discuss: Review of GNU/Linux Tools Summary
Subject:
Review of GNU/Linux Tools Summary
From:
rahul ####@####.####
Date:
14 Dec 2003 05:35:37 -0000
Message-Id: <3FDBF6B2.5010306@yahoo.co.in>
Hi
I have attached a quick review.
My Profile
---------------
Name: Rahul Sundaram
Age:22
Location: TamilNadu, South India
Occupation: Linux System Administration
Agenda
I am looking forward to helping LDP have a better collection of quality
documentation in Linux.
http://www.karakas-online.de/gnu-linux-tools-summary/
A overall review of your document has been presented below. I havent done such
work before so feel free to ask for explanations if any part of my
review/critique is not clear.
consistency: The document should state the syntax first and example
second of vice versa for every command. If the command has a complicated syntax
a simplified one can be presented. I find some commands has only example, some
has only syntax and some has neither.
References
If there are other documents related to the topic the links should be presented
within the section itself
Order and Grouping
I find the order and grouping to be sub optimal. The commands which are more
used should come first and they should be grouped with similar commands within
the same section ex) netstat and nmap . In certain cases, it is not possible to
determine which commands are used more and it can done arbitrarily while taking
care of grouping only.
1.1
The introduction part to assume that the user is fairly technical. It would be
better to avoid using technical terms as much as possible in the introduction
especially so if the terms are explained within the documentation itself.
It is not clear to me whether the document is meant for end users who want to
understand the command line or newbie system administrators or somewhere in
between.
1.2
The audience section seems to overlap the introduction. For example the idea
that it is not possible to list everything is expressed in both. While this is
entirely true I find it redundant.
1.7
It has explanations of package management starting with mandrake,
redhat and then debian. It seems that redhat, debian and mandrake along with
slackware is more appropriate based on popularity
If the audience is a newbie it would be good to have a explanation of what a
package manager does in a short manner
For example " A package manager is a utility for centrally managing the
installation, upgradation, removal and querying of software in the system"
Also appropriate is an explanation of apt-get and yum(fedora). There should be a
differentiation between package management and dependency resolving tools.
2.Legal
You have choosen the GNU FDL as the license. Here are some issues to consider
http://www.google.co.in/search?q=cache:SErldDCN1KMJ:people.debian.org/~srivasta/
Position_Statement.html+debian+fdl+position+&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
Alternatives include the OPL(without restrictions) and Creative commons share
alike license.
3. The Unix tools philosophy
It would be better to call it design rather than philosophy when it talking a
hands on approach. Instead of using the word "Unix based" a better wording would
be "Unix-like". Also acknowledge any trademarks as such.
4. Shell tips
You have used the word cntrl to specify control keys. I find ^ and ctrl to be
more common usage. Considering using them instead if not specify the word
"control" itself each time. This would make the document lend itself better as a
reference.
You can include a section about using back quotes too.
4.1 Virtual terminals
The explanation could include the difference between x the protocol and Xfree86
the implementation (foot notes or references where appropriate).
5.Help
apropos is a alternative for man -k. It does not search whatis strings?
A section on using konqueror and nautilus to view man and info pages might be
considered even though this document is entirely about command line tools.I
personally find konqueror to be a handy tool even when relying on the command
line stuff to do the actual task. This way you can use info and man pages
without relearning key bindings.
8.Finding information about the system
"(note: advanced, confusing and powerful command). " has been put up before
xargs. I would find it more natural if this is including as a gentle warning
within the body as the second sentence
9.Controlling the system
Echo command seems the odd man here. It is better to explain this along with cat
as text manipulation. sed and awk can be included too.
9.2 Shutting down
halt can be explained first followed by shutdown commands.poweroff can be
included too.
9.3 Controlling Processes
ps aux | grep is a fairly common usage.
kill -9 can be explained here.
9.4 Controlling services
service start, status and restart can be explained here
update-rc.d is the debian equivalent?
slackware?
11. Text related tools
Pico or nano might be appropriate for new user
11.2 Text based tools
The order of listing can be changed according the common usage.
cat
less
tail (-f option is very common for real time lookups)
sort
.....
11.3 Text manipulation utilities
Again the order of listing can be changed.
13.mathematical tools
Python can come first here.
An example of mathematical operation in python is appropriate.
15.Network commands
Order and grouping can be changed.
17.2 compression
tar zxvf and tar jxvf are commonly used but not explained here.
bzip2 is generally more efficient and should be mentioned.
24. Mini guides
Rpm is explained but debian and slackware systems could be added.
links to more comprehensive documentation like maxrpm guide and debian guides
could be added.
