RTFM? [ was Re: "cvs [commit aborted]: cannot commit files as 'root'"]

[David Taylor]

When someone who has long chanted "RTFM!" as the panacea for countless ills
can't find what he wants in the manual (and is thus led to proclaim its
absence a "failing of the manual"), though it exists in the manual...we can
all agree that there is a problem here.

I'm encouraged to see Mr. Woods acknowledge that in some cases attempting to
read TFM becomes another problem, not a solution. Perhaps this error and
subsequent acknowledgement will help tame the wrath of  RTFM-chanting
"gurus".

Please understand these comments are not addressed to Mr. Woods in
particular, but to a far-too-common attitude.

address@hidden

"Greg A. Woods" wrote:

> [ On Monday, July 9, 2001 at 11:40:28 (-0400), Larry Jones wrote: ]
> > Subject: Re: "cvs [commit aborted]: cannot commit files as 'root'"
> >
> > Greg A. Woods writes:
> > >
> > > It isn't even in the manual, as far as I can see.  That's maybe the
> > > worst failing of the manual -- there's no (even partial) list of the
> > > error messages in one place with links to nodes containing their
> > > explanations.
> >
> > Excuse me?
> >
> > http://cvshome.org/docs/manual/cvs_21.html#SEC181
>
> Ah, so there is!  Sorry!
>
> Maybe what the manual needs more than anything else is a top-level
> complete table of contents listing every node in the menu (much like the
> "The Detailed Node Listing" in the Emacs manual and so many other
> wonderful texinfo-based manuals).  The texinfo index is wonderful, and
> all, but it's just an index.  I've come to expect the detailed listing
> and given there's no obvious way to restrict a search in 'info' to the
> current node, or to headings only, it's hard to find a node that you
> don't know exists.  I don't know if there are any existing tools to help
> build the menu and detailed node listing, or not...
>
> --
>                                                         Greg A. Woods
>
> +1 416 218-0098      VE3TCP      <address@hidden>     <address@hidden>
> Planix, Inc. <address@hidden>;   Secrets of the Weird <address@hidden>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Info-cvs mailing list
> address@hidden
> http://mail.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-cvs