On Fri, 7 Nov 2003, Henry Baragar wrote: >I strongly believe that our problem solving process (for binc) should >always start with the log files. Frequently, we can only make wild >speculations and need the information in the log files to improve our >speculations.
Very often true. >Consequently, I have three requests: >1. Can we establish a protocol that there is no log information that we >always reply to requests for help with a "What do the logs say?"? We could even ask wether the user has visited the FAQ and Life With Binc IMAP. If we can get the troubleshooter up to speed there, I think this will be quite optimal. Since there are several things that can improve response time (and quality) on this mailing list beyond including log output, I believe we should add a section on what to do before posting to the list, and how to post. Then when users post directly with little information, we could go Have you visited http://www.lifewithbincimap.org/index.php/Main/HowToPost ? >2. Can we add the >"http://lifewithbincimap.org/index.php/Main/HelpItDoesntWork"; link to > a. the installation instructions > b. several places in the FAQ, including as a separate topic > c. the binc home page (http://www.bincimap.org/), maybe next to the FAQ >(same line) and in the "Discussions" section >These are the places that came to mind immediately: it probably should be >posted other places. There is currently a link to the Wiki from the home page, and it is next to the FAQ. The Discussion section could have a link to the HowToPost or BeforeYouPost sections (that don't exist yet). I will add links to the README, because this is something we need. >3. Can solicit for a few volunteers to update "Help, It Doesn't Work" >whenever a encounter and solve a new type of problem? I think that if we >have 2-4 people that are thinking about updating the problem resolution >procedures that we quickly cover 99% of the problems that people encounter >when using binc. I (of course) would be one of the volunteers. Agreed. Of course anyone can contribute here. I'll try to update the Wiki when I encounter new problems. The HelpItDoesntWork section could need some structuring though; we could need to seperate at the root level with common starting points: - My connection is dropped \_ Was the imap server installed correctly? - Binc IMAP hangs \_ Does logging work? \_ Firewall? - Authentication failed \_ Are you using regular unix accounts? And so on.. then we could add sections as we handle requests from users. >BTW, I am thinking about copying/transforming some of the FAQ (e.g the >"Server broke..." question) into the "Help, It Doesn't Work" pages. >However, I do not like the idea of maintaining two different versions of >the same information because then both versions have to be updated when >something changes. What are your thoughts on this and how would you like >to proceed. I would actually like to think of it the other way around; the Wiki should be the "depository" from which I pull out essential information used to build up the FAQ. Right now the FAQ contains more information, so I guess it's okay to just transfer some information over. But don't worry about duplicating information - the FAQ is something I can maintain. The FAQ is bundled with the tarball and needs to act as sort of an "offline help", and it can refer to the Wiki. >ps. This message might really belong on the binc-dev list. HB binc@ is fine ;-). Andy -- Andreas Aardal Hanssen | http://www.andreas.hanssen.name/gpg Author of Binc IMAP | "It is better not to do something http://www.bincimap.org/ | than to do it poorly."
