Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2003 17:52:10 +0200 From: Giorgos Keramidas <keramida@ceid.upatras.gr> To: Steve Kargl <sgk@troutmask.apl.washington.edu> Cc: current@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: MAKEDEV(8) manpage Message-ID: <20030325155210.GA5359@gothmog.gr> In-Reply-To: <20030325151024.GA6605@troutmask.apl.washington.edu> References: <20030324133457.GR36490@unixpages.org> <20030324171215.7DBD85D07@ptavv.es.net> <20030324181450.GU36490@unixpages.org> <20030324194316.GD26996@gothmog.gr> <20030325091059.GF36490@unixpages.org> <20030325151024.GA6605@troutmask.apl.washington.edu>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On 2003-03-25 07:10, Steve Kargl <sgk@troutmask.apl.washington.edu> wrote: >On Tue, Mar 25, 2003 at 10:11:00AM +0100, Christian Brueffer wrote: >>On Mon, Mar 24, 2003 at 09:43:17PM +0200, Giorgos Keramidas wrote: >>> On 2003-03-24 19:14, Christian Brueffer <chris@unixpages.org> wrote: >>> > I'll write a small manpage this evening which says that MAKEDEV is >>> > gone now with a short summary of what devfs does. Does that resolve >>> > your worries? >>> >>> If you write a detailed description of devfs please add it to devfs(5) >>> and just replace the existing manpage of MAKEDEV with something like: >>> >>> The MAKEDEV script was deprecated by devfs(5) and geom(4) and >>> removed from FreeBSD after GEOM became mandatory. Please see >>> the devfs(5), devfs(8), geom(4) and mount_devfs(8) manpages for >>> more details. >>> >>> This should be enough IMHO to point the reader to the right place. >> >> That was my original intent. I'm still uncertain if it would be better >> to write a small manpage or just create a MLINK to one of the devfs >> pages... > > Are you going to write a man page everytime a feature > is deprecated? MAKEDEV is dead and gone. At most > create the MLINK. Only for very important features that are a hardcoded part of most Unix users' brain patterns by now. MAKEDEV is a feature that has been with us for a long time. Actually, it's been in UNIX even before I was born! :-) Besides, I don't like (ab)using MLINKS for implicit redirects, because it feels like "cheating" or "tricking" the user to read something that he should instantly recognize and think "ah, yes, here it is"... this is not always the case though. Imagine the confusion if a Slackware Linux user who has learned that MAKEDEV is the place to look at, who goes into /dev and can't find it. He then goes on to type: % apropos MAKEDEV MAKEDEV: nothing appropriate. That must look annoying. Or even worse (using MLINKS), imagine the confusion when one types: % man MAKEDEV only to find that devfs(5) pops up. I can almost read already the posts to bugs@ or the PRs in the gnats database about "manpage error, MAKEDEV loads devfs" :-) - Giorgos To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-current" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?20030325155210.GA5359>