Re: manpages resources

[Jason McIntyre <jmc@kerhand.co.uk>]

On Thu, Jun 03, 2010 at 12:24:03PM +0200, Kristaps Dzonsons wrote:
> During m2k10, Joerg, Ingo, and myself discussed putting together a
> resource for -mdoc.  Cause right now, searching for "writing UNIX
> manuals" pulls down a lot of crap.  It's no wonder the ports manuals are
> such garbage.
> 
> So I propose:
> 
> http://manpages.bsd.lv/
> 
> Try asking about mdoc on the groff list (see the archive for a record of
> my questions, most of which were unanswered).  They just don't know.
> Well we can do better.  To this extent I humbly ask that at least the
> main authorities---jmc, wiz, ruslan (who's not subscribed here),
> etc.---subscribe themselves.  To provide at least a single-point for
> contact, questions, etc.
> 
> I put up a few tutorials on things I find relevant.  If anyboby else
> would like to contribute (please?), let me know and I can arrange an
> account.
> 
> Ok, so it's a little kitschy to write a page in mdoc.  I got carried away...
> 
> Thanks,
> 

hi. i think manuals are only ever garbage because people put no effort
into the content. as far as i can see, mdoc.samples.7 should be enough
to get you going, plus just starting from a basic template of another
man page which you think looks good. i don;t see that any specific site
is needed for all that - people can just as easily ask on the bsd
mailing lists (and they do, to some extent).

anyway, if you want to go ahead i've no problem with subscribing and
helping out if i can. i think you're setting yourself up for more work
without any realistic hope of changing much though. honestly, even if
someone hasn;t a clue about man stuff, they can still paste in their
text to another page. it just requires spending time on documenting it.
i think people who come from a background of not having useful man pages
probably spend a lot less time on trying to produce a decent man page
(and why would they?).

jmc
> Kristaps
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