Plan 9 manuals are known to be concise, and most definitely the first source of information for many of us. It is only after consulting the man pages that we go on to further references, which often happen to be more definite or at least in-depth sources of information, such as the papers found in /sys/doc. Of course, this isn't always the case, as many Plan 9 experts cite section 5 as "the most authoritative 'specification' of the 9P protocol"[1].
But this nature of intro-, or even rudiments-, first usage of man(1) can be further developed. A companion, cousin, or - for the sake of this proposal - ese(1) can perhaps guide the user through only the most basic information regarding the point of inquiry. It would show, for example, only sample usage cases of the basic Plan 9 tools, with appropriately labeled special cases where applicable, but not a word more. Likewise, ese(1) could present, as a companion to the section 5 manual pages, the outline of some 9P file server code, showing, e.g. places where proper datastructures are paramount and common mistakes abound. Thus, man(1) would fall somewhere between ese(1) and the docs (/sys/doc), such that every ese(1) inquiry would point to some relevant man(1) page (with irrelevancies sprinkled about). For the many Plan 9 contributors spending away the better parts of their youthful days on creating new tools/applications, an ese(1) could prove to end the solitude of their work by providing a means with simpler standards than man(1) by which to officially convey, in the most basic sense, the purposes/usages/applications of their contributions. Best, ak [1] http://9p.cat-v.org/documentation * A proposal because the general hierarchy need be amended: the introduction of /sys/ese. Alternatives welcome.
