RE: [GENERAL] Re: QUERY - Including the new LDP PostgreSQL HOWTO in the main PostgreSQL distribution

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I've always found the HOWTOs useful to get something up and going for
the first time.  HOWTOs *don't* generally explain how or why things
work or don't work, and make various blanket assumptions about your
environment (although they will normally indicate those).  What they
do is get a particular package up and working for you.  A good
example is the Apache+SSL+FrontPage+SomethingElse HOWTO.  When I got
to the end of the HOWTO, I still didn't have much idea of how the
packages worked, but I had a working system that I could start trying
things out on.  And from there, I could start understanding the
system.  It's the first step in a long process, but that first step
is frequently the most frustrating (and where a lot of people stop),
and the HOWTOs are written to ease that first step.  So, yes it is
different from a FAQ.  I'm not sure if there is a section like this
in the existing docs, I'm not that familiar with them.  But anyway,
that's what I understand a HOWTO to be, and I've found them extremely
useful in the past.

Cheers...

>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Bruce Momjian [mailto:pgman@candle.pha.pa.us]
>> Sent: 09 July 2001 13:31
>> To: Justin Clift
>> Cc: pgsql-general@postgresql.org; pgsql-docs@postgresql.org
>> Subject: [GENERAL] Re: [DOCS] QUERY - Including the new LDP
>> PostgreSQL
>> HOWTO in the main PostgreSQL distribution
>>
>>
>> > Hi all,
>> >
>> > We've had the go-ahead from the Linux Documentation
>> Project (LDP) guys
>> > to create a new PostgreSQL HOW-TO for a while now.  I was
>> going to start
>> > it off just to make sure we had something, so that it could be
>> > put around instead of Al Dev's Database Guide (the bad one).
>> >
>> > Well, I haven't had time.  Here's my thought, I'd like to know
>> > what people think.
>> >
>> >  - How about we create a new PostgreSQL HOW-TO, have it as
>> part of the
>> > main distribution, and have that be the one which the LDP guys
>> > use? 
>> >
>> > They use DocBook format, as do we, and I feel this will
>> allow us to keep
>> > a very in-sync relationship between the new PostgreSQL
>> HOW-TO and the
>> > present version.
>> >
>> > It also means that no one person has total control of it,
>> and it can be
>> > contributed to by anyone that has a suggestion and/or can
>> generate a
>> > diff.
>>
>> I always wondered how a HOTTO differs from an FAQ or the
>> existing docs.
>>
>> --
>>   Bruce Momjian                        |  http://candle.pha.pa.us
>>   pgman@candle.pha.pa.us               |  (610) 853-3000
>>   +  If your life is a hard drive,     |  830 Blythe Avenue
>>   +  Christ can be your backup.        |  Drexel Hill,
>> Pennsylvania 19026
>>
>> ---------------------------(end of
>> broadcast)---------------------------
>> TIP 4: Don't 'kill -9' the postmaster
>>

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