> Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2014 07:36:03 -0300 > From: Fernando de Oliveira <[email protected]> > To: BLFS Development List <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [blfs-dev] The asking for help page needs to be clarified > > On 10-10-2014 20:28, Christopher Gregory wrote: > > On Fri, 2014-10-10 at 18:12 -0500, Bruce Dubbs wrote: > >> Christopher Gregory wrote: > >>> Hello, > >>> > >>> Now that we have the systemd version as a stable option we need to > >>> over-haul the asking for help section. > > >> There is section 1.5 in LFS, but many people either don't read it or > >> ignore it. The first item says: > >> > >> Apart from a brief explanation of the problem being experienced, the > >> essential things to include in any request for help are: > >> > >> o The version of the book being used (in this case SVN-20141008) > >> > >> That is also mentioned in BLFS, Chapter 1 - Asking for Help and the FAQ. > > >> Perhaps a sample form would help. . . > >>> 3) That they attach the full log-file of the error that they are getting . . > >> We already say essentially that, however I don't want 200K log files > >> littering the mailing list. > > > > Hello Bruce, > > > > With regards to the log files littering the mailing lists, other distros > > have at least in the past suggested that logfiles get posted to > > http://www.pastebin.com and a link provided in the support email.3 > > Full log file is not useful. W all have already helped people who used > pastebin.
For archiving purposes, you really, in practice, want at least the most-relevant parts of error-messages to be inline in the mailing-list messages: having them systematically all off-site, is not only unduly bureaucratic, but also runs the risk of essentially losing that context later, if/as/when the external site disappears/'rearranges'/etc. > > Help is working well most of the time. Many questions are not version > specific. > > I think it is more our responsibility to repeat the questions to the > user asking for help. > Might it be useful to address the main pressure-points, in mailing-list footer like for the top-posting issue; maybe also in the new-registration email sequence; perhaps even also in the monthly reminders. This would be as a reinforcing back-up for the main book & website infos. Just a few short lines re including book-type/book-version/version-check.sh/&c. But of course, you don't want to be saddling ~every message with footer boilerplate that folks just become oblivious to, thus putting things back to square one. Also, of course, folks that don't absorb/appreciate the website/book infos on these matters, are likely to be the same ones that do likewise for footer-/other- located similar info. That said, the help sys seems to be working not too badly. As noted, many questions are not especially version-specific; and it is usually established quite readily if/when such info is needed. However, overall, fwiw I'd prefer if folks would include at least book-type/book-version & (for lfs) some version-check info, in the initial message of a thread. (I'd expect that there's a fairly strong correlation between being OK with going to the "effort" of providing that info, and successful builds of b/lfs). rgds, akh -- -- http://lists.linuxfromscratch.org/listinfo/blfs-dev FAQ: http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/faq.html Unsubscribe: See the above information page
