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

[Andreas Metzler]

On 2006-05-21 Frederik Eaton <frederik at a5.repetae.net> wrote:
>>> 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.

You'd start with chapter 3, probably "3.13 Delivery in detail", then
read "7. The default configuration file". After that you'd have a
basic understanding.

> 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. 

I really, honestly cannot see how anybody could start learning by
consulting the list of command-line options. The key things to know
are

1. What routers and transports do.
2. How ACLs work (If you can talk SMTP by telnet you are set).
3. Basic string expansion and lookups (lsearch), aka
the-lots-of-curly-braces-thing.
4. Where to find further documentation.

[...]
>>    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?

It is not useful. Usually the only options you'll need are:

- invoke with -oi -oem for piping (possible -t)
- start daemon with -bd -q15m
- Force queue-run with -qff
- -b* to test stuff
- Debug with -d

For everything else you'll usually just end up refering to the
option 
a) because some other piece of documentation refered to it. (In which
case alphabetical order is the most usable one.)
b) you are searching for an option that does X. In that case you'll
need to search for X using less, google, whatever.

The alphabetic order also groups similar options together, as for
example all testiong options start with -b, so is not just a mess.

cu andreas
-- 
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