescending tone that gives new Linux users a bad taste for the OS.
I
> want Linux to crush M$ (at least to the point that they are on equal
> footing in the market).  Chasing off new users is not going to
encourage
> that.

 Ahh... I'm glad to hear that there are more people like me reading this
list.

I consider myself beeing well versed in how computers work in general
terms,
I learn fast - as I've been at it for years - still I have problems
grasping
some of the stuff; though I most of the time know how things usually are
set
up.

 I find the man pages very terse, not useful until you know about it
already. Other resources often feels either disorganized, using a
complex
language or a complex - hard to "google" - setup or organization. And if
nothing else of the above "fits"; the text describes in terms of assumed
prior knowledge - where often _one single additional sentence_ picks up
the
person being less knowledgable to join the ride.

 The last thing shouldn't be so very hard to change - thus enabling more
people to join the gang: Make open/free software be truly free and open!

And last:
 A feature that hasn't been documented (well) could just as well be
unimplemented - when it comes to how usable it is.
 Source is a language that slants in different ways depending on the
writers
knowledge, coding and commenting style - to begin with.
 This never has the potential of feeding "any user" with apropriate
input.


This one link might be a golden-oldie:

	$ cat abs-guide.url
	[InternetShortcut]
	URL=http://www.cs.unibo.it/~montreso/doc/bash/abs-guide.pdf

... I've yet to check it out thoroughly. Seems a bit aged.


/Hannu E K Nevalainen, B.Sc. EE - 59+16.37'N, 17+12.60'E
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