Message-Id: <29FD1BB6-9AD8-485C-B5D2-23D66C15DC97@numericable.fr>
From: John Gage <jsmgage@numericable.fr>
To: PostgreSQL - General <pgsql-general@postgresql.org>
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Subject: Cognitive dissonance
Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2010 11:04:07 +0200

Unix is a text-based operating system with unbelievably helpful text  
manipulation tools.

Postgres is a creature of Unix which happens to have unbelievable text  
searching and manipulation tools.

Yet, the only one file edition of the Postgres documentation is  
in...pdf format.  Huh?

I know.  I know.  I have already brought this up.  And various ways of  
creating a one file text edition of the documentation have been  
proposed to me.  I know.

But either I am a visitor from the Crab Nebula, or there is someone  
else out there who would like to have a text file of the entire  
documentation.

Two examples from other applications.

I use Vim.  Vim's documentation is as easy to access as any  
documentation on earth...as long as you know exactly what you are  
looking for.  Otherwise, it is a tremendous pain.

I also use the National Library of Medicine's MeSH subject headings.   
25,000 descriptors with definitions, synonyms and a lot of other  
things.  They give it to you in single files either as text, xml, or  
other ways.  Big files.  Hundreds of megabytes.  That makes it so that  
you can do just about anything with it you want.  It is one of the  
seven wonders of the world.

I do suggest that a plain text file of the entire documentation be  
made part of the documentation armamentarium.

Respectfully,

John Gage