Re: as promised, docs: git for the confused
- From
- Randy.Dunlap <rdunlap@xenotime.net>
- Date
- Dec 9, 2005, 16:49 UTC
- Message-ID
- <Pine.LNX.4.58.0512090846480.23358@shark.he.net>
- In-Reply-To
- <20051209140123.3234.qmail@science.horizon.com>
On Fri, 9 Dec 2005 linux@horizon.com wrote:
Show 13 quoted lines
> >> Unfortunately, given the number of commands, you can't just document > >> them well individually. Some overview of how they fit together into > >> a system is required. > > > Hmm. Well, actually... what's the point? If I want to get a really quick > > overview, I do > > > > whatis git > > > > and it will DTRT. But when do I need something more detailed but not yet > > the manual page of the given command? > > "I want to do X and Y but not Z. What commands are worth knowing?"
I agree big time. Even for quilt (about 30 commands), I wrote a summary (cheat sheet) of usage models:
a. making a new patch: use this series of commands b. importing patches: use this other series of commands c. other patch management commands
Show 16 quoted lines
> I have 106 git-* commands available to me (my document covers 105; > I'll have to find the extra), and the biggest question I have is > "how many of those man pages can I get away with NOT reading?" > > Heck, that categorized list is what I started out writing, and I happen > to think it's the most important part of the whole document. > > The man page tells me HOW to execute a command. But before I'm ready for > that level of detail, I need to figure out WHICH command to execute. > To be specific, I need to know the terrain just well enough so I can > plan a route from where I am to where I want to be. Then I can look > into the details of each step. > > But without that overview, my trip is going to take me into a lot of dead > ends, because I'm executing commands that I think are getting me closer, > but I have the wrong mental model of what "close" is.
-- ~Randy