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* Man pages missing
@ 1997-01-30 22:32 Vidiot
  1997-01-30 23:14 ` Richard Coleman
  1997-01-30 23:28 ` Zefram
  0 siblings, 2 replies; 26+ messages in thread
From: Vidiot @ 1997-01-30 22:32 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: ZSH Mailing List

The following was sent out regarding the 3.1.1 release:

    The other big change is the new documentation format.  Thanks to Andrew
    Main the complete zsh documentation is now written in yodl.  Yodl is a
    document language somewhat similar SGML which can generate the nroff
    manpages and the texinfo manual from the same source.  The precompiled
    nroff and texinfo manuals are included in the distribution but if you would
    like to add something, you need to get yodl-1.14 (earlier versions had some
    serious bugs).  Yodl is available from ftp://ftp.icce.rug.nl/pub/unix/ and
    from the sinsite Linux arcives.

I'm sorry, but I can't find the *.man pages in the 3.1.1 release or the
zsh-doc release.  For those of use who do not have, or don't want, yodl,
it would be nice if the *.man pages were really in the Doc directory.  If
it was just a mistake for this release, I can survive until the next release
for these pages.

Is it me, or has the documentation become a rat's nest, i.e., g/n/troff,
TeX, texinfo and now yodl?  Just what we need, another text formatting
package to learn. :-)  Sorry to sound negative, but when is the progression
of manual preparation going to stick with one package?  If I run across
something in the manual that needs clarification, all I can do is send a
message to the mail list indicating what needs to be changed, instead of
including a diff file with the changes.  It means more work for someone
else, but to me the zsh manual is a bit much.  A manual that has nroff,
TeX and texinfo commands all wrapped within yodl commands.  What a nightmare,
at least for me.  I've never heard of yodl before.

I'll climb off my soapbox now and go into my corner.

MB
-- 
System Administrator - Finnigan FT/MS - Madison WI. <URL:http://www.ftms.com/>
e-mail: brown@ftms.com
phone: (608) 273-8262 ext: 612  fax: (608) 273-8719
Visit - <URL:http://www.cdsnet.net/vidiot/>  (Your link to Star Trek and UPN)


^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 26+ messages in thread
* Re: Man pages missing
@ 1997-01-31 17:24 Karl E. Vogel
  0 siblings, 0 replies; 26+ messages in thread
From: Karl E. Vogel @ 1997-01-31 17:24 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: zefram; +Cc: zsh-users

>> On Fri, 31 Jan 1997 12:51:15 +0000 (GMT), 
>> Zefram <zefram@dcs.warwick.ac.uk> said:

Z> For me, it's much more effective to have all the documentation in one place,
Z> and browse it with my preferred pager.  Hypertext just gets in the way of
Z> the information, and there still isn't a hypertext system that formats to
Z> look as good as man pages.

   Exactly.  Hypertext is fine when you're already familiar with most of what
   you're looking at, and all you need is to zoom in on a topic when more
   details are needed.

Z> And have you ever tried to read `all the documentation' on some subject,
Z> when said documentation is arranged as an arbitrary directed graph of fifty
Z> nodes of two pages each?

   Yes, and it drives me nuts.  That's when I either look for or create a
   PostScript version of the entire document.  It's generally easy to print
   them double-sided on HP LaserJets without fiddling with the printer console,
   and if I don't need to keep it, there's always a recycle bin around.

   I've never seen any hypertext system which lets me flip around as quickly or
   as easily as a 3-ring binder.  However, without a good keyword or concept
   index, it doesn't matter if the documentation is printed or not; I probably
   won't be able to find what I want either way.

-- 
Karl Vogel                                          vogelke@c17.wpafb.af.mil
ASC/YCOA, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433	                937-255-3688


^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 26+ messages in thread

end of thread, other threads:[~1997-02-27  0:27 UTC | newest]

Thread overview: 26+ messages (download: mbox.gz / follow: Atom feed)
-- links below jump to the message on this page --
1997-01-30 22:32 Man pages missing Vidiot
1997-01-30 23:14 ` Richard Coleman
1997-01-30 23:28 ` Zefram
1997-01-31  4:18   ` Vidiot
1997-01-31  4:57     ` Hrvoje Niksic
1997-01-31  5:47       ` Vidiot
1997-01-31  7:18         ` Hrvoje Niksic
1997-01-31 15:26           ` Vidiot
1997-01-31 16:10             ` James B. Crigler
1997-01-31 16:15             ` Bruce Stephens
1997-02-01 10:09             ` Hrvoje Niksic
1997-02-26 18:51             ` Juergen Erhard
1997-02-26 18:09               ` Uli Zappe
1997-02-27  0:11               ` man " Duncan Sargeant
1997-01-31 11:53         ` Man " Zefram
1997-01-31 12:36           ` Juergen Christoffel
1997-01-31 12:51             ` Zefram
1997-01-31 13:16               ` Bruce Stephens
1997-01-31 18:33               ` Juergen Christoffel
1997-02-01 10:03               ` Hrvoje Niksic
1997-01-31 16:11           ` Vidiot
1997-01-31 16:55             ` Zefram
1997-01-31 11:45     ` Zefram
1997-01-31 16:02       ` Vidiot
1997-01-31 16:18       ` Lee Eakin
1997-01-31 17:24 Karl E. Vogel

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