Control: tags -1 + moreinfo
Hi Ansgar, 2009-06-06 10:26 Ansgar Burchardt:
Package: aptitude Version: 0.4.11.11-1+b1 Severity: wishlist Hi, please document search patterns briefly in the man page and/or the output from "aptitude help", maybe something similar to the "Quick guide to search terms" from the user's manual. The only place where this is documented now seems to be the user manual in aptitude-doc-en. It would be very nice to have the information available without installing a seperate package and having to navigate through several HTML pages.
I don't know if when you reported this the option was available, but now one can access the manual in text form, from the Help menu, User Manual, then search for "search patterns" or "search term reference" after that, with complete tables and all (it is converted automatically from HTML to plain text). Somewhat related, I just commited (not yet uploaded to the archive) a change to add the 'l' shorcut to the Quick Help, and improved the description of '/' (search) to point out that the documentation is accessible within aptitude itself and to make more clear the existence of the search patterns. ===================== - "/": Perform a search. (on the name of the package by default; - see the README/User's Manual for more information). + "/": Perform a search. By default, the string is used to match the + name of packages, but patterns can be used and combined for more + complex searches (installed, section, maintainer...). For more + information, see the man page and the User's Manual section + "Search patterns" (under Help menu or in the doc packages). "\": Perform a backwards search. "n": Repeat the last search. "N": Repeat the last search, but in the opposite direction. + "l": Limit display, filter the current package list to show only + packages which match a search pattern (see above). ===================== I realise that a more comprehensive documentation on the search terms, specially in the man page, can be very helpful. However, adding it to multiple places complicates the issue of keeping it up-to-date (terms are added from time to time), then keeping all copies in sync, translating it and so on. Perhaps the User Manual and man page can share basic info or some tables, since they are both written in docbook, but I am not an expert and I don't know if it's possible right away and how easy. Anyway, what do you think of the solution above? I am not sure if we should keep the bug open or if the current alternative is good enough. Cheers. -- Manuel A. Fernandez Montecelo <manuel.montez...@gmail.com>
