Re: Whether Man pages could visually be structured in an abstract form to be understood easier
On Mon, 19 Apr 2021 16:45:58 +0530
"Susmita/Rajib" <bkpsusmitaa@gmail.com> wrote:
> My illustrious List Leaders, Members and support-givers,
>
> In one of my earlier posts I had posted a request with the subject:
> Request: A Debian public Wiki repository/bank for complex code lines
> with examples, scripts, self-explanatory with terminal, otherwise
> Minimal explanatory texts
> Link: https://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2021/03/msg01522.html
>
> I was thinking about the Pictorial/Abstract Representation, also
> called a Mind Map, posted here:
> bit.ly/Apt_readingManPages
>
> I won't claim a copyright :D (i.e., a CC share and alter for
> improvement license is given) and would want that the uploaded
> AptPrilimMindMap.svg file is edited, improved and sent back to me.
>
> Also, other man pages are similarly converted. Really, man pages are
> sick without a teacher, for me of course.
>
>
Man pages are not intended to be a tutorial, they are a reminder. They
are intended when you know what a command can do, but have forgotten
the exact syntax of the options. Some commands have a --help option
which may be enough, sometimes you need the man page.
If you need all operating instructions and many examples, the man pages
would not be sufficient. You need to find up-to-date tutorials on the
Net.
Man pages were written as pure text files, beginning in a period when
that was pretty much all the Web could do. You can read man pages on a
server, which will not usually have any graphic display ability beyond
curses/ncurses. It is only in the Windows world that server
administrators are expected to need a GUI (and they don't really, most
of them love PowerShell).
You are asking that a very large amount of work be done (my Synaptic
shows more than 83,000 packages available) by unpaid people and only to
help you, and which will be of no help to most server users. I think
this will not happen.
--
Joe
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