Mailing-List: contact cygwin-help AT cygwin DOT com; run by ezmlm
List-Subscribe: <mailto:cygwin-subscribe AT cygwin DOT com>
List-Archive: <http://sourceware.org/ml/cygwin/>
List-Post: <mailto:cygwin AT cygwin DOT com>
List-Help: <mailto:cygwin-help AT cygwin DOT com>, <http://sourceware.org/ml/#faqs>
Sender: cygwin-owner AT cygwin DOT com
Mail-Followup-To: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
Delivered-To: mailing list cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
Message-ID: <42F55027.5020301@kangaroologic.com>
Date: Sat, 06 Aug 2005 18:04:55 -0600
From: Jonathan Turkanis <technews AT kangaroologic DOT com>
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.7.1) Gecko/20040707
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
Subject: Re: Is the Cygwin installation process likely to change significantly    anytime soon?
References: <42F02A1A DOT 30503 AT kangaroologic DOT com> <20050806221653 DOT GB8987 AT trixie DOT casa DOT cgf DOT cx>
In-Reply-To: <20050806221653.GB8987@trixie.casa.cgf.cx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-IsSubscribed: yes

Christopher Faylor wrote:
> Jonathan Turkanis wrote:

>>---------------------------
>>I'm explaining the Cygwin installation process in detail because it's a bit 
>>confusing. The process may have changed by the time you read this, but if 
>>it has, it will probably have been made easier.
>>---------------------------

> I would prefer that you would not use the word "confusing" since it is a
> charged word which really only indicates the state of the person doing
> the writing.  

True -- if it's confusing only to me, that's of little interest to the reader. 
Saying "it can be a bit confusing" would be more relevant (and also true, I'm 
afraid).

> Predisposing first-time users into thinking that
> installation is "confusing" is not, IMO, a really good idea. 

I'm sympathetic, and open to suggestions.

> I'd prefer
> something like "can be a little complicated depending on what you're trying
> to install".

I think I can live with this as long as the sentence ends after the word 
"complicated." To me, the package selection process is counter-intuitive 
regardless of how much or how little I'm trying to install.

I'm certainly not trying to denigrate Cygwin; I'm trying to solve a practical 
problem: how to get readers to install Cygwin, without giving up in the middle, 
so they can get to the next step (which happens to be running g++ and make). I 
also have to say something about why I'm going into such detail, rather than 
just saying "run the installation utility."

As long as I have some plausible way to introduce the detailed installation 
instructions, without bending the truth too much, I'm happy.

> cgf

Best Regards,
Jonathan


--
Unsubscribe info:      http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple
Problem reports:       http://cygwin.com/problems.html
Documentation:         http://cygwin.com/docs.html
FAQ:                   http://cygwin.com/faq/