https://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/users/2013-October/441664.html

Bill got it Sooo right.
No set of instructions is all inclusive because they are written by experts who have forgotten or neglected the little gotchas experienced as they learned.
A recent example.
Installing postgresql on Fedora 19. I tried for months and having a little time to play in, finally achieved a result last night about 11:30pm after hours of experimenting.

Instructions are there, yes, but stop at a crucial point. Starting then using postgres in a terminal is a three step process, to create a database from the previous basis is a three step process, same with creating user and role and grant permissions. Each requires more hours of searching for entirely different instructions to interpret. Yes detailed instructions abound but not one explanation of what to do when an instruction is just plain wrong.

For Postgres with Rails - the instructions miss one tiny, almost insignificant gotcha. libpq-dev
 with out which Rails cannot run rake db:migrate.
Except there is no libpq-dev for Fedora.
No one bothers to mention that. Or that you have to search for and sudo yum install postgresql-devel which to a novice and for my first times defied explanation. The names have no similarity. Error messages are cryptic and unrelated.

Following instructions achieved little. However experience, this List, having an inkling from years past, remembering past experiences and knowing what to "see" in the hundreds of google pages got it working.

Another example.
If someone were to write a set of instructions for setting up say, a small home network for eth0 and wireless using, for example, the telstra TH782t modem/router, a desktop and a few wireless laptops, it would take a book to go through and explain all the variations gotchas and fixes. Instructions alluded to the process, which in my case did not work for a couple of reasons.

Unless instructions are carefully crafted they are just words in the wind.

Roger


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