Manual examples

Manual examples

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

I'm still fiddling with the manual, and I'd like to add more examples
and stuff.  The problem is that I don't quite know where examples are
needed.  Things that seem totally obvious to me might extremely vague
to others.  So -- I call upon y'all to let me know where in the manual
more examples are needed.  The more specific you are, the easier it'll
be for me.

It has been suggested a few times that one should include some sort of
example .gnus file.  That might also be a good idea, perhaps.  You
know:  

;; Read only active info on subscribed groups.
(setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)

;; Use adopting gathering.
(setq gnus-summary-make-false-roots 'adopt)

And so on.  I don't want to write something like that, of course, but
perhaps somebody else feels the call?  And then I'll include that file
as an appendix to the manual.

(On the other hand, including an example .gnus is virtually saying to
people "Don't read the manual; just cut'n'paste these things, even if
you don't quite know what they do".  Might not be a good idea after
all.)


-- 
  "Yes.  The journey through the human heart 
     would have to wait until some other time."

Re: Manual examples

[Greg Stark]

The section on reading mail is hard to find, it should be moved up possibly
all the way to  the top of the hierarchy. It's also hard to follow, I think
exampls are desparately needed in there.  There is one example but I never
know where to find it.

The think I get confused about reading the manual is the difference between
group parametes, things in the group method, and what should be a local
element in the score file.  

for example:
> If you put `total-expire' in the group parameters
but:
> Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
> `auto-expire' in the select method of the group.

Also, the section on servers refers to ``virtual server settings'', I still
don't know what those are.  Are they just variables we should set globally or
in score file? should they be elements in the select method?  are they group
parameters? 

These questions may be answered in the manual; I haven't asked about them
before because I haven't checked. But If you're looking for confusing parts of
the manual, these are the parts I'm confused by.

greg

Re: Manual examples

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

gsstark@MIT.EDU (Greg Stark) writes:

> The section on reading mail is hard to find, it should be moved up possibly
> all the way to  the top of the hierarchy. 

I've now moved the "Foreign Groups" node up from "The Group Buffer"
node and renamed it "Select Methods".  This is the menu:

* The Server Buffer::     Making and editing virtual servers.
* Getting News::          Reading USENET news with Gnus.
* Getting Mail::          Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
* Other Sources::         Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
* Combined Groups::       Combining groups into one group.

So the mail stuff should be a bit easier to find.

> The think I get confused about reading the manual is the difference between
> group parametes, things in the group method, and what should be a local
> element in the score file.  
> 
> for example:
> > If you put `total-expire' in the group parameters
> but:
> > Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
> > `auto-expire' in the select method of the group.

Oh, that's a thinko.  It should be group parameters both places.  Fix
in 0.39.

> Also, the section on servers refers to ``virtual server settings'', I still
> don't know what those are.  Are they just variables we should set globally or
> in score file? should they be elements in the select method?  are they group
> parameters? 

They are elements in the select method, basically.  I've now added
some more entries to the "Terminology" node to cover this.

-- 
  "Yes.  The journey through the human heart 
     would have to wait until some other time."