On Tue, September 30, 2014 17:19, Valeri Galtsev wrote:
>
> I'm happy to sign under that, only I feel myself plagiarist here... But
> indeed I hate these days we start solving any problem by creating [google
> or any other search engine] search line instead of reading documentation
> first.
The difficulty being that for much of the Linux infrastructure the official
documentation is excessively exalted by being called 'documentation' in the
first place. The reason I go to StartPage or DuckDuckGo first is that I have
read a lot of the 'documentation' and whatever semantic content much of it
contains is too frequently buried under jargon and dependent upon presumed
foreknowledge. It does not help that many documentation writers seem to
consider the the Laconians' reply to Phillip as being too wordy. The next
step no doubt is to quote: "Use the source, Luke. Use the source." And let
us not even consider the useful semantic content of 99.99% of all error
messages generated by defective software; since there is none.
I can hardly justify criticising someone who has limited time and infinite
demands thereon turning to the experiences of others as documented on the web
and helpfully indexed by Google et al first; before attempting to find the
answer in one of the obscure and obfuscated texts that pass for technical
documentation in most fields. Computers simply being the one I encounter most
frequently and which happens to concern this issue.
I use man pages and find most of them helpful. But, frankly, they are of more
use as an aide memoire than as a source of instruction. I defy anyone who has
never built an RPM package to build one from scratch using nothing more than
their source code files and the relevant man pages. If they can get so far as
to identify those to begin with.
The existence of technical mailing lists, such as this one, is a mute
testament to the deficiency of official documentation. No matter how good it
may be a technical document will always be incomplete and subject to
misunderstanding. One needs context to grasp what another is trying to
convey. The experience of others provides that.
As to the OP. Well, you have to start some place. Even if the request was
awkwardly put and apparently presumptive one must consider that English may
not be their native tongue; and that social mores and customs respecting forms
of address vary considerably by country. I find it best to give people the
benefit of the doubt. If I reply at all I try to provide a pointer to some
resource relating to the query that either I have found helpful or has a good
reputation for same.
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