From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org ([69.77.167.62] helo=lists.gentoo.org) by finch.gentoo.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1LVGzm-00026l-Dj for garchives@archives.gentoo.org; Fri, 06 Feb 2009 03:03:14 +0000 Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 60707E03AA; Fri, 6 Feb 2009 03:03:09 +0000 (UTC) Received: from smtpout.karoo.kcom.com (smtpout.karoo.kcom.com [212.50.160.34]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1EEA2E03AA for ; Fri, 6 Feb 2009 03:03:09 +0000 (UTC) X-IronPort-AV: E=Sophos;i="4.37,389,1231113600"; d="scan'208";a="70624689" Received: from unknown (HELO compaq.stroller.uk.eu.org) ([213.152.39.90]) by smtpout.karoo.kcom.com with ESMTP; 06 Feb 2009 03:03:08 +0000 Received: from [192.168.1.71] (unknown [192.168.1.71]) by compaq.stroller.uk.eu.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 82372137BB7 for ; Fri, 6 Feb 2009 03:03:07 +0000 (GMT) Message-Id: <853BD56A-3DDF-448B-8D02-B00AA593E3C4@stellar.eclipse.co.uk> From: Stroller To: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org In-Reply-To: <498B7026.4000502@gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Precedence: bulk List-Post: List-Help: List-Unsubscribe: List-Subscribe: List-Id: Gentoo Linux mail X-BeenThere: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Reply-to: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v930.3) Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Gentoo's advantage: 'optimized for your system' -- huh? Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2009 03:03:02 +0000 References: <200902052010.25653.volkerarmin@googlemail.com> <200902052036.05303.volkerarmin@googlemail.com> <498B42D4.3060005@gmail.com> <5bdc1c8b0902051220m35e15s2171a98bba6cf82e@mail.gmail.com> <58965d8a0902051232u6ad8a601ge4b88791ddb36397@mail.gmail.com> <5bdc1c8b0902051257v68c80142x18d8902a3aa7f7c1@mail.gmail.com> <498B5DAF.8040000@gmail.com> <498B6ED1.2090507@gmail.com> <498B7053.7010708@gmail.com> <498B7026.4000502@gmail.com> X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.930.3) X-Archives-Salt: c02778a6-390e-4017-9d01-d0fb50fc31fe X-Archives-Hash: 9fffb93a34173e461dfbb82a34c83b7b On 5 Feb 2009, at 23:03, Saphirus Sage wrote: >> ... >> Man pages are notoriously bad. The gentoo handbook and other official >> docs are great OTOH. >> > > Man pages notoriously bad?! Now that's a stance I can hardly > understand, > they've always been a godsend in my experience! Just practice using a > command a few times, look through the options and learn it in the > period > of ten minutes, and a man page has done its purpose. If this stance is > due to your own inadequate ability to read technical documents, then > do > not apply the lacking to anything but your own capacity for > comprehension. To be fair there is an "art" to reading manpages. Manpages tend to be terse yet authoritative, but it was only after (perhaps) a couple of years of using Unix (and perhaps longer) that I learned to appreciate them. I think manpages tend to assume that the reader is already proficient with Unix and often that the reader is familiar with regular expressions. They tend to use the academic language of computer science which may be completely baffling to someone who is technically & logically very competent but self-taught. My experience is that only after learning the syntax of manpages (is that itself documented?) do I find most of them tremendously easy to navigate to find the one specific option I'm looking for. Stroller.