public inbox for [email protected]
help / color / mirror / Atom feedFrom: Peter Eisentraut <[email protected]>
To: Bruce Momjian <[email protected]>
Cc: Nikolay Samokhvalov <[email protected]>
Cc: PostgreSQL-documentation <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Current docs are too comlicated for new Postgre users; thoughts on improvement
Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2009 17:09:10 +0200
Message-ID: <[email protected]> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <[email protected]>
References: <[email protected]>
Bruce Momjian wrote:
> Peter has made a change to improve this:
>
> III. Server Administration
> 15. Installation from Source Code
> 16. Installation from Source Code on Windows
> 17. Server Setup and Operation
That is what I said ...
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Nikolay Samokhvalov wrote:
>> Currently, Part III (Server Administration) starts with three chapters:
>> 15. Installation Instructions
>> 16. Installation on Windows
>> 17. Operating System Environment
>>
>> Here in Russia we have a situation, when the number of Win32 users of
>> Postgres is constantly increasing, so more and more questions like
>> "I've tried to install Postgres, clicked next/next/ok/ok/finish in
>> installation wizard, but it doesn't work / service cannot start / I
>> cannot connect" appear.
>>
>> The problem is that we cannot just say "RTFM" them, because it's
>> really hard to find (and in some cases even impossible) to find the
>> proper part of docs. Why? The chapters 15 and 16 of the main docs are
>> not about installation -- they are about building Postgres from
>> sources. Currently, even for *nix DBA installation most frequently
>> means really installation from RPM/.deb/bsd ports/etc, including
>> creation of system user and running initdb.
>>
>> As for Windows users, I haven't meet at least one who needs to know
>> how to build Postgres from sources under Windows! And really often I
>> see that Windows users cannot continue after some silly errors with
>> initdb process. Docs cannot help them -- they open Chapter 16, got
>> stuck and go away. And only really experienced DBAs know, that initdb
>> (one of the most important processes for newbies) is described in
>> "17.2. Creating a Database Cluster", which is located under "17.
>> Operating System Environment" in the main contents listing.
>>
>> I think that docs really need to be clarified, at least titles should
>> be corrected. I'd rename chapter 15 to smth like 'Building from source
>> code on *nix platforms", and 16th one to 'Building from source code on
>> Windows' and chapter 17 (most important) to 'Creation and Initial
>> configuration of database cluster' (maybe with some corrections of
>> contents).
>>
>> Going further, I'd remove detailed building instructions from the
>> beginning of Server Administration part (either to separate but single
>> chapter or even to appendix) and describe in details how to install
>> Postgres in different ways on different platforms, including:
>> - installation from RPM/deb/other packages;
>> - special attention to Windows users (how to install? what are common
>> problems?) /* btw, I won't wonder if win32 version of Postgres is
>> being downloaded more often than others */
>> - short version of installation from sources;
>> - initdb process;
>> - initial configuration on different platforms.
>>
>> I believe that this question is one of the most important when we are
>> thinking how to grow user base.
>>
>> Thoughts?
>>
>> --
>> Sincerely yours,
>> Nikolay Samokhvalov
>> Postgresmen LLC, http://postgresmen.ru
>>
>> --
>> Sent via pgsql-docs mailing list ([email protected])
>> To make changes to your subscription:
>> http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-docs
>
view thread (6+ messages)
reply
Reply instructions:
You may reply publicly to this message via plain-text email
using any one of the following methods:
* Reply to all the recipients using the --to and --cc options:
reply via email
To: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
Subject: Re: Current docs are too comlicated for new Postgre users; thoughts on improvement
In-Reply-To: <[email protected]>
* Save the following mbox file, import it into your mail client,
and reply-to-all from there: mbox
This inbox is served by agora; see mirroring instructions
for how to clone and mirror all data and code used for this inbox