===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/mandoc/Attic/manuals.7,v
retrieving revision 1.2
retrieving revision 1.5
diff -u -p -r1.2 -r1.5
--- mandoc/Attic/manuals.7	2009/03/22 14:09:38	1.2
+++ mandoc/Attic/manuals.7	2009/03/22 19:01:11	1.5
@@ -25,164 +25,65 @@ documentation
 If you add something to your operating system, whether it's a new file
 format or directory structure or device driver, it needs documentation.
 .\" SECTION
-.Sh CLASSIFICATION
-Classify your system component.  In
-.Ux ,
-each component has a 
-.Dq manual section ,
-which categorises the component's function.  The section of a manual is
-usually listed in parenthesis next to the component name, such as
-.Xr ps 1 ,
-section 1.  You can query a manual explicitly by its section:
-.Pp
-.Dl % man \-s 1 ps
-.Pp
-The following table lists broad classifications and the applicable
-manual sections:
-.Pp
-.\" LIST
-.Bl -tag -width "XXXXXXXXXXXX" -offset indent -compact
-.It Em Category
-.Em Section(s)
-.It Device
-4
-.It Executable
-1, 6, 8
-.It Function
-2, 3, 9
-.It File-format
-5
-.It Other
-7
-.El
+.Sh COMPOSITION
+Prepare your composition environment by copying over the manual template
+from 
+.Pa /usr/share/misc/mdoc.template .
+.Em \&Do not
+start afresh or by copying another manual unless you know exactly what
+you're doing!
 .\" SUBSECTION
-.Ss Devices
-Consists of hardware (and pseudo-) device driver documentation.  Drivers
-are unilaterally classified in section 4.
-.Em Note :
-these manuals are necessarily system- and architecture-specific.
+.Ss Section Numbering
+Find an appropriate section for your manual.  There may exist multiple
+manual names per section, so be specific.  A table of all available
+manual sections follows:
 .Pp
-Example:
-.Pp
 .\" LIST
-.Bl -tag -width "File-formatX" -offset indent -compact
-.It Em Manual
-.Em Description
-.It Xr dc 4
-DEC/Intel 10/100 Ethernet device
-.El
-.\" SUBSECTION
-.Ss Executables
-Executables consist of runnable binaries.  They're further classified by
-operator utility:
-.Pp
-.\" LIST
 .Bl -tag -width "XXXXXXXXXXXX" -offset indent -compact
 .It Em Section
 .Em Description
 .It 1
 operator utilities
-.It 8 
-administrator utilities
-.It 6
-games
-.El
-.Pp
-Examples:
-.Pp
-.\" LIST
-.Bl -tag -width "XXXXXXXXXXXX" -offset indent -compact
-.It Em Manual
-.Em Description
-.It Xr usermod 8
-modify user login information
-.It Xr cc 1
-the C compiler
-.It Xr fortune 6
-print a random adage
-.El
-.\" SUBSECTION
-.Ss Functions
-Function documentation describes programme source code, whether in the
-form of libraries, modules or standalone sources.  They're further
-classified by context: 
-.Pp
-.\" LIST
-.Bl -tag -width "XXXXXXXXXXXX" -offset indent -compact
-.It Em Section
-.Em Description
 .It 2
 system calls
 .It 3, 3p, 3f
 programming libraries (C, Perl, Fortran)
+.It 5
+file and wire protocol formats
+.It 6
+games
+.It 7
+tutorials, documents and papers
+.It 8 
+administrator utilities
 .It 9
 in-kernel routines
 .El
 .Pp
-.Em Note :
-section 2 and 9 manuals are necessarily system- and often
-architecture-specific.  Examples:
-.Pp
-.\" LIST
-.Bl -tag -width "XXXXXXXXXXXX" -offset indent -compact
-.It Em Manual
-.Em Description
-.It Xr open 2
-open or create a file for reading or writing
-.It Xr isspace 3
-whitespace character test
-.It Xr Pod::Man 3p
-convert POD data to formatted roff
-.It Xr tsleep 9
-process context sleep
-.El
+If your manual falls into multiple categories, choose the most
+widely-used or, better, re-consider the topic of your manual to be more
+specific.  You can list all manuals per section by invoking
+.Xr apropos 1 ,
+then provide the
+.Fl s
+flag to
+.Xr man 1
+to see the specific section manual (section 1, in this example):
+.\" DISPLAY
+.Bd -literal -offset indent
+% apropos myname
+myname (1) - some description here
+% man \-s 1 myname
+.Ed
 .\" SUBSECTION
-.Ss File-formats
-A file format usually describes the format of on-disc binary or text
-data, although it can also be used to describe wire protocols (this is
-usually best left to RFC).  These manuals are unilaterally classified in
-section 5.
-.Pp
-Example:
-.Pp
-.\" LIST
-.Bl -tag -width "XXXXXXXXXXXX" -offset indent -compact
-.It Em Manual
-.Em Description
-.It Xr passwd 5
-format of the password file
-.El
-.\" SUBSECTION
-.Ss Other
-Documents with no other classification are relegated to section 7.  This
-constitutes reference tutorials (such as this document) and other
-miscellaneous information.
-.Pp
-Examples:
-.Pp
-.\" LIST
-.Bl -tag -width "XXXXXXXXXXXX" -offset indent -compact
-.It Em Manual
-.Em Description
-.It Xr ascii 7
-ASCII character sets
-.It Xr symlink 7
-symbolic link handling
-.El
-.\" SECTION
-.Sh COMPOSITION
-Prepare your composition environment.  
-.\" SUBSECTION
 .Ss Naming
-Your component will need a name by which to query its contents via
-.Xr man 1 .
-Keep it simple.  You may want to look for other manuals by that same
-name before committing:
+Name your component.  Be terse, erring on the side of clarity.  You may
+want to look for other manuals by that same name before committing:
 .Pp
 .Dl % apropos myname
 .Pp
-Conventionally, manual files are named 
-.Pa myname.section ,
+Manual files are named 
+.Pa myname.mysection ,
 such as
 .Pa manuals.7
 for this document.
@@ -204,13 +105,13 @@ packages of 
 .Xr roff 7 ;
 newer languages such as DocBook, texinfo or schema-driven XML; or even
 ad-hoc conventions such as README files.  
-.Em Stay away from these methods!
+.Em Avoid these formats .
 Historical formats fail to capture a manual's semantic content, instead
 only modelling its style.  Newer methods requires special,
 system-specific tools and may change or become obsolete over the
 life-time of your component.
 .Pp
-There are two canonical references for writing mdoc manuals:
+There are two canonical references for writing mdoc.  Read them.
 .Pp
 .\" LIST
 .Bl -tag -width XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX -offset indent -compact
@@ -220,9 +121,9 @@ formal language reference
 macro reference
 .El
 .Pp
-Don't merely copy existing manuals!  Most systems distribute an mdoc
-template to help you get started in
-.Pa /usr/share/misc/mdoc.template .
+Open the template you've copied into
+.Pa name.section
+and begin editing.
 .\" SUBSECTION
 .Ss Development Tools
 While writing, make sure that your manual is correctly structured:
@@ -242,7 +143,6 @@ to version-control your work.  If you wish the last ch
 your document's date, use the following RCS tag for the date macro:
 .Pp
 .Dl \&.Dd $Mdocdate: March 22 2009 $
-.Pp
 .\" SUBSECTION
 .Ss Viewing
 mdoc documents may be paged to your terminal with traditional 
@@ -276,10 +176,8 @@ output:
 \&.in.1:
 	mandoc -Wall,error -Tlint $<
 	cp -f $< $@
-
 \&.1.html:
 	mandoc -Thtml $< >$@
-
 \&.1.txt:
 	mandoc -Tascii $< | col -b >$@
 .Ed
@@ -289,7 +187,7 @@ The
 .Xr mdoc 7
 and 
 .Xr mdoc.samples 7
-files will be indispensable in guiding composition.  In this section, we
+files are indispensable in guiding composition.  In this section, we
 introduce some 
 .Ux
 manual best practices:
@@ -314,7 +212,7 @@ symbols and so on), use the escapes dictated in
 .\" SUBSECTION
 .Ss References 
 Other components may be referenced with the
-.Sq \&Xr ,
+.Sq \&Xr
 and
 .Sq \&Sx
 macros.  Make sure that these exist.  If you intend to distribute your
@@ -330,7 +228,21 @@ publications, please use the
 .Sq \&Rs/Re
 block macros.
 .\" SUBSECTION
-.Ss Types and Prototypes
-If writing section 3 manuals, make sure that you correctly annotate your
-variables and functions.  This guarantees that cross-referncing between
-function names and their prototypes works properly.
+.Ss Formatting
+Let the front-ends worry about formatting for you, but if you must think
+about formatting (at times necessary, especially for tagged and columnar
+lists), assume that your output device is a fixed-width terminal window:
+.Bd -literal -offset indent
+\&.Bl \-tag \-width "-o outfile"
+\&.It \&Fl \&Ar outfile
+.Ed
+.Pp
+You may assume that the width calculated by the string literal 
+.Qq Fl o Ar outfile
+will be covered by the \-width argument.
+.\" SECTION
+.Sh MAINTENANCE
+As your component changes and bugs are fixed, your manual may become out
+of date.  You may be tempted to use automation tools like Doxygen to
+smooth the development of your manuals.  Don't.  Source documentation is
+different from a component manual.