i think the problems lie in the mis-understanding or a crooked understanding of the "division of labour" ... something similarly in the same boat as the "wikipedia" ...

btw ... anything that overtly need "googling+forums" searching before i run it i will stay away from it for a long time ...


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Linux' applications are very well documented in my opinion.
I've always found that, provided I have the skill, man pages and official HTML doc are the best way to get me to where I want.

As someone said above, all things are explained in man pages, but it often doesn't say why you'd want to use those things. So forums are often usefull to get helped on the basics first. When you know more on your subject, then man pages and full HTML references are a great wealth of information.

Yves.

There is a shortage in voting options in this thread.
One sin't supposed just to 'say and jump' when measuring Linux documentation.
1. Out there isn't just one distro one is using for himself
2. There are more than help files for reference on a typacal Linux install
3. There is a lot of shipped docs in any distro these days.

So where are:
1. The online documentation (/usr/doc - The developers FAQs + etc.)
2. The package descriptions (@Slackaware > /var/log/packages @others install-managers)
3. The info and man pages information system. (anyone using info?)
4. The ldp's HOWTO documentation shipped with the install

Are those all in 'help files'?
Why do You need Google? Can't You read package descriptions? My few 1st installs of Mandrake where 2hrs longer for reading those descriptions.
Go figure...

In descending order of usefulness:

1. The HOWTO collection. These were the best docs available for Linux at one point. I found the "DOS/Win to Linux" and "Unix and internet fundamentals" HOWTOs really helpful.

2. My local Linux user mailing list. These guys helped a lot during the early days.

3. This place. I didn't join here until my 5th year of Linux use, but it has been helpful.