> On Sat, Aug 05, 2000 at 05:49:26PM -0400, Frank Hale wrote:
> >
> > This starts up and gives me the RedHat logo but then craps out with some
> > error which doesn't really give me any information
>
> See, this may not look like information to you, but it can tell me
> exactly what is wrong. One thing I hate about "bug" reports is when
> people say "it printed an error message" and don't bother to copy and
> paste it.
Matt
I agree with your comments.
Nonetheless, messages presented to inform the user
a) Should be visible to the user (how many Linux errors aren't?)
b) Should be intelligible to a reasonably competent user.
c) Should point the user in the direction of resolving the problem (if the message
arises because of one).
A message that we can't blame on MAT and which fails in all criteria:
"lp1 on fire" - worse, the message is perpeturated as "usblp1 on fire."
Both are alive in the 2.4.test5 kernel.
Perhaps I can concede that this one's most likely to appear in circumstances where
there's no user to see the message, but not always.
It's a kernel message, and the only place a user is likely to find it is in
/var/log/messages. So it fails on visibility.
A competent user might surmise there's a problem with the printer. My wife might dump
a bucket of water on it.
It fails too, because it leads nobody (except, perhaps a kernel hacker) to a solution.
As a starting0point for "reasonably competent user," I suggest anyone who can follow
most of the discussion on this list makes the grade. In contrast, I would not descibe
my wife in those terms.
_______________________________________________
Redhat-devel-list mailing list
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/redhat-devel-list
