Talk:rn (newsreader)
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Untitled
[edit]Here is an example where capitalizing the title is silly. It is not at all commonplace to capitalise UNIX shell commands as then they won't work. --drj
Yes, but if you don't capitalize it, you can't link to it. It's a software feature/bug. --LMS
Yes I know, that's why I mentioned it. It's a bug in this case, IMO. I'm sure we can live with it. --drj
Early versions of 'rn' accessed the Usenet news directly from the server it ran on.
- This is not exactly a distinction. Every news reader accessed the spool directly before this new-fangled interweb thing got started. rn is notable because it was the first screen-oriented news reader, and its user interface is still a model today. readnews, the original news reader, was line-oriented. (I'm old enough to remember both.) There was also vn, which was also screen-oriented and roughly contemporaneous with rn, which had a clunkier (more gopher-like as I recall) user interface that's similar in concept to many modern mail clients. 18.24.0.120 07:24, 14 Jan 2004 (UTC)
- OK, I've now rewritten the main article to clearly spell out what made rn important any what happened to it. 18.24.0.120 06:28, 18 Jan 2004 (UTC)
Wayne Davison listed at Redirects for discussion
[edit]
An editor has asked for a discussion to address the redirect Wayne Davison. Please participate in the redirect discussion if you wish to do so. signed, Rosguill talk 02:21, 19 May 2019 (UTC)
opinions about autoconfiguration script...
[edit]Edits changing quantifiers probably need a reliable source TEDickey (talk) 19:27, 30 August 2023 (UTC)
- Since that claim is already unsourced, maybe it should be removed entirely? It is clearly untrue as it is right now. 206.204.236.63 (talk) 22:27, 30 August 2023 (UTC)
- The existing link in the paragraph forwards the reader to relevant information. If you disagree, try disproving it, as a start. In a quick check of the makefiles in pkgsrc, only 482 of 19263 packages lack a configure script. I expect similar numbers from any large collection of packages. Given that, it's something that most people will take for granted and question why someone wants to alter it. TEDickey (talk) 23:47, 30 August 2023 (UTC)
- None of the top 25 trending GitHub repos right now have ./configure, while 22 of them have open-source licenses: https://github.com/trending
- Of course, that's a small sample, but it makes it highly unlikely that "most" open-source software uses something if none of the top 25 GitHub repositories use it. 206.204.236.63 (talk) 00:22, 31 August 2023 (UTC)
- 25 is a very small number, compared to the number of repositories (which by the way neither is relevant to the number of programs). Paraphrasing your comment, changing "Most people in the United States speak English" to "Many people in the United States speak English" has the same effect on the meaning. That's arguing from a false premise. TEDickey (talk) 00:34, 31 August 2023 (UTC)
- What would you consider to show that "Today, most open source software is distributed with a similar script, such as autoconf" is not true? Would you consider a larger sample of top GitHub repositories, filtered to only ones containing software (not a web site, documentation, etc.) under OSI-approved licenses valid? 206.204.236.63 (talk) 00:58, 31 August 2023 (UTC)
- I removed the 'such as autoconf' since it adds little/no value IMO. If it's used in many or most projects then listing once seems silly. Stevebroshar (talk) 12:38, 19 December 2024 (UTC)
- What would you consider to show that "Today, most open source software is distributed with a similar script, such as autoconf" is not true? Would you consider a larger sample of top GitHub repositories, filtered to only ones containing software (not a web site, documentation, etc.) under OSI-approved licenses valid? 206.204.236.63 (talk) 00:58, 31 August 2023 (UTC)
- 25 is a very small number, compared to the number of repositories (which by the way neither is relevant to the number of programs). Paraphrasing your comment, changing "Most people in the United States speak English" to "Many people in the United States speak English" has the same effect on the meaning. That's arguing from a false premise. TEDickey (talk) 00:34, 31 August 2023 (UTC)
- WRT "The existing link in the paragraph forwards the reader to relevant information" What link? This article has just one reference ... that is a broken link! And it has one external link ... that is broken :( The see alsos don't seem to be about the configure script. You're claim about pkgsrc seems to be OR. Not saying it's wrong, but ... ... WRT "it's something that most people will take for granted and question why someone wants to alter it" what does 'it' refer to? Stevebroshar (talk) 12:45, 19 December 2024 (UTC)
- The existing link in the paragraph forwards the reader to relevant information. If you disagree, try disproving it, as a start. In a quick check of the makefiles in pkgsrc, only 482 of 19263 packages lack a configure script. I expect similar numbers from any large collection of packages. Given that, it's something that most people will take for granted and question why someone wants to alter it. TEDickey (talk) 23:47, 30 August 2023 (UTC)
- Also, should I ask on article talk pages in the future when an edit is reverted and I don't know why? I've done that on user talk pages so the user gets a notification; is there another way to notify them? 206.204.236.63 (talk) 22:29, 30 August 2023 (UTC)
- The talk page is the place to discuss improvements to topics. TEDickey (talk) 23:47, 30 August 2023 (UTC)
- Okay, I will use article talk pages in the future. Is there a way to notify the user who reverted my edit? 206.204.236.63 (talk) 00:59, 31 August 2023 (UTC)
- WP doesn't seem to have a notification feature; not something that communicates outside of WP like email or something. You can write a note in talk or on a user's page and maybe your intended audience will see it. It's both lame and it's nice that WP doesn't send spam. Stevebroshar (talk) 12:33, 19 December 2024 (UTC)
- Okay, I will use article talk pages in the future. Is there a way to notify the user who reverted my edit? 206.204.236.63 (talk) 00:59, 31 August 2023 (UTC)
- The talk page is the place to discuss improvements to topics. TEDickey (talk) 23:47, 30 August 2023 (UTC)
- From this discussion I cannot tell what the original changes/concerns were. I will say this: this article is about a usenet news reader. One noteworthy thing about it seems to be that introduced the configure script which became wildly popular. But, I think this article should not try to be the definitive word on how popular the configure script pattern is today. If it's important, then let's put that info where it belongs: configure script. Stevebroshar (talk) 12:51, 19 December 2024 (UTC)
Dead links
[edit]Sadly, the one and only reference link (http://www.REMOVEfaqs.org/faqs/usenet/software/part1/) is broken :( ... arg can't put the link here since WP doesn't like faqs.org. Remove REMOVE from the URL to get the original.
FWIW, this might be a good link to add: http://www.REMOVEfaqs.org/docs/linux_network/x-087-2-news.html. If only WP would allow faqs.org.
The one and only external link is also broken. This article is sadly lacking for connection to the real world. Stevebroshar (talk) 13:01, 19 December 2024 (UTC)
Features
[edit]The features section is intriguing ... but less than clear. It starts "rn was also notable for three other features it introduced..." What does the 'other' refer to? Other than what? And, the features listed don't seem like they are related directly to the purpose of the software. I think the idea that the author is trying to convey is that in addition to news features, rn had 3 features that became popular in other software packages. What is interesting is that the features changed paradigms, introduced patterns ... affected other software ... affected the ecosystem. That's huge! and that is not described as-is. Stevebroshar (talk) 13:09, 19 December 2024 (UTC)