Who else hopes Wheezy doesn't go stable until...

[codygman]

man pages are finished. Remember how in squeeze they had to be updated half way through? What's with pushing an update through before man pages aren't done? Shouldn't man pages be tested and have to pass before releasing?

I mean, this isn't ubuntu it's debian... I prefer the hardcore testing that debian seems to be getting away from to rush releases seeing as I have very unsexy infrastructure depending on the stability. Anyone else feel the same way?

[bw123]

a good man page makes life easier. i only switched a year so i don't know anything about rushing squeeze release. so far things on wheezy look good to me, what man pages are missing? i think you can volunteer to help write some pages.

[nadir]

I got no idea what you are speaking of.
got a link?

[bw123]

congratulations, you've been drafted, great idea.


http://qa.debian.org/man-pages.html

As per Debian's Policy, every executable file in Debian has to supply a man page. However, many packages don't follow this requirement yet. Below is a listing of all executables for which no corresponding man page is available yet. If you use any of these packages listed below, please consider writing a man page for its executable files and submit it to the Bug Tracking System (BTS).

[nadir]

Assuming you spoke to me:
I meant a link how this:

as I have very unsexy infrastructure depending on the stability.

can be influenced by lack of man-pages

[craigevil]

Eight years, almost nine, of running Debian and I can count the number of times I have looked at a man page on one hand.

I do not even bother to install -doc files other than the Debian Reference and the Handbook.

[emariz]

Eight years, almost nine, of running Debian and I can count the number of times I have looked at a man page on one hand.

There are still two alternatives: Either one is so brilliant that one does not need to read the manual pages, or one is very ignorant and does not care about them.

I read manual pages all the time and support the idea of having a complete set of "useful" manual pages (and not only brief descriptions to comply with the requirement).

[nadir]

Eight years, almost nine, of running Debian and I can count the number of times I have looked at a man page on one hand.

There are still two alternatives: Either one is so brilliant that one does not need to read the manual pages, or one is very ignorant and does not care about them.

I read manual pages all the time and support the idea of having a complete set of "useful" manual pages (and not only brief descriptions to comply with the requirement).

Aha. That is good. I read man-pages, but not often.
As you read them often, perhaps you remember which man-pages were missing after the last upgrade,
and by that can shed a bit light on the subject.

Really gotta love those one-post-and-start-to-complain-users.

[phenest]

Eight years, almost nine, of running Debian and I can count the number of times I have looked at a man page on one hand.

+1
Most apps comes with some sort of help built in. Apart from avconv, I don't think I bother with them that much either.

[bw123]

wow, never had to read the man-pages that's awesome, but hey, then you guys never saw this?

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$ man man-pages

[emariz]

As you read them often, perhaps you remember which man-pages were missing after the last upgrade,
and by that can shed a bit light on the subject.

Oh!, but I do not need to name a missing manual page to support the idea of having a complete set of them.

I read manual pages precisely because I do not use the command line often, and I most likely need to check the command options before running them. For example, I use tune2fs every month to alter the mounting counts and force a file system check, I change the CPU frequency every now and then using cpufreq-set, and check the "advanced" meta-data of MP3's with eyeD3. As I do not remember their options, I have to read their manual pages every time that I want to use them. I also read the manual pages of aptitude, APT and dpkg often, just to learn.

I can tell you that some applications have useless manual pages, like nm-tool, provided by Network Manager.

[nadir]

As you read them often, perhaps you remember which man-pages were missing after the last upgrade,
and by that can shed a bit light on the subject.

Oh!, but I do not need to name a missing manual page to support the idea of having a complete set of them.
.

Of course not.
My problem is that i don't remember that manpages were, one after the other, entering stable in the past.
Hence i would like to know if that really has happened.
The next question would be if it would be a threat to the stability of the system, like the OP has stated (but if it didn't happen at all this question is pointless).

I was hoping, and really that and nothing more, you could shed some light on it.
No need for exact packages, but a yes, it happened for more than just a dozen of packages would be fine.
What i don't care for, though, is if people consider man-pages to be useful or not. As soon the word "man" enters the room, everyone repeats endless what was said endlessly before, it seems ...

one-time-poster said: Remember how in squeeze they had to be updated half way through?

I think one should be able to give examples, if one states something like that. Else one doesn't remember.

A: "There are countless examples" (usually with uppercase somewhere)
B: "Give me just one single example"
A vanishes or changes the subject, but sure never answers.

[bw123]

maybe man pages could be less 'unsexy' if they had more art?

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     /_ _ \
    ( ")"  )
    ) \=_/( 
   (   _)\_)_
    ) /)___/ \
   ( (( (  \_ \
    ) \\   / `.\
   (__//)  |   \\
   __///_  _\   \\
  /_,/ | \/  \   \\_
       | |   |   /-,|
       | |   |    
       | |  /
       | | /
       ( ( L
       | \\ \
       | | \ |
       |/   \|_
       |\    \(
   gnv_/_)   _)/

[nadir]

A: "There are countless examples" (usually with uppercase somewhere)
B: "Give me just one single example"
A vanishes or changes the subject, but sure never answers.

[korilius]

Eight years, almost nine, of running Debian and I can count the number of times I have looked at a man page on one hand.

There are still two alternatives: Either one is so brilliant that one does not need to read the manual pages, or one is very ignorant and does not care about them.

Conflicted. man pages are useful, but 95% of the time I can find an example a hell of lot quicker than reading thru a man page. Granted, you read through and understand the app via man, you'll be better off. But if you just want to get something done quickly and move on, browser search to favorite site with example and done. I've been telling myself to go the Debian Handbook first.

[nadir]

korilius wrote: browser search to favorite site with example and done

"man abcde" to open a man page, then:
if "update-alternatives --config editor" is still default, nano, use ^W and enter "example"
if set to vim use ESC ; / ; and enter "example"
Doesn't work always, but often (Usually the examples are at the bottom of the text, so scrolling to end, ESC; G ; will often work too. )
If one knows what exactly one wants (say i only want to download a package without installing it) and if there are no "examples", one can go for other and better search terms, sure.
In a better way simply posting: "/example" would be sufficient to make the point clear.

Iow: It is worth to try that.

Strange enough the according man-page is not set to [Solved], as far i can tell. Works anyway. Weird, isn't it?

But if that was the point, then yes, some man pages are just crazy.

PS: wait, do man-pages open with editor or pager ? If pager .... oh my .... all for no nothing. Just /example and done.

[korilius]

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:/# apt-get install nadir-translator
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package nadir-translator

[/i]

OK, I'm sorta of kidding. I get what you're saying.

[nadir]

Try

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apt-get install ding

Else i offer webinars, each for 299 $ (which is rather cheap).

K, slightly more clear:
I don't read full man pages.
I use regular expression to look for the part i am interested it.
Often i go straight for "example" as a regex.

The second sentence is probably a bit too long. Mhhh...

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Nix full.
Only regex.
Often "example".

Good?
Now teach me how to speak like this:

korilius wrote: But if you just want to get something done quickly and move on, browser search to favorite site with example and done.

Pure Oxford.