The manpage wiki: a great idea?

[blackbelt_jones]

I just had one of those brilliant ideas that one gets at two thirty in the morning. I'm old enough to know that, after the sun comes up, it's probably going to turn out to have a fatal flaw, or if it really is such a great idea, someone has already done it.

Anyway, before I break my arm patting myself on the back for being a genius, I thought I'd put it out there for your approval and/or ridicule.

What if someone were to transcribe the man pages to a wiki format on the WWWeb, ... where they could be thrown open for elaboration, clarification, annotation, and best of all, illustration. (I don't mean pictures, I mean examples.)

Of course, the man pages as they exist in our systems would be untouched, but a second, public manpage might be helpful when you can't figure out the regular manpage is saying.

This idea seems so simple someone must have already done it, but I couldn't find anything in Google under man page wiki.

There must be a reason why my idea is delusional. Someone please tell me why, so I won't waste any time on it.

[klackenfus]

This idea seems so simple someone must have already done it, but I couldn't find anything in Google under man page wiki.

http://man.he.net/

Not a true WIKI but an attempt at bringing manpages to the web.

[blackbelt_jones]

Well, that's hardly the same thing... but it looks pretty cool; I bookmarked it.

[klackenfus]

Yes, a true Wiki would allow you to make changes, add content, etc. However, I don't know if you'd want that level of flexibility for manpages. Just my thoughts, others will differ.

[blackbelt_jones]

Well, remember that the manpage that you would get by typing "man" would still be there; it wouldn't be affected.

There may be other possible formats. Perhaps a "blog" format would be preferable. The original manpage would be intact, but people could leave comments, suggestions, and examples.

[sleepyEDB]

Well, remember that the manpage that you would get by typing "man" would still be there; it wouldn't be affected.

There may be other possible formats. Perhaps a "blog" format would be preferable. The original manpage would be intact, but people could leave comments, suggestions, and examples.

I think a blog format is preferrable to a true-to-definition wiki. Having the ability to append comments, layman's-term translations and examples to the original man page (viewable at the top of the page) would be very nice.

With a wiki, however, the actual content of the man information is changeable, so the integrity is no longer guaranteed. Granted, it is 100% on the user to verify that the content they are copy+pasting from the online man-wiki into their CLI is in fact valid but the fact remains that it could in fact be erroneous or even harmful (a carefully hidden rm -rf ~/*, anyone? ).


sleepy

[blackbelt_jones]

I think a blog format is preferrable to a true-to-definition wiki. Having the ability to append comments, layman's-term translations and examples to the original man page (viewable at the top of the page) would be very nice.

With a wiki, however, the actual content of the man information is changeable, so the integrity is no longer guaranteed. Granted, it is 100% on the user to verify that the content they are copy+pasting from the online man-wiki into their CLI is in fact valid but the fact remains that it could in fact be erroneous or even harmful (a carefully hidden rm -rf ~/*, anyone? ).


sleepy

Yep, you're absolutely right. The potential for malicious pranks and griefing absolutely exists with a man-wiki.

Right now I'm working on my long awaited (by no one other than myself) "Setting up openSUSE" tutorial. Maybe later, I'll try to start a "manblog" (sounds really gay, doesn't it? )

It would be easy to do. I wouldn't have to reproduce the whole manual, just a couple of hundred major commands. For starters, I might let something like this page be my guide.

[cybertron]

Yeah, a blog format would be nice. PHP has something like that for their documentation where users can leave snippets of code, workarounds for bugs, and the like. It's helped me out a couple of times when I was working in PHP.

For example: http://us2.php.net/manual/en/function.system.php

[nabetse]

The problem with a manblog is that you'd eventually collect a large number of comments that aren't organized in a way that is easy for people to find the information they're looking for. The comments would simply be listed chronologically.

It would be nice if there was some blogging system that would allow people to organize their comments by topic.

Or, better yet, a wiki that allows articles to be separated into an unmodifiable section (the original man) and a modifiable section (where users can post code, examples, etc).

[blackbelt_jones]

The problem with a manblog is that you'd eventually collect a large number of comments that aren't organized in a way that is easy for people to find the information they're looking for. The comments would simply be listed chronologically.

It would be nice if there was some blogging system that would allow people to organize their comments by topic.

Or, better yet, a wiki that allows articles to be separated into an unmodifiable section (the original man) and a modifiable section (where users can post code, examples, etc).

I suppose that's technically feasible, but I wouldn't know how to go about it. My inclination is to just go with the blog, and if enough people show up that it's really a problem (it would have to be a lot, since anything that's in a browser page is searchable by defintion) I could always use my moderator powers to cut the fat.

[cybertron]

You could always go with a Digg-style system. Have users rate the comments so the most useful end up near the top. It also fits well with the Web 2.0 style.

[panther3e]

black_belt I like your idea and that it could be very useful. I wonder is something could be started on the justlinux forum. That way requests could be made and people could offer there knowledge. It would also be easy to search and maintain.

[JohnT]

"Maybe later, I'll try to start a "manblog" (sounds really gay, doesn't it? )

These boards are not to be used for confessionals, under any circumstances
MB "Man your Blog"...sounds more nautical

[cybertron]

These boards are not to be used for confessionals, under any circumstances
MB "Man your Blog"...sounds more nautical

Hey, look who's back! A long way from Texas now too I see.

[JohnT]

I like to drop in every now and then to make sure you guys are keeping it clean.