Fedora12 Release Notes.

[Bill Davidsen]

Ed Greshko wrote:
> reg at dwf.com wrote:
>> What has happened to the concept of release notes that a person could
>> actually print down and read?
>>
>> Previous releases have had Release Notes that were mabe 20 pages long, with a
>> sentence or two about each change.
>>
>> I looked at the Release Notes for Fedora12, and its a 500page PDF document.
>> Now thats way longer than I want to print, since I would never read it all, and
>> there is no way Im going to read more than a page or two of it online. 
>>
>> So basically, someone has spent a lot of time, generating a very nice looking 
>> document, which I am sure has a lot of good information in it, but we need 
>> something more compact. Something I can read in 10minutes.
>>
>> As it stands, I have to assume that I, and everyone else just ignores these
>> Release Notes.  Too bad.
>>   
> Well, you can count me out in your assumption.
> 
> I enjoy the entire 496 page document that has a comprehensive index
> which makes it easy for me to locate change information on the subjects
> most important to me.  I entirely appreciate the amount of time and
> effort it took those responsible to create this fine document.
> 
> I wouldn't want to see less information in the release notes.  I'm
> impressed that someone went to the effort to list all of the upstream
> URLs and have found that to be of great value to me.
> 
Obviously you have lots of time to fill. I would be a lot happier with a list of 
what changes and a sentence or two describing the new version or pointing to 
great detail if I want or need it. If you are looking at "will this change 
effect me" you don't want War and Peace you want the Cliff Notes or less.

> Besides, I don't know how anyone could create a document which would
> contain all the information that conforms to each individual's 10 minute
> attention span.  Any document that short would certainly leave out
> information important to someone.
> 
In many cases you don't want or need that level of detail. "Updated to vx.y.z" 
may be sufficient. A few pages allow reading on the train, in boring meetings if 
you sit properly in the back, and in lots of places where a laptop would be out 
of place, like a chain restaurant or even in the can.

> FWIW, I can't remember the last time I printed a even a 10 page document. 
> 
Old age creeps up on all of us.


-- 
Bill Davidsen <davidsen at tmr.com>
   "We have more to fear from the bungling of the incompetent than from
the machinations of the wicked."  - from Slashdot