From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.2 (2018-09-13) 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,RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.2 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (minnie.tuhs.org [45.79.103.53]) by inbox.vuxu.org (OpenSMTPD) with ESMTP id 953fe946 for ; Mon, 17 Feb 2020 22:50:52 +0000 (UTC) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id B04AB9B9B4; Tue, 18 Feb 2020 08:50:49 +1000 (AEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id F10D39B92B; Tue, 18 Feb 2020 08:50:21 +1000 (AEST) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 2D2029B92B; Tue, 18 Feb 2020 08:50:20 +1000 (AEST) Received: from firemail.de (firemail.de [88.99.137.45]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 5D4E19B92A for ; Tue, 18 Feb 2020 08:50:19 +1000 (AEST) Received: from firemail.de (localhost.localdomain [127.0.0.1]) by firemail.de (b1gMailServer) with ESMTP id 31E7277C for ; Mon, 17 Feb 2020 23:50:17 +0100 (CET) Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2020 23:50:17 +0100 MIME-Version: 1.0 Message-ID: X-Mailer: b1gMail/7.4.0 X-Sender-IP: 93.209.199.118 From: "Thomas Paulsen" To: In-Reply-To: <202002171839.01HId8FT1358073@darkstar.fourwinds.com> References: <202002171520.01HFKqKi026749@tahoe.cs.Dartmouth.EDU> <4d252035b323b7583c5760c952d1982c@firemail.de> <202002171839.01HId8FT1358073@darkstar.fourwinds.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: inline Subject: Re: [TUHS] man Macro Package and pdfmark X-BeenThere: tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.26 Precedence: list List-Id: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Reply-To: Thomas Paulsen Errors-To: tuhs-bounces@minnie.tuhs.org Sender: "TUHS" >Like Clem, I prefer concise man pages and longer, separate documents for t= hose programs where it makes sense. I consider man pages to be quick refere= nces. reasonable. I write all my quick references in plain nroff since many years. There are = gui editors, gui viewers, and lots of cgi search engines && web viewers eve= n with hyperlinks. Even under good ole emacs techinfo is redundant, as 'wom= an' can do hyperlinks, which were the only advantage of techinfo in a remot= e past, however time goes on. Today we have help2man, hence the lazy ones c= an do man pages too. 'The problem is that the ecosystem has been fragmented by people doing thei= r "documentation" in their preferred formats instead of in a common (man) f= ormat. This makes the experience one of "is there any documentation?" follo= wed by "what's the incantation to get it?" When you're looking for the docu= mentation for pdf2svg, for example, and there is no man page, how long does= it take to figure out that there is no documentation at all? ' that's true. In the early 90ths they forced us writing quick references wit= h .html. Big confusion. Soon later I found myself converting .html back int= o nroff because that's the UNIX style. I know some of us don't like to hear that, but with regards to the gnu tool= chain, Richard did a lot of good things, however the politics of replacing= man by techinfo definitely wasn't.