Re: uniq -c output

[Bob Proulx]

Christopher Ness wrote:
> Bob Proulx wrote:
> > You can access the online documentation using the 'info' command.  The
> > man page is created automatically from the 'uniq --help' output.  It
> > is really intended only as a quick option reference and includes a
> > pointer to the full manual.
> > 
> >     info uniq
> 
> There it is.  I never thought the man pages would be crippled WRT info. 
> Which help system is prefered for GNU?

Neither should be "crippled" with respect to the other.  GNU coding
standards prefer documentation in info format.  However other
standards require man pages.  I think both will be around for a long
time.  Also the programs itself contains online help with the --help
option.  That is joined to the program and should not be out of date
with respect to it.  The --help is a third source of information.

My personal preference is that the man pages make great quick
references.  But man pages are not as good at being a user manual.
The info pages make better user manuals.  Therefore I like to see them
them "tuned" to their own best strengths.

In order to accomodate both the user manual is the info documentation.
The man pages are generated from the --help output automatically using
'help2man'.  That reduces the programmer work overhead considerably.
Now the program, the --help, and the man pages are all in sync
automatically.  It is the info pages which still must be written the
old fashioned way.  But they are the most flexible way to create user
manuals.

More recently there has been a movement to convert to docbook format
documentation.  This has been met with mixed responses.  Time will
tell how docbook turns out.  I think it is a little heavy and more
tedious to use than texinfo but I do not have enough experience with
docbook yet.

Bob