Re: Feedback

[Stephen Powell <zlinuxman@wowway.com>]

On Tue, 25 Dec 2012 07:50:57 -0500 (EST), Mistikos Nik wrote:
> 
> Debian documentation is a joke.  It constantly refers to Debian
> versions by their nick names, and not their versions.
> 
> If I am new to Debian and go to read the manual and I see 'Squeeze',
> do you think I am going to know what the [expletive deleted] that means?
> No, but if Debian actually used the official name, then it would fall
> in line with conistency [sic].  I.E documentation for 'Debian 6'.
> 
> People outside the development circle arn't [sic] going to know
> what [sic] Debian jargon.
> 
> This is a classic case of computer nerds lacking social skills.
> If you don't have good documentation, then the product isn't going
> to get used.
> 
> Debian use to be really popular.  Now only old people use it.
> Why because new comers will choose a well documented distro
> over one that doesn't make sense.  Life is too short to
> [expletive deleted] around.
> 
> Merry Christmas!

I am not a Debian developer, per se; so perhaps I shouldn't even
respond.  I follow this list, but do not normally post to it.
Then again, since I have written some Debian documentation (albeit none
of it is official), perhaps I should.

(1) Official Debian version numbers are not normally assigned until the
release becomes the stable release.  Until then, the only way to refer to a
specific testing release (other than by the generic name "testing",
which is regularly reassigned to the next release once the previous
testing release becomes stable) is by using the release code name,
such as wheezy, which is the current testing release at the time of
this writing.

(2) The correspondence between release code names and official version
numbers can be found in the Debian FAQ, point 6.2, entitled
"What are all those names like etch, lenny, etc.?".  Here is a link
to this item in the on-line version of the Debian FAQ:

   http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-faq/ch-ftparchives.en.html#s-codenames

As you can see, squeeze is the last code name which has an assigned
version number, which is 6.0.  That is due to the fact that squeeze
is the current stable release.  The current testing release, wheezy,
and the one after that, jessie, do not yet have official version numbers
assigned.  They can only be referred to by their code names at this point.
And documentation for squeeze that was written before squeeze became the
stable release could only refer to squeeze by its code name.  Are you
saying that no documentation should ever be written until a release becomes
the stable release?  I think not.  It is best to ask questions rather
than criticize something you don't understand.  Incidentally, most
other distributions use release code names too.

(3) Watch your mouth.  The use of foul language on Debian mailing
lists is prohibited in the Debian mailing list code of conduct,
available here:

   http://www.debian.org/MailingLists/#codeofconduct

(4) Someone who can't spell, or who doesn't bother to proof-read his
work, is on thin ice criticizing someone else's writing.

-- 
  .''`.     Stephen Powell    
 : :'  :
 `. `'`
   `-