For My Edification

[Robert Huff]

Daniel Staal writes:

>  > I would like to add the excellent manpages of the system.
>  > Unlike many Linusi, those manpages are kept current by the
>  > FreeBSD operating system developers and their documentation
>  > assistants. So whenever you're not fully sure about something,
>  > use "man <something". This applies to commands, configuration
>  > files, kernel interfaces, library calls and maintenance
>  > procedures. *Everything* is well documented. And you don't
>  > even need Internet access to get that information, as the
>  > manpage doesn't direct you to some arbitrary Wiki on the
>  > web. :-)
>  
>  And, vice-versa, you don't need a FreeBSD box to read them, if
>  you have the web: They are all posted online at
>  <http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi> for you to read.

	It is worth noting there are reference works - intended for
those who already know something about a topic/program - not
tutorials intended to teach concepts and terminology on how to do a
specific task.
	At this point I usually recommend the most recent edition of
_/The Unix System Administration Handbook/_.  It is well-written; it
covers flavors other than FreeBSD; and it goes into enough of the
conceptual infrastructure to be very useful in diagnosing some kinds
of breakage.


				Robert Huff