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author | Luke Shumaker <LukeShu@sbcglobal.net> | 2013-10-12 13:47:42 -0400 |
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committer | Luke Shumaker <LukeShu@sbcglobal.net> | 2013-10-12 13:47:42 -0400 |
commit | 6a42c8de66e3b2dc7293ddeadaa3ee396db2624d (patch) | |
tree | 67a027b892d3122662526504dd6d11e8dea02ca1 /public/poor-system-documentation.md |
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diff --git a/public/poor-system-documentation.md b/public/poor-system-documentation.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0c97e40 --- /dev/null +++ b/public/poor-system-documentation.md @@ -0,0 +1,38 @@ +Why documentation on GNU/Linux sucks +==================================== +:copyright 2012 Luke Shumaker + +This is based on a post on [reddit][1], published on 2012-09-12. + +[1]: http://www.reddit.com/r/archlinux/comments/zoffo/systemd_we_will_keep_making_it_the_distro_we_like/c66uu57 + +The documentation situation on GNU/Linux based operating systems is +right now a mess. In the world of documentation, there are basically 3 +camps, the "UNIX" camp, the "GNU" camp, and the "GNU/Linux" camp. + +The UNIX camp is the `man` page camp, they have quality, terse but +informative man pages, on *everything*, including the system's design +and all system files. If it was up to the UNIX camp, `man grub.cfg`, +`man grub.d`, and `man grub-mkconfig_lib` would exist and actually be +helpful. The man page would either include inline examples, or point +you to a directory. If I were to print off all of the man pages, it +would actually be a useful manual for the system. + +Then GNU camp is the `info` camp. They basically thought that each +piece of software was more complex than a man page could handle. They +essentially think that some individual pieces software warrant a +book. So, they developed the `info` system. The info pages are usually +quite high quality, but are very long, and a pain if you just want a +quick look. The `info` system can generate good HTML (and PDF, etc.) +documentation. But the standard `info` is awkward as hell to use for +non-Emacs users. + +Then we have the "GNU/Linux" camp, they use GNU software, but want to +use `man` pages. This means that we get low-quality man pages for GNU +software, and then we don't have a good baseline for documentation, +developers each try to create their own. The documentation that gets +written is frequently either low-quality, or non-standard. A lot of +man pages are auto-generated from `--help` output or info pages, +meaning they are either not helpful, or overly verbose with low +information density. This camp gets the worst of both worlds, and a +few problems of its own. |