Bug#368328: closed by Andreas Metzler <ametzler@debian.org> (Re: Bug#368328: which options are the most important?)

[Frederik Eaton]

> > The exim4 man page doesn't say which command-line options are the most
> > important.
> 
> > The options are listed in alphabetical order, so I don't know in which
> > order to read them to start learning about exim.
> 
> You should not read the manpage to "start learning about exim", the
> manpage is just a short reference, not a manual. Read
> /usr/share/doc/exim4-base/spec.txt.gz or
> /usr/share/doc/exim4-doc-html/html/index.html if you want to learn
> about exim.

Yes, it looks like spec.txt.gz is a good way to learn about exim... if
I want to learn about the whole thing, in every excruciating detail,
from start to finish.

I also notice that the command-line options are alphabetized in that
document as well.

I don't think you're honestly considering the merits of my suggestion. 

What if I want to *start* learning about exim? What if I just want to
know how to, say (*gasp*) _do_ something with it? Something simple? 
Without reading a novel? Without getting a professional certification?

> ...
> > So that leaves me wondering why it was decided to list the command
> > line options in alphabetical order in the manual page.
> 
> 
> Because
> a) it is just a short reference

It's NOT short.

> b) "importance" does not provide complete ordering of options.

So what? It's better than alphabetical order.

>    I am quite familiar with exim but given two options I really cannot
>    tell which one is more important (Is -d or -qqf more important?), I
>    could probably order them into "used often", "internal" and
>    "everything else", but thats not useful.

That would be very useful indeed. Could you do that?

Frederik

-- 
http://ofb.net/~frederik/