on Tue, Dec 25, 2001 at 02:52:46AM -0800, Erik Steffl ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote: > "Karsten M. Self" wrote: > > > > on Tue, Dec 25, 2001 at 03:54:36AM -0200, Christoph Simon ([EMAIL > > PROTECTED]) wrote: > ... > > > One of the declared aims of info is to provide a frame to write > > > introductions or tutorials which wouldn't fit well into a man page, > > > because that is limited to a reference manual. > > > > This is a supplemental function. This documentation shouldn't attempt > > to replace something it can't: a basic usage reference. > > exactly. IMO info is a big failure, it tries to replace something it > cannot replace by it s definition (it clearly has different purpose > than the manpage) and info reader sucks big time according to opinion > of fairly huge number of people. yes, there are other ways to read > info pages but all references are alays 'run info'. the default reader > should be something usable. > > info as such might be useful, man page clearly cannot cover ALL the > documentation needs. why didn't they think of an easy way to create a > man page from info? a sort of 'executive summary'?
Bingo. I've discussed this issue in the past with Brad Kuhn (haven't quite worked up to bringing it up with Stallman), and I copied Brad on my entry on this thread. There is a man-like summary which can be extracted from the Info format and turned into something remotely resembling a man page, somewhat in the way a cat might be said to resemble a horse: neither can operate a can opener. There are worse legacy standards stuck within computer concepts than the man page. I suspect one of the attractions of Info is that it is directly translateable into book formats, which themselves provide revenues to the FSF. Again, it would seem that adopting DocBook would further this aim, allow inclusion of a manpage (hey, it's another reference section within the document). Anyhow, I suspect I've made my views fairly clear ;-) Peace. -- Karsten M. Self <kmself@ix.netcom.com> http://kmself.home.netcom.com/ What part of "Gestalt" don't you understand? Home of the brave http://gestalt-system.sourceforge.net/ Land of the free We freed Dmitry! Boycott Adobe! Repeal the DMCA! http://www.freesklyarov.org Geek for Hire http://kmself.home.netcom.com/resume.html
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