On Sun, May 21, 2006 at 08:49:03PM +0200, Andreas Metzler wrote: > On 2006-05-21 Frederik Eaton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >>> The exim4 man page doesn't say which command-line options are the most > >>> important. > > >>> The options are listed in alphabetical order, so I don't know in which > >>> order to read them to start learning about exim. > > >> You should not read the manpage to "start learning about exim", the > >> manpage is just a short reference, not a manual. Read > >> /usr/share/doc/exim4-base/spec.txt.gz or > >> /usr/share/doc/exim4-doc-html/html/index.html if you want to learn > >> about exim. > > > Yes, it looks like spec.txt.gz is a good way to learn about exim... if > > I want to learn about the whole thing, in every excruciating detail, > > from start to finish. > > You'd start with chapter 3, probably "3.13 Delivery in detail", then > read "7. The default configuration file". After that you'd have a > basic understanding.
3.5 seems useful too. I think the three options mentioned there (-bm, -bs, -bS) should be up at the top of the man page, maybe with the same explanatory text. > > I also notice that the command-line options are alphabetized in that > > document as well. > > > I don't think you're honestly considering the merits of my suggestion. > > I really, honestly cannot see how anybody could start learning by > consulting the list of command-line options. The key things to know > are > > 1. What routers and transports do. > 2. How ACLs work (If you can talk SMTP by telnet you are set). > 3. Basic string expansion and lookups (lsearch), aka > the-lots-of-curly-braces-thing. > 4. Where to find further documentation. Obviously for an MTA there is a lot more to understand than the command line interface. But if I (1) know that I want to run the exim command, for instance I have a message that I want to send with it, but (2) I don't know the exact options to use; then the man page seems like a reasonable place to look. In exim's case, it is practically useless - the few options which comprise 99% of all uses are buried deep within the man page. > [...] > >> I am quite familiar with exim but given two options I really cannot > >> tell which one is more important (Is -d or -qqf more important?), I > >> could probably order them into "used often", "internal" and > >> "everything else", but thats not useful. > > > That would be very useful indeed. Could you do that? > > It is not useful. Usually the only options you'll need are: > > - invoke with -oi -oem for piping (possible -t) > - start daemon with -bd -q15m > - Force queue-run with -qff > - -b* to test stuff > - Debug with -d It would be good to have this information somewhere in the man page. > For everything else you'll usually just end up refering to the > option > a) because some other piece of documentation refered to it. (In which > case alphabetical order is the most usable one.) > b) you are searching for an option that does X. In that case you'll > need to search for X using less, google, whatever. > > The alphabetic order also groups similar options together, as for > example all testiong options start with -b, so is not just a mess. Sure, you get *some* order by listing things alphabetically; so I don't understand your aversion to having *more* order. Is order good, or what? Maybe having order is good when it's useful for defending your position, but not mine? Frederik -- http://ofb.net/~frederik/ -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
