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Date:      Tue, 22 Jun 1999 19:19:47 +0100 (BST)
From:      Doug Rabson <dfr@nlsystems.com>
To:        Hellmuth Michaelis <hm@hcs.de>
Cc:        nick.hibma@jrc.it, mike@smith.net.au, grog@lemis.com, peter@FreeBSD.ORG, cvs-all@FreeBSD.ORG, hackers@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: All this and documentation too? (was: cvs commit: src/sys/isa sio.c)
Message-ID:  <Pine.BSF.4.05.9906221915000.80685-100000@herring.nlsystems.com>
In-Reply-To: <m10wNKF-0000dCC@hcswork.hcs.de>

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On Tue, 22 Jun 1999, Hellmuth Michaelis wrote:

> >From the keyboard of Nick Hibma:
> 
> > And as to the author: Writing docu while you are implementing something
> > might work in a commercial environment where you want to be able to
> > market something before it's sell-by date, but for hobbiests who
> > basically spend the odd evening doing something, it is too much hassle.
> 
> In case FreeBSD wants to enter commercial environments, we have to behave
> like behaving in commercial environments.
> 
> I know that it is current behaviour, much easier and obviously a commonly
> accepted thing that code, subsystem and/or changes are not and need not
> to be documented, but this is not a reason in itself for not changing this.
> 
> Also, i think that the argument Mike and others use: "don't complain for a 
> lack of things, contribute!" - which i use and used all the time - is not
> valid for this issue: at least i can't contribute because i don't understand
> things (now someone could argue, that i'm wrong here ...).
> 
> The last thing i want is a flamewar on this topic and i don't write this
> because i want to piss onto someones shoes. And i don't write about a
> man page for "ls" or "more" but a fundamental change in FreeBSD's inner
> architecture.

Writing software in one's spare time is a case of triage. When I have a
day or two to spend working on FreeBSD, I have to make a choice on what
most needs doing and if that is a choice between technical writing or
designing an algorithm to fix the current limitations of driver detach and
KLD unload, I don't think the technical writing is going to win.

People must also bear in mind that the most important target release for
this software is 4.0 which isn't scheduled until next year. I am certain
that the documentation situation will improve before that release.

--
Doug Rabson				Mail:  dfr@nlsystems.com
Nonlinear Systems Ltd.			Phone: +44 181 442 9037




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