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TLDR pages: Simplified, community-driven man pages

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Re: TLDR pages: Simplified, community-driven man pages

#41

Post by rgoulter »

omaranto wrote: post #22

I don't understand why this needs a client. Why not just install these as man pages in their own section and read them with man? EDIT: My idea is of course not new, see https://github.com/joelekstrom/tldr-man for a way to convert these docs to man pages.

I've not used man enough to know the how to look up a particular section.

This is a good opportunity for me to compare the out-of-the-box results from tldr vs man:

https://tldr.ostera.io/man

https://linux.die.net/man/1/man

"Why not just install these as man pages in their own section and read them with man?" Because downloading the default program is much easier, most users aren't that concerned about adding a small CLI program on their computer, and most aren't that purist about right way to read documentation is through manpages.

Re: TLDR pages: Simplified, community-driven man pages

#42

Post by justinhensley »

tldr has been my daily driver for 1-2 years now, almost replacing man entirely. The community has contributed very useful examples.

I go to man once or twice for tools that are entirely new to me. Then, I use tldr until I have muscle memory or using a feature that is new to me.

Re: TLDR pages: Simplified, community-driven man pages

#43

Post by omaranto »

rgoulter wrote: post #41
omaranto wrote: post #22

I don't understand why this needs a client. Why not just install these as man pages in their own section and read them with man? EDIT: My idea is of course not new, see https://github.com/joelekstrom/tldr-man for a way to convert these docs to man pages.

I've not used man enough to know the how to look up a particular section. This is a good opportunity for me to compare the out-of-the-box results from tldr vs man: https://tldr.ostera.io/man https://linux.die.net/man/1/man "Why not just install these as man pages in their own section and read them with man?" Because downloading the default program is much easier, most users aren't that concerned about adding a small…

I don't think tldr is a small CLI program unless you already have Node.js installed. :)

And I also don't see why installing that is easier than installing man pages, if appropriately packaged. (I'm not claiming they are currently appropriately packaged, I'm just saying that's what they could have done instead of writing a client.)

Re: TLDR pages: Simplified, community-driven man pages

#44

Post by ausjke »

ausjke wrote: post #30
b3kart wrote: post #18

Shout out to http://cht.sh , which could be used without installing anything: curl cht.sh/tr

amazing, just tested it out, i hope it can add devdocs.io support, and update vim plugin to newer ones. this will likely replace my tldr soon

I have yet to see node.js API support from any REPL or shell or vim or tldr, the only option is access it from browser, which is not enough.

https://zealdocs.org is another great source, similar to https://devdocs.io

Re: TLDR pages: Simplified, community-driven man pages

#45

Post by vmchale »

overcast wrote: post #34
ddevault wrote: post #27

A heartfelt plea: The man pages are community driven, too. If you think they can be improved, instead of investing in rapidly decaying third-party documentation, please take your improvements upstream. The maintainers would be thrilled to have them.

It seems like the maintainers of man pages just refuse to bother with something so obvious. It's been decades, and man pages are still archaic and not user friendly.

On Linux that has been my experience. man pages on Mac are a little better, I've heard the BSDs do better as well.

Re: TLDR pages: Simplified, community-driven man pages

#46

Post by spenczar5 »

overcast wrote: post #34
ddevault wrote: post #27

A heartfelt plea: The man pages are community driven, too. If you think they can be improved, instead of investing in rapidly decaying third-party documentation, please take your improvements upstream. The maintainers would be thrilled to have them.

It seems like the maintainers of man pages just refuse to bother with something so obvious. It's been decades, and man pages are still archaic and not user friendly.

Do you have examples of that refusal? I'm unfamiliar.

Re: TLDR pages: Simplified, community-driven man pages

#47

Post by glckr »

Semiapies wrote: post #36
ddevault wrote: post #27

A heartfelt plea: The man pages are community driven, too. If you think they can be improved, instead of investing in rapidly decaying third-party documentation, please take your improvements upstream. The maintainers would be thrilled to have them.

How is this "rapidly decaying third-party documentation" in any way that man isn't?

man is universally known in the industry, and supported (to some extent, at least) by project authors/maintainers; this project will be forgotten by almost everyone (and start decaying) as soon as this post is off the front page here.

Re: TLDR pages: Simplified, community-driven man pages

#48

Post by downerending »

stared wrote: post #12

I would be happy to see such a thing taking off. Typical man pages are well, like learning a language by studying a dictionary, alphabetically. It may contain all information, but a clear F on UX. Some packages get slightly better with starting from the most common use cases, with examples (and digestible errors). However, I would be even more interested to see what is the actual usage pattern (e.g. from .bash_histor…

It's true that the man pages aren't meant to be the primary method of learning Unix. But they are indeed a spectacular and irreplaceable resource.

One of the best things that ever happened in my career was having a desk across from the entire SunOS manual set. I'd pull them down one at a time and read them, cover to cover. It paid off, big time, and I strongly recommend it.

Re: TLDR pages: Simplified, community-driven man pages

#49

Post by upofadown »

This tends to be more of an issue with GNU programs that have info pages. You are not really supposed to use the man pages in that case. The info pages for GNU tar have lots of examples scattered throughout:

* http://www.gnu.org/software/tar/manual/

BSD systems, for example, have much better man pages that have an actual "EXAMPLES" section near the bottom.

Re: TLDR pages: Simplified, community-driven man pages

#50

Post by beart »

omaranto wrote: post #43
rgoulter wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've not used man enough to know the how to look up a particular section. This is a good opportunity for me to compare the out-of-the-box results from tldr vs man: https://tldr.ostera.io/man https://linux.die.net/man/1/man "Why not just install these as man pages in their own section and read them with man?" Because downloading the default program is much easier, most users aren't that concerned about adding a small…

I don't think tldr is a small CLI program unless you already have Node.js installed. :) And I also don't see why installing that is easier than installing man pages, if appropriately packaged. (I'm not claiming they are currently appropriately packaged, I'm just saying that's what they could have done instead of writing a client.)

I don't think you need Nodejs.

There are a large number of clients listed here

https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr#clients

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