From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.8 required=5.0 tests=HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS, MAILING_LIST_MULTI autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (minnie.tuhs.org [50.116.15.146]) by inbox.vuxu.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1E4DC201BE for ; Sat, 18 May 2024 20:18:35 +0200 (CEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [IPv6:::1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7DDCF43329; Sun, 19 May 2024 04:18:32 +1000 (AEST) Received: from mcvoy.com (mcvoy.com [192.169.23.250]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 6FE5543325 for ; Sun, 19 May 2024 04:18:26 +1000 (AEST) Received: by mcvoy.com (Postfix, from userid 3546) id 0CFBE35E919; Sat, 18 May 2024 11:18:26 -0700 (PDT) Date: Sat, 18 May 2024 11:18:25 -0700 From: Larry McVoy To: Douglas McIlroy Message-ID: <20240518181825.GT9216@mcvoy.com> References: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.24 (2015-08-30) Message-ID-Hash: PHSJAUQCZW45WQ2S6JY4ZWOJKYHID3BR X-Message-ID-Hash: PHSJAUQCZW45WQ2S6JY4ZWOJKYHID3BR X-MailFrom: lm@mcvoy.com X-Mailman-Rule-Misses: dmarc-mitigation; no-senders; approved; emergency; loop; banned-address; member-moderation; nonmember-moderation; administrivia; implicit-dest; max-recipients; max-size; news-moderation; no-subject; digests; suspicious-header CC: TUHS main list X-Mailman-Version: 3.3.6b1 Precedence: list Subject: [TUHS] Re: On Bloat and the Idea of Small Specialized Tools List-Id: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list Archived-At: List-Archive: List-Help: List-Owner: List-Post: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: On Sat, May 18, 2024 at 02:07:38PM -0400, Douglas McIlroy wrote: > I just revisited this ironic echo of Mies van der Rohe's aphorism, "Less is > more". > % less --help | wc > 298 > Last time I looked, the line count was about 220. Bloat is self-catalyzing. > > What prompted me to look was another disheartening discovery. The "small > special tool" Gnu diff has a 95-page manual! And it doesn't cover the > option I was looking up (-h). To be fair, the manual includes related > programs like diff3(1), sdiff(1) and patch(1), but the original manual for > each fit on one page. Normally I agree with Doug but on documentation, the less is more leaves me cold. It's fine when it is V7 cat that had maybe an option or two. GNU diff is a complex beast and it needs lots of docs. Personally, I like it when man pages have a few usage examples, the BitKeeper docs are like that. But I'm ok with a terse man page with a SEE ALSO that points to a user guide. Docs should be helpful. -- --- Larry McVoy Retired to fishing http://www.mcvoy.com/lm/boat