Re: more make help
jim (lostchild@pobox.com)
Sun, 16 Jun 1996 08:31:30 -0400
The problem will definitely not be solved by arrogance. It is possible
to read /Documentation/Changes and still be confused about things. For
instance, it lists which upgrades should be made, but it says almost
nothing about when it is best to make them: before or after you compile
2.0? Computer books went along for years assuming everybody who read
them was a programmer. This made them virtually unusable for other
types. Then IDG made millions from publishing the "For Dummies" series.
One of those books was my first introduction to UNIX. Already I have
found Web pages with much clearer upgrade instructions than I found in
/Documentation/Changes. They are done in step-by-step changes in those
places as they are not in Changes. So, while saying RTFM might give you
a chance to do the superior dance, it does nothing to answer the
question of why people are having problems. You shouldn't start by
assuming Changes is a perfect document. Many excellent programmers are
notoriously poor writers and educators. If LINUX is to continue its move
beyond the hacker world, then it has to have clear, readable
documentation.
Mark E. Levitt wrote:
>
> So, what can be done to make it clearer for people that they need to
> read this file? Ethen, what specifically would have made it clearer to
> you where this information was?
>
> Should the file be named something else? Is "Changes" too obscure?
> Should it be in the top level directory?
>
the file "Changes" should be renamed to "READTHISFIRST"?
>
> Any ideas people?
>
> ____________________________________________________________________
>
> Mark E. Levitt
> Department of Speech Communication, Syracuse University
> E-mail: melevitt@syr.edu
> Home Page: http://web.syr.edu/~melevitt
>
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