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RE: Odd problem with open-ldap
--On Wednesday, January 05, 2005 11:12 AM -0600 "Armbrust, Daniel C."
<Armbrust.Daniel@mayo.edu> wrote:
Plus, the FAQ has answers that IMHO are poor - since they can be edited
by anyone - like this: http://www.openldap.org/faq/data/cache/1158.html
- Not only does it suggest using a BDB version that has since been
discovered to be to buggy for use (at least that is what I have gathered
from the mailing list), it recommends simply blowing away any other
version of the BDB stuff on the system. The same question is answered
better here: http://www.openldap.org/faq/data/cache/1113.html But then
it is buried under a platform solution - even though it applies to
multiple platforms.
That first listed entry is very problematic, I hope someone can delete it.
I don't expect people on the mailing list to thoughtfully answer every
single question that is asked. I realize nobody gets paid to answer the
questions. I'm just trying to suggest changes that would help more
people help themselves - and not ask the question in the first place.
The problem is, that people find it much easier in their mind to send an
email asking a question, then to go through the provided documentation.
The majority of questions that come into the list are answered in the man
pages or FAQ. And if they aren't there, they are most likely in the
mailing list archives. There is nothing that can really be done to cure
people of sending an email first.
My main disagreement boils down to this:
When something is asked over and over and over again - and when
"non-official" websites start popping up - that should be a pretty strong
indicator that maybe part of the main documentation should be revised and
improved. And I don't really consider the FAQ documentation.
Documentation is what allows you to use the software properly, and not
get errors. FAQs (and mailing list archives) are where you go when a
problem occurs.
My perspective on this is comparing how the OpenLDAP project operates in
comparison with other opensource projects that I follow/use/workwith.
I've seen this same issue on any opensource project I've worked with. No
amount of documentation cures people of email questioning.
On the unofficial "HOW-TO"'s, I don't like them much either. I maintain a
"HOW-I", but I actively link it against the OpenLDAP & BDB documentation so
that people can see *why* certain decisions were made (Like how to
configure the DB_CONFIG file). I've added the FAQ entry you listed on the
BDB linking issues to my "HOW-I", since that seems particularly useful. ;)
--Quanah
--
Quanah Gibson-Mount
Principal Software Developer
ITSS/Shared Services
Stanford University
GnuPG Public Key: http://www.stanford.edu/~quanah/pgp.html
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