man pages & GNU (was Re: [Bug-gnupress] Updating the DOS/Windoze manual)

[Stephen Compall]

"Paul A. Crable" <address@hidden> writes:

> The DOS/Windoze manual says that not all the man pages are 
> up-to-date, and that users should refer to the info pages. Why are 
> the man pages not current? Has the decision been made to abandon the 
> man pages in favor of maintaining the info pages?

>From the Emacs Manual (node Man Page):

    On Unix, the main form of on-line documentation was the "manual
    page" or "man page".  In the GNU operating system, we hope to
    replace man pages with better-organized manuals that you can
    browse with Info (*note Misc Help::).  This process is not
    finished, so it is still useful to read manual pages.

The GNU Coding Standards also state that they are not only
unnecessary, but they are often too much trouble to deal with:

    When you make this decision, consider that supporting a man page
    requires continual effort each time the program is changed. The
    time you spend on the man page is time taken away from more useful
    work.

--
Stephen Compall

Tact in audacity is knowing how far you can go without going too far.
                -- Jean Cocteau