man/info debate

[Matt Nelson <mnelson@dynatec.com>]

i am new to this list - have been lurking for a couple days, and skimmed
through the archives.  i have a question:

is this the correct forum to discuss the problems with the current state
of Linux documentation?  as i see it, the fact that there are several
methods used to document the OS is a big problem.  we have:

 - man
 - Info
 - GNOME help
 - (there must be a KDE equivalent)
 - HOWTO's, guides, etc.
 - /usr/doc miscellany

for new users in particular, this is a mess.  i learned Unix with man
pages, but more and more, this returns "No manual entry for xxx".  if you
use the GNOME help system, you have access to several types of
documentation, but they are all segregated from one another, and the user
interface, imho, is kinda klunky.  especially when compared to the speed
at which you can bring up docs w/ man.

how about this for an idea:  make the content of ALL common documentation
available to ALL common help interfaces.  how could this be done?  some
ideas:

 - modify texinfo to generate man pages as well as info docs
 - enhance info to deal w/ man pages
 - develop a code to convert HTML docs into info and man pages

and most important

 - start an effort to create comprehensive documentation packages in all
   the formats, and
 - convince the distro builders to include those packages

comments?  if this is the wrong forum, let me know and i'll go away.

thanks,

-matt

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Matthew Nelson
Dynamics Technology, Inc. 
21311 Hawthorne Blvd., Suite 300, Torrance, CA 90503-5610
Voice: (310) 543-5433   FAX: (310) 543-2117   Email: mnelson@dynatec.com


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