Date: Tue, 4 Apr 2000 19:49:29 -0400 (EDT) From: Michael Lucas <mwlucas@blackhelicopters.org> To: blk@skynet.be (Brad Knowles) Cc: jkh@zippy.cdrom.com, Doug@gorean.org, drjolt@redbrick.dcu.ie, stable@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: make world failed Message-ID: <200004042349.TAA78471@blackhelicopters.org> In-Reply-To: <v04220834b5100f2bcb7c@[195.238.1.121]> from Brad Knowles at "Apr 4, 2000 11:51:18 pm"
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>Brad Knowles wrote: > At 2:22 PM -0700 2000/4/4, Jordan K. Hubbard wrote: > > I really am tired of people telling us what reality should be rather > > than making that reality come about through their own efforts. > The single biggest problem in any large volunteer effort is > determining where your skills can be of help. I'd actually suggest that you (plural you, not Brad you) turn this around. I've used FreeBSD for years, since 2.1.5 came out. (I actually credit 2.1.5 with saving my engagement. But that's another story.) I spent years trying to figure out how to contribute, even going so far as to take a couple classes in computer programming. I can now swear in C, but my programming skills are hideous. In the meantime, on a completely unrelated front, I had tried to break into freelance writing for close to twenty years. This is what I enjoy -- don't get me wrong, being a UNIX sysadmin is fun and all, but I get an irreproducible rush that comes from assembling words just the right way. Once I put what I enjoy together with FreeBSD, things took off. I have FreeBSD articles in print, in real magazines, that people paid me for. I have publishers (well, okay, one publisher) sniffing after a book. After expenses the articles earned enough to take the missus to dinner, but that's not really the point. As far as volunteers go, FreeBSD will happily take damn near whatever it can get. Do what you really, truly enjoy. That way you'll keep doing it. Whatever it is you enjoy, we need it. (Well, okay, *almost* anything you enjoy.) You enjoy code? Cool, pick a PR. You enjoy writing? Pick a chunk of handbook that hasn't been revised since 1998. You enjoy schmoozing? Go to your local UNIX UG and schmooze. Forget what we need, and ask what you want to do. Then do it for us. Supporting FreeBSD is a lot of work. If you don't enjoy what you do for it, then you won't stick with it. If you take on an unpleasant job just to get it done, people will thank you even more. But be sure you also have something you enjoy doing. Yes, FreeBSD should have X, Y, and Z. And while I'm at it, I'd like a pony, and a GI Joe Stinger Missile Launcher. Now that BSDi is starting to roll, I devoutly hope that they will pay for some of the work that is truly unpleasant but sorely needed. Jordan's been promising a new sysinstall for how many years now? ;) > If the goal is the latter, then the quality of the documentation > has to improve -- and not everyone who complains about the > documentation will be able to help fix it. This is a simple fact > that will just have to be accepted. True. And not everybody who complains about code can fix that, either. But docs people need PRs, just like developers. "What did you think that meant?" "What exactly happened when you followed our instructions?" Unfortunately, many people who can write can't read code well -- i.e., I decided to add a recursive directory-fetching ability to the FreeBSD FTP client. I'm still working on understanding the code. The printout covers one wall of my study, with boxes and arrows and lines and scribbles. When I understand what's going on, I'll begin writing code. By then, the FTP client will be completely replaced. My time is better spent in advocacy, but I'm too dumb to give up on code. Sorry. Not to speak for Nik and the other -docs volunteers here, but I suspect that anyone who can sling code, who is willing to work with a writer, would be welcome in -docs. Sadly, coder/writers likes Greg Lehey are hard to come by. > Better yet would be for POLA to be violated with less frequency > and fewer potential destructive consequences, so that you don't need > to improve the documentation -- the system just works, and there's no > need to document something that "just works". In other words, less > is more. ;-) True again. But how many modern operating systems actually manage this? I'm not aware of any. (I could quite well be wrong, I usually am when making a blanket statement.) BTW, to gripe about docs wihtout being able to fix them: rebuild/usr/share/doc/FAQ;grep POLA * rebuild/usr/share/doc/FAQ;cd ../handbook/ rebuild/usr/share/doc/handbook;grep POLA * rebuild/usr/share/doc/handbook; I've learned to grok POLA from context as "changing something behind the scenes that breaks interfaces", but I'm now surrendering to acronym curiosity: What the *heck* does POLA stand for, exactly? Path Of Least Action? ==ml To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-stable" in the body of the message
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