Re: [OT] Re: how do i make my program better?
On Sun, Nov 19, 2000 at 02:12:29PM +0100, Tollef Fog Heen typed:
} | I use man pages all the time. Maybee for strictly GUI programs man
} | pages are less usefull, certainly not useless though. for CLI man
} | pages are a must.
}
} And if you write them in docbook or texinfo they aren't just man pages
} - they can easily be converted into other kinds of documentation.
There's a tool called Rosetta Man, or rman, that converts manpages to
html and other formats. Yes, there are navigation links to each section,
and navigation links to other manpages. Groff can also convert a manpage
to postscript or text. So what's the problem?
Just because something is written in texinfo or docbook doesn't mean
it's the epitome of good documentation either. There are good manpages
out there, and there are horrible (and the worst part is that it's long
AND horrible AND has a useless index) info pages out there. C'est la vie.
When I'm in a hurry (e.g., the system is in single-user mode because
critical part X has decided to die today), I do NOT want to spend time
searching the crappy index of an info page, or through each section of
an info document, which can be divided into *several* files. I utterly
hate info, pinfo, and tkinfo; I want a pager like less when I read my
docs, or possibly reed if I have time. I'm also not going to be very
fond of docbook output at this stage.
And man -k can be your friend.
--
An Thi-Nguyen Le
|I THINK THEY SHOULD CONTINUE the policy of not giving a Nobel Prize for
|paneling.
| -- Jack Handley, The New Mexican, 1988.
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