Re: Installer online help
> I'll propose the following, and I can help too, probably, if this sounds like
a
> good idea:
>
> 1. translate config.XX.h in busybox. This would give us a common base for
> creating i18n help files.
> One of the following:
> A. provide just compile time i18n of busybox plus the creation of a number of
> i18n help files that Debian can use. Those help files will be included in the
> .deb and i18n boot-floppies will install them and use them as it wishes.
I think the most important thing is having everything in one place, so
people can browse without having to type --help on every command. Would the
config.XX.h still be <one> something that could be displayed with an easy
help command? Another complication is that there are around 2 dozen commands
in the installer system which are not in busybox.
I think it's a worthy goal to have everything internationalized, even if
right now we don't think many people will use it. As time goes on, more and
more people will. We do have to live within our space constraints though. I
noticed in the post a couple weeks ago <a
href=http://lists.debian.org/debian-boot-0106/msg00406.html";>Root disk
problems for i18n floppies</a>, there were lots of little files for
release-notes and messages. Probably lots of fragmentation space could be
saved if they were just archived together. In potato i386 there is a utility
that adds the specific language files to a generic boot disk, has that gone
away? Anyway I strayed off topic.
I thought about adding it to the install documentation rather than having it
online - of course those docs are already in the translation queue. But, as
someone said, the average user - if there is such a thing - won't need or
use it so it really doesn't belong there. And many people, especially those
used to MacOS, will try to install without reading anything first.
In my case I did end up finding a quick reference sheet on the web after my
first few weeks of trying to get Debian installed. But it didn't include
many of the commands that are available, and was bash-oriented, so it really
wasn't much help.
--
Chris Tillman
tillman@azstarnet.com
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