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I've been met with the phrase RTFM often. I recognize its value. However, the manual pages are often hard to understand and written by people who know so much about the topic at hand that they don'...
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man-page
#2: Post edited
by
Peter Mortensen
·
2023-12-09T11:30:55Z (5 months ago)
Expanded. There isn't any need to declare a question - just ask it. [(its = possessive, it's = "it is" or "it has"]. Fixed the question formation - missing auxiliary (or helping) verb.
How to RTFM well to get a CLI command
I've met with the phrase RTFM often. I recognize it's value. However the manual pages are often hard to understand and written by people who know so much about the topic at hand, that they don't even realize how far away they are from a layman trying to use it.So here's my question:How to RTFM to use the command well and how to recognize if the `man` is the tool for the job (and what is, then: `apropos`, built-in help, `info` or something else?). How to "parse" man-pages quickly?Since this is a part of [Linux Basics Compendium](https://linux.codidact.com/posts/289650) I'd like to stay only on topic of usual GNU/Linux commands, present on usual distros.
- I've been met with the phrase [RTFM](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/RTFM#Phrase) often. I recognize its value. However, the manual pages are often hard to understand and written by people who know so much about the topic at hand that they don't even realize how far away they are from a layman trying to use it.
- How can I RTFM to use a command well, and how can I recognize if the `man` is the tool for the job (and what is, then: `apropos`, built-in help, `info` or something else?)? How can I "parse" man-pages quickly?
- Since this is a part of [Linux Basics Compendium](https://linux.codidact.com/posts/289650), I'd like to stay only on-topic of common GNU/Linux commands, present in the common distributions.
#1: Initial revision
by
LAFK
·
2023-11-13T12:56:30Z (6 months ago)
How to RTFM well to get a CLI command
I've met with the phrase RTFM often. I recognize it's value. However the manual pages are often hard to understand and written by people who know so much about the topic at hand, that they don't even realize how far away they are from a layman trying to use it. So here's my question: How to RTFM to use the command well and how to recognize if the `man` is the tool for the job (and what is, then: `apropos`, built-in help, `info` or something else?). How to "parse" man-pages quickly? Since this is a part of [Linux Basics Compendium](https://linux.codidact.com/posts/289650) I'd like to stay only on topic of usual GNU/Linux commands, present on usual distros.