cynicalsecurity 1d ago
‮
underrated life hack: if you read the manpages they tell you how things work
Apr 2 at 1:36amWeb
Show thread‮1d ago
(except when they don't. oops. well at least there's... reading kernel sources...)
Show threadjbaggs1d ago
@astrid Ah yes. Back when computing was a somewhat academic discipline, and not "vibe" based.
Show threadHaelwenn /элвэн/ 1d ago
@astrid And then when reading the source you go like "Oh… oh no *writes some code*"
Show threadmar1d ago
@astrid do they even make comprehensive manuals like that for most gui stuff?

im just so fed up i need to go look up videos online for how to use anything on my computer...
Show thread‮1d ago
@mar depends on the software but sometimes you have that corporate behemoth gui that has that ginormous f1 menu
Show threadenachtpfoetchen6s01d ago

@mar @astrid tbh one of the best things of working with big corporate software like ArcGis was for me always the documentation. Translated in several languages little pictures (also localized).

It still crashed all the time. But the gui docs were nice :3

Show threadEpsi1d ago
@astrid attention span too shot to read docs sorry 
Show threadDie Welt ist1d ago
@epsi ikr 😭 and a lot of it could also be written in ancient latin
Show threadDie Welt ist1d ago
@epsi there's a reason why tldr exists smh
Show thread Ned Hairston1d ago

@astrid You don't need a man to mansplain anymore. There are manpages for that. We really are living in the future.

Just like a man, the manpages often explain everything except my original queestion.

Show threadφ1d ago
@astrid except on gnu . then tje manpage is like a lil teaser of the info page . spoilers : the info page sucks
Show threadm1d ago
@fiore @astrid Info is also shittier tech than manpages, they are stored in plaintext by default so can't be reexported or rendered on non monospace or a different column size, unless you find the actual source files which arent installed and dont work with the shitty reader and use their antichrist Perl toolchain to comoile them to a pdf or smth.

Meanwhile just man -Tpgf and be happy
Show threadjiub   1d ago
@[email protected] @[email protected] oblig xkcd https://xkcd.com/912/
Manual Override

xkcd
Show threadφ1d ago
@jiub @astrid been in this situation multiple times
Show threadtoebeans ch. 🇨🇳    1d ago
@fiore @jiub @astrid omg you hijack airplanes too?
Show threadφ1d ago
@coolbean @astrid @jiub yes
Show threadjiub   1d ago
@[email protected] @[email protected] real ​​
Show threadRachel1d ago
@[email protected] tbh I love reading good docs
Show thread‮1d ago
@rachel I AM ALWAYS SAYING THIS
Show threadtiger tiger tiger1d ago
@astrid @rachel
READ THE FANTASTIC MANUAL
Show threadWho by avalanche who by powder1d ago
@rachel @astrid As one who writes the manuals, this warms my heart.
Show threadcavewoman rika 1d ago
@rachel @astrid seems like too much of an accurate picture of my gf to be coincidence. uncanny.
Show threadKuru  (too eepy to spin)1d ago
@astrid plot twist: you don't have man installed because you girl
Show threadOmar Antolín1d ago
@astrid I often start my answers to questions about software with: "Is looking it up in the manual considered cheating? The manual says that...".
Show threadn3wjack1d ago
@astrid That's why it's called mansplaining, isn't it?
Show threadMarkus Sugarhill 1d ago
@astrid you're a crazy one...
Show threadSirWumpus 👾🍁1d ago
@astrid Unless it those annoying "info" pages that hide the information that should be in the man page.
Show threadOblomov1d ago

@astrid

"""
The full documentat for <what you wanted to look up> is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the info program is properly installed at your site, the command

info <what you wanted to look up>

should give you access to the complete manual.
"""

Show threadkæt1d ago
@oblomov @astrid Oh god, texinfo. Alongside kpathsea and autoconf, things I remember making working life a trivial bit more irritating and miserable.
Show threadTim Chase1d ago

@chiffchaff @oblomov @astrid

If you haven't encountered it yet, info(1) detects if output isn't a terminal, giving the entire document in one go, so you can make it MUCH more usable with

$ info $THING | less

to just get a dump of the whole info-page without having to navigate in and out of various sections.

Show threadOblomov1d ago
@gumnos @chiffchaff @astrid that's actually good to know, thanks.
Show threadTim Chase1d ago

@oblomov

I've found that I can't tolerate using info(1) without that trick, so I tend to share it around in the hopes that others experience similar relief 😆

Show threadaltf41d ago
@astrid Correction, they tell you how the things are SUPPOSED to work. It's when you discover how it works that you make merge-requests to fix the man page 😇
Show threadm1d ago
@astrid This is somebodies 100page linkedin post
Show threadnovember1d ago
@astrid Sidenote: I really wish manpages consistently included example commands
Show threadHyrax  1d ago
@astrid What?? I don't trust a man, when catpages?
Show threadniconiconi1d ago
@[email protected] Works better on FreeBSD.
Show threadpitch R.22h ago
@astrid Whats ur favorite manpage?
Mine is 'hier'. Thats how i show new folks the beauty of documentation and order.
Show thread‮22h ago
@pitch mine is https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man2/execve.2.html because it's actually slightly wrong
execve(2) - Linux manual page