On Fri, 12 Dec 2003 at 10:43 GMT, Richard Kimber penned: > On Thu, 11 Dec 2003 16:24:39 -0700 "Monique Y. Herman" > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> Linux is a kernel. I can almost guarantee that you've never, for >> example, discussed an implementation bug with a microsoft or apple >> kernel developer. >> >> The gripe is about "linux" as though all of the thousands of >> applications that happen to run on linux are part of it. But the >> reality is, they are separate projects. One app may have great >> documentation; another may not. Would you blame microsoft because >> some random application you bought from compusa had poor >> documentation? > > You must be aware, surely, that there are two usages of 'Linux'. One > is the one you have given, which is the original meaning. But there > is also the general evolved man-or-woman-in-the-street usage that > applies to the distribution as a whole. Of the two magazines in my > local newsagent's shop that have 'Linux' in the title, neither deals > exclusively with the kernel, and kernel-specific content is probably > only a smallish proportion of the total. Does 'Debian Linux' only > refer to the Debian version of the kernel? It is this second sense > that was relevant to to the discussion about the consumer. >
You're right, of course. Then again, I've heard stores advertising that they're selling "Linux 7.0" -- meaning RedHat, I assume. And that's *definitely* not right. Then again, again, when I say I enjoy using linux, I don't generally mean "the fact that the linux kernel is at the base of the OS," even though I do love being able to recompile it. I guess what I was trying to get at above is that, yes, there are packages whose docs are weak, but the great thing about the linux (including apps that run on it) community is that, even if the docs are weak, I can generally find someone who can help me. Sometimes that someone is even the developer, which is an awesome thing. I mean, when I was trying to figure out procmail, I poked around at the man pages, then did a google search on procmailrc examples and found oodles of what I was looking for, with more variety of purpose than I would ever find in any app's standard documentation. Sure, there's no guarantee that I would find such a thing for all apps, but it still suits the purpose much of the time. -- monique -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
