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You're going to take the position that "gpg" is easy to use? Good luck with that. 'So how can unused features in a command line utility make something "practi
by jerf 5y ago
You're going to take the position that "gpg" is easy to use?
Good luck with that.
'So how can unused features in a command line utility make something "practically unusable"?'
By destroying the documentation's utility to someone who just wants to do some particular task, but has that much documentation to wade through.
- 0des 5y agoWhen has "too much documentation" ever been a problem? That's like being mad that the money in your wallet takes too much time to count. I'll take too much docs any day over not enough docs.
- sushisource 5y agoMany, many times is when it's been a problem. Even your analogy is lame, because it's not like that. The "money" is what you're looking for. It's like being mad that your wallet is so stuffed with pointless expired gift cards that you can never find the money, that'd be a more accurate analogy.
- tialaramex 5y agoSo, your next monthly salary should be in the form of sacks of pennies? The choice isn't "too much docs" Vs "not enough docs" it's "huge complicated thing" Vs "simple thing". The C++ Programming Language (B. Stroustrup) is a far longer book than The C Programming Language (K&R) but C++ is not a better or simpler to use language by dint of having a larger book
- ncmncm 5y agoAnalogy fail. Twice. The second failure is a result of promoting a personal hobby horse. Yes, we all know you are biased about C++. No, that doesn't make your bias relevant to all topics. Or any topic.
- aborsy 5y agoGpg for file encryption is easy to use. The difficulty that people refer to is about key management that holds for any program, and email encryption, that involves setting up an email client, a plug-in, getting the other side to use encryption, etc. This didn’t scale well, because the average user wants a zero click solution. The average user (and some times those familiar with technology) hasn’t heard of Thunderbird and doesn’t want to set that up. They have a short password and use web browsers.
- georgyo 5y agoGnupg is easy to use. Incredibly easy. All common use cases that new tools have are extremely straight forward. There is a lot of features that you can get deep into the weeds with. But the common use cases are dirt simple. Put another way, it would be easier to teach a grandparent how to use gnupg than it would be to teach something like age.
- samuel-lucas6 5y agoI think incredibly easy is a bit far. Look at how many commands and options there are in total: https://www.gnupg.org/documentation/manpage.html https://www.gnupg.org/documentation/manpage.html. Beyond that, the website isn't the easiest to navigate, and the guides they have linked are quite wordy. You simply cannot argue that it's user friendly overall. However, I'll admit that my original wording was too harsh in the case of simple encryption. I also agree that GPG with that command is slightly easier than age, although the documentation for age could be better in my opinion. GUI applications will always be best for the average user. The other point of new tools is to make changes to the file formats, cryptographic algorithms, etc and reduce the number of lines of code to make things more auditable.