Ports' tips and gotchas

[Vlad K.]

On 2017-01-04 10:50, Ben Woods wrote:
> 
> I have often thought that the FreeBSD wiki should contain a space for 
> ports
> help wikis, that can initially be created by the maintainer, but 
> other's
> could also add their tips and tricks.
> 
> It is often said that FreeBSD has great documentation, but only if the 
> help
> you are looking for is in the handbook. For many ports this is not the
> case, and projects like ArchLinux have far better documentation for how 
> to
> use their packages.

I have started a "proof of concept" section under my namespace, 
available here:

https://wiki.freebsd.org/VladimirKrstulja/PortsTipsTricksAndGotchas

It's just a starting layout with a couple of entries about issues 
mentioned in this thread that got this going.

Personally, I'm not sure we should be replicating the width and detail 
of wikis like ArchLinux'. The primary intent behind this is to offer 
some crucial and important information that's not immediately obvious to 
new users, or to list some information that is repeatedly being asked 
about, otherwise we again risk drowning out important info.

So if we really wanted to build a database of information of that 
magnitude, I believe we should be careful to properly structure and 
namespace such information so that these important bits are visible 
first, and the "less important info and/or already available elsewhere" 
be linked externally or as a sub-page.

I primarily want to make a "meta-database" of important information from 
which all other information is easily accessible. And most importantly: 
kept up to date.

With that I wholeheartedly agree that the maintainers should (per 
RFC2119 meaning of "should") create a page for ports they maintain and 
include all the important info there, which can then be expanded by 
anyone.

Just thinking out loud here.



-- 
Vlad K.