Re: what's wrong with tar? -need advise!

From: Jacob Heider (lord-jacob_at_comcast.net)
Date: 06/02/04 

Date: Wed, 02 Jun 2004 08:51:51 GMT

On Wed, 2 Jun 2004 02:54:48 -0600, a posting issued forth from Mark A...
>> *YES*! If you read instructions that say:
>>
>> type tar -zxvf foo.bar.baz.tar.gz
>>
>> then you don't need the manual. If you can't *READ* the manual, then
>> stick with GUI tools, or find something more simplified until you can.
>> The man pages are for people who know how to read them (really, I've
>> taught some pretty technically inept people how to, so I don't know why
>> you're still arguing...), otherwise use a simpler tool. Most man pages
>> are syntactical references, primarilly as aide memoria for those who
>> know what they are doing. Can you write a man page for tar that a newbie
>> can follow easily? I doubt it. That would be more of a HOWTO, which has
>> its own place.
>>
>> Sigh. I tire of this. man pages are for people skilled enough to use
>> them, otherwise a tutorial is probably what you want. If someone asks
>> questions about a text tool, we expect them to have read the
>> documentation, or we point them to it. Most people who can't read a man
>> page, won't be playing with text tools. 'Nuff said.
>>
>> Jacob
>
> I am not the one who had a problem with the tar command. I had a problem
> with mkbootdisk command.
>

Yes. And you figured it out. If you forget what you learned, the man
pages will remind you, and you will forever have that learing at your
fingertips.

Jacob