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Projects like this happen because it's easier to contribute here than to the existing manpages. As someone who came of age in a Github world, there's (perceived

by kevan 11y ago

Projects like this happen because it's easier to contribute here than to the existing manpages. As someone who came of age in a Github world, there's (perceived) friction preventing me from trying to contribute to a lot of tools from the old guard. Let's say I want to add some examples to the tar man page: * How do I create a man page? (you answered this one) * Where is the vcs repo for tar? (I think it's this one git.savannah.gnu.org/tar.git) * I cloned the repo, but I don't see a contributing guide. Looks like I need to create an account and submit a patch online? * Do I need to let the mailing list know about it? How do code reviews work? None of these steps are dealbreakers, but together it all adds up to more unknowns I need to figure out before I can contribute. If existing projects make their contributing process smoother then I think we'll see more of this effort go directly to them.

masukomi 11y ago
agreed 100% when all you want to do is make a small tweak to some text spend literally hours trying to figure all that out just isn't worth it. Better to say "fuck it" and move on.
mch82 11y ago
The friction you feel likely is more than just perceived. Perseverance can often break past it and sometimes a disruptive spinoff proves to be required. I work at a company where the typical employee is 20-30 years older than I am. It is often a struggle to get people to adapt to change, the key is to persevere. As an example, I just finished participating in a 4-year effort to get my organization to adopt Git! Often, projects like TLDR are necessary as proofs of concept to help the old guard understand the value of an idea or initiative. Even something as simple as this discussion existing might help people see an unmet need or expectation exists. And sometimes, when the old guard fails to respond, it is worth spinning those projects off with a group who sees the "new way" as clearly as breathing oxygen and replacing the old way of doing things completely. Your list of bullets is a good one. To be honest with you, I've only contributed to open source docs a small number of times, submitting merge requests to Canonical. So, I will give updating a man page a try and see if I can figure it out.

by kevan 11y ago

masukomi 11y ago

agreed 100% when all you want to do is make a small tweak to some text spend literally hours trying to figure all that out just isn't worth it. Better to say "fuck it" and move on.

mch82 11y ago

The friction you feel likely is more than just perceived. Perseverance can often break past it and sometimes a disruptive spinoff proves to be required. I work at a company where the typical employee is 20-30 years older than I am. It is often a struggle to get people to adapt to change, the key is to persevere. As an example, I just finished participating in a 4-year effort to get my organization to adopt Git! Often, projects like TLDR are necessary as proofs of concept to help the old guard understand the value of an idea or initiative. Even something as simple as this discussion existing might help people see an unmet need or expectation exists. And sometimes, when the old guard fails to respond, it is worth spinning those projects off with a group who sees the "new way" as clearly as breathing oxygen and replacing the old way of doing things completely. Your list of bullets is a good one. To be honest with you, I've only contributed to open source docs a small number of times, submitting merge requests to Canonical. So, I will give updating a man page a try and see if I can figure it out.