mwh_adev@jhunix.UUCP (JHU UNIX Development Group) (05/21/86)
I am interested in help routines for the unix system. The manual is ok but is very difficult if you don't know already what you are looking for. What I am interested in is a menu driven help routine similar to VMS help. Upon invocation, this routine would spit out a list of topics and would prompt the user for a topic then a subtopic, etc. Has anyone done anything like this? Is anyone currently working on something like this? Are there any more redundant questions I can ask? Paul Markowitz seismo!umcp-cs!jhunix!mwh_adev mwh_adev@jhunix.bitnet mwh_adev%jhunix.BITNET@wiscvm.ARPA
g-rh@cca.UUCP (Richard Harter) (05/25/86)
In article <> mwh_adev@jhunix.UUCP (JHU UNIX Development Group) writes: >I am interested in help routines for the unix system. The manual is >ok but is very difficult if you don't know already what you are looking >for. What I am interested in is a menu driven help routine similar >to VMS help. Upon invocation, this routine would spit out a list of >topics and would prompt the user for a topic then a subtopic, etc. >Has anyone done anything like this? Is anyone currently working >on something like this? Are there any more redundant questions I can >ask? > We wrote one like that for the latest release of the ADC system. Currently we ship it as part of the system. As far as a public release goes, I don't know yet what we are going to do. In principle we would like to market it (Software houses don't write software for free, you know.) However, there are problems. The real problem is that the help program is only a small part of a help system -- the important thing are the help files. So a help program in its own right is not a viable product. In any case here are the general specs: The system consists of a help program, a set of help files, and a file containing a help tree. The latter is an indented listing of help topics and subtopics with each line containing a topic and the name of the corresponding help files. Operation is very similar to VMS help; you give a topic and it posts the information about the topic and a list of subtopics. You go down the tree by typing a subtopic name and up by entering a carriage return. Like VMS help it is case insensitive and you can truncate topic keywords up to the level of ambiguity. We have added some bells and whistles, however. (1) The system is a single rooted tree. There are path naming conventions similar to UNIX file directory tree names. (2) There are general search rules so that if you enter a topic name that is not one of the current subtopics it goes to that topic instead, regardless of its position in the tree. (3) You can can ask for and get a listing of all occurrences of a topic keyword. (4) You can directly jump to any point in the tree. Its a fun program. I would love to have a version of it with the UNIX man files transcribed into the corresponding help files. Of course there is this little problem with copyrights ... In any case, yeah, we have one and I suppose there are a jillion others out there -- you should see the help system they have VM/CMS. But what you really want is a decent help program AND the help files for UNIX. I suspect it doesn't exist. Pity. Richard Harter, SMDS Inc.
mellon@mit-prep.ARPA (Ted Lemon) (05/26/86)
?6c > I am interested in help routines for the unix system. The manual is > ok but is very difficult if you don't know already what you are looking > for. What I am interested in is a menu driven help routine similar > to VMS help. Upon invocation, this routine would spit out a list of > topics and would prompt the user for a topic then a subtopic, etc. > Has anyone done anything like this? Is anyone currently working > on something like this? Are there any more redundant questions I can > ask? ?6c Something like what you are looking for is already available. RMS has put together something called TexInfo, which combines Knuth's TeX with the original DECsystem-20 (10?) Info program. The idea is that you can create one document which looks like a manual when you format it for printing, and yet can be formatted so that it can be traversed in a tree-like fashion, like VMS help only better. TexInfo comes with GNU Emacs, which is available on 1600 BPI tape from the Free Software Foundation for a nominal charge ($150, I think), or from your friends for free. _MelloN_ -- Ted Lemon Project GNU of the Free Software Foundation UUCP: {}!mit-eddie!mit-prep!mellon INTERNET: mellon@prep.ai.mit.edu ORGANIZATION: Project GNU, Free Software Foundation, 1000 Mass. Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138, USA +1 (617) 876-3296 Also: New Media Graphics Corporation 279 Cambridge St., Burlington, MA 01803 HOME: 18 Kennedy Drive, North Chelmsford, Massachusetts
jpn@teddy.UUCP (John P. Nelson) (05/28/86)
> I am interested in help routines for the unix system. > ... > What I am interested in is a menu driven help routine similar > to VMS help. There is just such a program in the mod.sources archive. It is touted as being a VMS help-like program. (Volume 3, titled "help") No, I cannot mail out copies. Please consult your mod.sources Index (posted monthly to net.sources and mod.sources) for how to retrieve things from the archive. John P. Nelson, Moderator, mod.sources (decvax!genrad!panda!jpn seismo!harvard!wjh12!panda!jpn) Send source code to panda!sources, requests to panda!sources-request
nz@wucs.UUCP (Neal Ziring) (05/31/86)
In article <2668@teddy.UUCP> jpn@teddy.UUCP (John P. Nelson) writes: > > I am interested in help routines for the unix system. > > ... > > What I am interested in is a menu driven help routine similar > > to VMS help. > > There is just such a program in the mod.sources archive. It is > touted as being a VMS help-like program. (Volume 3, titled "help") > No, I cannot mail out copies. > > John P. Nelson, Moderator, mod.sources Hi -- I am still improving and maintaining help(1wu) here at Washington University, and I would be glad to mail a copy of the source (not the help texts themselves, they're too big) to anyone who really wants them. The newest version of help (version 1.9) supports the following neat features: - ^D help topic completion listing - ESC help topic abbreviation fill-in - invisible apologies for unavailable stuff - user-transparent cross-references - sane abbreviation processing (fixed from 1.6) Users at WU have used help for over a year now, and they like it. If anybody wants help enough to mail me a tape, you can have the sources, RCS files, and the entire help tree (currently about 550 Kbytes). [Note to mod.sources moderator: Mr. Nelson, do you think I should post the improved version of help to mod.sources?] -- ...nz (Neal Ziring at WU ECL - we're here to provide superior computing.) {seismo,ihnp4,cbosgd}!wucs!nz OR nz@wucs.UUCP "You could get an infinite number of wires into this !*$$#!?! junction box, but we usually don't go that far in practice" -- Employee of London Electricity Board, 1959
david@ukma.UUCP (David Herron, NPR Lover) (06/03/86)
er.... In the release description for 4.3BSD (YEAH! It's being released!) there's a "help system" in the user-contributed stuff. Does anybody know anything about it??? -- David Herron, cbosgd!ukma!david, david@UKMA.BITNET, david@uky.csnet