From: Derrick 'dman' Hudson (dmandman13.dyndns.org)
Date: Fri Aug 01 2003 - 16:02:44 CDT

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On Fri, Aug 01, 2003 at 01:35:06PM -0700, Bryan Koschmann - GKT wrote:
| On Fri, 1 Aug 2003, Wietse Venema wrote:
| >
| > So stop bitching and start contributing. What I find lame is the folks
| > who complain and don't contribute.

I agree -- complaints alone aren't helpful to anyone. (do note that a
complaint is different from constructive criticism or a suggestion)

| I'm sorry to jump in here, but I really have to agree with Dean.
|
| So, if I'm not a programmer and don't contribute, I shouldn't expect to
| get any help?

No. (that is, you can get help even without coding a single line of
postfix)

There are also many ways to contribute without being a programmer.

| Furthermore, how could I contribute to documentation when it is so
| lacking in the first place,

Once you figure out what you didn't get at first, write it up so that
others can read it and possibly avoid the difficulties you went
through figuring it out.

| and asking here gets either a sarcastic reply or no
| reply at all?

Not every reply is sarcastic or unhelpful. I've certainly learned a
lot by reading this list. As for following a maililng list, I find it
beneficial to observe who the most knowledgeable (and/or helpful)
people are and pay closest attention to their comments. This is
especially beneficial when the volume of information is too large to
digest it all.

| Victor so graciously pointed me in a better direction, after I have been
| through all the how-tos, manual pages, and archives. Even so, it was
| simply telling me to start with the basic configuration, and convery that
| to MySQL. Where in the documentation does it say to do this? I am fully
| familiar with reading manpages and unix/linux commands, but that has
| nothing to do with the documentation.

I think this particular example relates to the intended audience and
type of the documentation. Wietse's manpages are reference-style
intended for people familiar (and content) with putting the pieces
together themself. Tips like "start simple, then build on that
foundation" belong not in reference pages but in tutorial-style books
or howtos.

| It's quite sad, as some time ago before I started this migration, I was
| constantly told about how good Postfix was, how much easier than sendmail
| it was, and so on. I'm not seeing it.

I've only seen a couple small samples of a sendmail config file, and I
must say it looks a _lot_ like line noise. Even before I fully
understood postfix I could at least make some sense out of the
configuration directives and have an idea where to find the details
documented.

| Many people have simply asked for (better) howtos. Other (like myself) for
| examples or a little more direction. There should not be anything wrong
| with this. The how-tos I have read (all linked from the postfix site)
| varied in their setup. Which one is right? What is the difference?

Assuming no blatant errors in those setups, they're all right. The
difference a combination of the author's style and the goal he is
trying to achieve and the value he places on various tradeoffs.

| Why on earth isn't there an "official" postfix page describing the
| proper way to use mysql, rather than broad references?

This is, at least in part, because there isn't a One Right Way that
you must follow or else. MySQL is, as far as postfix is concerned,
_just another map_ and can be used just like any other map. Instead
of describing mysql only and then doing the same thing all over again
for hash, dbm, postgres, etc., the docs describe how a map works.
Then the mysql docs are much shorter because you already know how a
map works (because you read that part of the docs) and now only need
to know the options specific for mysql.

-D

--
A Microsoft Certified System Engineer is to information technology as a
McDonalds Certified Food Specialist is to the culinary arts.
        Michael Bacarella commenting on the limited value of certification.
 
http://dman13.dyndns.org/~dman/

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