16 Nov
2018
16 Nov
'18
11:29 p.m.
On 2018-11-16 11:55 AM, Paul Winalski wrote:
On 11/16/18, Grant Taylor via TUHS
<tuhs(a)minnie.tuhs.org> wrote:
GNU understood the difference, and wrote separate manuals (e.g. `info
bash`, `info bison`, etc).
On 11/15/2018 10:32 PM, Dave Horsfall wrote:
I agree with Grant. If you want to know what a particular command
does and what its options are, man pages are fantastic. If you are a
new or casual user trying to find out what command(s) to use to
accomplish a particular task, the man pages are an exercise in
frustration and futility. Other OSes have done a better job in that
area (the VMS and DTSS HELP commands come to mind). IMO ideally one
should have both--a generalized "help" command for those trying to
find out what command to use, and "man" as reference material. UNIX
and Linux have never had a proper help facility. Or at least I never
was able to find it. The Unix manpage format is the epitome of
perfection; they tell you
everything you need to know, and in the right order. Frequently I
cannot recall a particular flag (but I know what it does), and it's
right there at the start.
I think man pages make a great reference. But I don't think they are a
good teaching source for someone that doesn't know the material or what
the components are for.
-Paul W.