Re: documentation (Was: ACL Problem, Insufficient access (50))

[Tony Earnshaw <tonni@barlaeus.nl>]

Alain Williams wrote:

> On Fri, Dec 23, 2005 at 07:49:44AM -0800, Kurt D. Zeilenga wrote:
> > I note that the OpenLDAP Project is community developed.
> > If you find the documentation lacking, please feel free to
> > contribute documentation improvements.  To get started,
> > see <<http://www.openldap.org/faq/index.cgi?file=730>http://www.openldap.org/faq/index.cgi?file=730>.
>
> I am aware of that, however as I noted, the documentation really needs to be done by
> those who truely understand openldap. I know that having to write documentation is
> boring and a pain, but without it the s/ware will not be used properly.

Tongue-in-cheek: Maybe someone who really understands OpenLDAP could 
attempt to emulate MySQL's doco, beginning at OL 2.0 and carry it 
through to OL 3.2, with all possible pros and cons.

One of the great things about OL is, that it allows guru culture 
concentration (GCC).  Ever wondered why there're so many GCC trepidation 
in the OL make output? Now you know. The money to be made from, and need 
for experts in, OL is by those who have built themselves up a head start 
in interpreting the doco. Time and again I find (in this as in other 
mailing lists) that OpenLDAP's doco is (to put it mildly) wanting.

Pier Angelo, Howard and others have obviously taken heed of this and 
done their utmost - especially the man pages for 2.3 have been improved 
beyond all recognition, I get the feeling mainly due to PA's 
sensibility. But if, now, someone could even begin at emulating MySQL's 
magnificent doco ... then. It ain't that many years ago that MySQL's 
doco could be classed as "utter shit". Maybe the improvement can be put 
down to sisu - sisu is the Finnish word for "going to win through, 
whatever", instead of bleating about other peoples' shortcomings and 
need to assume responsibility for the authors' own shortcomings.

Both OL and MySQL are magnificent products which arguably have no 
parallel in either proprietary or OS software. But of these two, only OL 
is regarded as "geek fodder", too difficult for lay people to cope with, 
whilst, in fact, it's far simpler to master than SQL and in particular 
MySQL. A handful (I'd put it at less than 10, of whom I'm not one) 
people contributing to this list *could* produce doco parallel to 
MySQL's. I'd guess they've never attempted to ...

--Tonni

--
Tony Earnshaw
Email: tonni@barlaeus.nl