From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: main.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: storm@cua.dk (Kim F. Storm) Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: Gtk patch version 3, part 1 Date: 05 Jan 2003 17:00:34 +0100 Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+emacs-devel=quimby.gnus.org@gnu.org Message-ID: <5xy95zk2n1.fsf@kfs2.cua.dk> References: <200301011944.h01Jim0U011400@stubby.bodenonline.com> <5xu1gpu4do.fsf@kfs2.cua.dk> NNTP-Posting-Host: main.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: main.gmane.org 1041779058 17189 80.91.224.249 (5 Jan 2003 15:04:18 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@main.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 5 Jan 2003 15:04:18 +0000 (UTC) Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org Return-path: Original-Received: from quimby.gnus.org ([80.91.224.244]) by main.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 18VCK0-0004T5-00 for ; Sun, 05 Jan 2003 16:04:16 +0100 Original-Received: from monty-python.gnu.org ([199.232.76.173]) by quimby.gnus.org with esmtp (Exim 3.12 #1 (Debian)) id 18VCNd-0005Rp-00 for ; Sun, 05 Jan 2003 16:08:02 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.10.13) id 18VCJp-0005Y5-02 for emacs-devel@quimby.gnus.org; Sun, 05 Jan 2003 10:04:05 -0500 Original-Received: from list by monty-python.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.10.13) id 18VCHC-0004kw-00 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sun, 05 Jan 2003 10:01:22 -0500 Original-Received: from mail by monty-python.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.10.13) id 18VCGz-0004YQ-00 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sun, 05 Jan 2003 10:01:10 -0500 Original-Received: from mail.filanet.dk ([195.215.206.179]) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.10.13) id 18VCGw-0004Xx-00 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sun, 05 Jan 2003 10:01:06 -0500 Original-Received: from kfs2.cua.dk.cua.dk (unknown [10.1.82.3]) by mail.filanet.dk (Postfix) with SMTP id 66B8B7C012; Sun, 5 Jan 2003 16:01:04 +0100 (CET) Original-To: bob@rattlesnake.com In-Reply-To: Original-Lines: 49 User-Agent: Gnus/5.09 (Gnus v5.9.0) Emacs/21.3.50 X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1b5 Precedence: list List-Id: Emacs development discussions. List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: , List-Archive: List-Unsubscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+emacs-devel=quimby.gnus.org@gnu.org Xref: main.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:10495 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.devel:10495 "Robert J. Chassell" writes: > > Yes. If it is not on your machine, you may not be able to access it: > > Well if it is not on your machine -- you definitely cannot access it > without accessing the Internet. > > That is false! I do not access over the Internet most of the material > that is not on my machine. You must be living in a rich and different > world! Mostly, I get software and documentation from CDs. It would > take me over 500 hours to download the Debian CDs that I use. The basic statement is not false! If the document is not on your machine, you cannot access it locally. If I have to choose between swapping CDs or visiting a URL, I'd choose the URL. But if the file you need is on a CD of yours, why didn't you install it locally in the first place? I'm arguing about files which ARE NOT AVAILABLE LOCALLY. What's wrong about specifying a URL where you can access it? As a user, you are free(!) to follow or ignore the URL. > We must rely on `having a local file', meaning a file that is a part > of a standard distribution, and either on a user's machine, or less > conveniently, on a CD or other inexpensive transport media. I fully agree that having an local, well-written info file is much better than having to rely on a remote HTML or PDF document. But in my experience, you cannot rely on any specific documentation to be available locally -- unless you include that documentation as part of your own software distribution -- and even in that case, there's no guarantee that whoever puts your software into a distribution will also include the docs.... > > This means that we must continue to write documentation and provide it > to the user. > Exactly! The real issue is to write the necessary documentation and include it in the emacs distribution. Until that's done, I don't see what's wrong with supplying a URL where you can find the "best docs currently available" . -- Kim F. Storm http://www.cua.dk