From owner-freebsd-arch@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Sep 8 19:08:14 2014 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-arch@FreeBSD.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [8.8.178.115]) (using TLSv1 with cipher ADH-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 00991607 for ; Mon, 8 Sep 2014 19:08:13 +0000 (UTC) Received: from wonkity.com (wonkity.com [67.158.26.137]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (Client CN "wonkity.com", Issuer "wonkity.com" (not verified)) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id A3D7E1BE9 for ; Mon, 8 Sep 2014 19:08:13 +0000 (UTC) Received: from wonkity.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by wonkity.com (8.14.9/8.14.9) with ESMTP id s88J8BdO036292 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 bits=256 verify=NO) for ; Mon, 8 Sep 2014 13:08:11 -0600 (MDT) (envelope-from wblock@wonkity.com) Received: from localhost (wblock@localhost) by wonkity.com (8.14.9/8.14.9/Submit) with ESMTP id s88J8BdW036289 for ; Mon, 8 Sep 2014 13:08:11 -0600 (MDT) (envelope-from wblock@wonkity.com) Date: Mon, 8 Sep 2014 13:08:11 -0600 (MDT) From: Warren Block To: freebsd-arch@FreeBSD.org Subject: /etc/motd summary Message-ID: User-Agent: Alpine 2.11 (BSF 23 2013-08-11) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; format=flowed; charset=US-ASCII X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-4.4.3 (wonkity.com [127.0.0.1]); Mon, 08 Sep 2014 13:08:11 -0600 (MDT) X-BeenThere: freebsd-arch@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.18-1 Precedence: list List-Id: Discussion related to FreeBSD architecture List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 08 Sep 2014 19:08:14 -0000 Summarizing the responses and changes to /etc/motd: Using ANSI has both philosphical and practical problems, and should be avoided. In short, it has cooties. Extra horizontal whitespace is the least likely to cause problems as command delimiters, and inoffensive to most responders. Rearranging the information into a list of URLs is a net win. Shorter is better. A simpler motd that links to a single web page might be acceptable. My suggestions: Short-term: Here is the most popular/least objectionable version with all of the suggestions implemented as best I could: http://www.wonkity.com/~wblock/motd/motd.whitespace-url I suggest that I commit this in time for 10.1. Longer-term: Creating a "FreeBSD Technical Support Resources" page, or updating an existing one, is something we can and should do anyway. Once we have that, it can be used in motd. (Or proposed, anyway. To me, it seems like a conceptually bigger step than using ANSI. Fahrradschuppen ahoy!) man(1) is very weak for new users. A doc PR just showed up today mentioning that it does not describe the various sections. That is actually in intro(1), intro(2), and so on. Congratulations if you remember those, it's usually a hunt for me. Man page notation is also a problem for new users, and also not explained in man(1). Is it explained anywhere in the man pages? Even if it is, some examples in man(1) would help.