Re: man-pages-2.54 is released

[Michael Kerrisk <mtk-manpages@gmx.net>]

Gerhard Mack wrote:
> On Fri, 8 Jun 2007, Michael Kerrisk wrote:
> 
>> I just released man-pages-2.54
>>
> 
> This may sound like a dumb question but since you just released 
> man-pages-2.52 and man-pages-2.53 recently as one batch and now this one. 

Let's just say that I've been very busy lately...  (Getting some paid time
to work on man-pages helps a lot!)  One reason that releases get split up
is that for major edits (especially for formatting as opposed to content),
I am trying to separate the edits into separate releases to ease the life
of some downstream maintainers and translators.  From the MAINTAINING file
in the tarball:

    One day, it won't be me any more, so to make life easier for the
    next maintainer: some tips on how to maintain the Linux manual
    pages

    ...

    Release Philosophy
    ==================

    If you make sweeping *formatting* changes on a large number of
    pages, separate them out into their own release that contains
    minimal *content* changes.  This makes it easier for the people
    that want to verify content changes independently of the change
    log.  Yes, some people actually diff each release to see what
    changed; for example, downstream maintainers, and translators of
    the man pages (such as the dedicated Alain Portal, in recent
    times) sometimes like to do this.

> What is the difference between the versions and how do I know wich to 
> install?

The latest is, well, the latest.  (Take a look at Changes and Changes.old
in each release.)  Today, you want 2.54.  In a few days, you're likely to
want 2.55 ;-).

Best regards,

Michael

-- 
Michael Kerrisk
maintainer of Linux man pages Sections 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7

Want to help with man page maintenance?  Grab the latest tarball at
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/docs/manpages/
read the HOWTOHELP file and grep the source files for 'FIXME'.