RTFM Culture

RTFM, or Read The Fine Manual, is a common saying around the Linux community, among others. Some distros, such as Arch and Gentoo, take this to almost be their slogan (although Arch has their own. I am using Arch, btw), while other cultures have emerged around other distrobutions no quite so brow-beatingly stringent. Evaluating the benefits of one way or the other is not the purpose of this prose, but instead to just talk briefly about RTFM.

Gone are the days that when one bought a computer, with it came a big manual with instructions, examples, and most likely some source code to learn. Now, only the mandated safety and legal information are included. Manufacturers can get away with this, even if they create the operating system too, by saying documentation is online if needed, even though it is more of a FAQ and community run support program. This shift has made users not used to reading manuals, finding and thinking for themselves about their problems and possible solutions. The sheer complexity of the software, no longer capable of being contained within one persons headspace, has also lead to the quick downturn of a dedicated manual for each computer.

Linux especially benefits from having a large, central, community-run manual. While previously it had been the Gentoo wiki, it is now the Arch wiki, a huge help to anyone who can actually know what their problem is. That is truly the main problem for new users of Linux, as an example: they have no idea of what or where to look, and therefore feel stupid and shamed when told to look for it. Their previous experiences on Windows and Mac no longer help them: where are the log files, the services, the grub settings? This is what drives people to easier software, the inability to know where to start and learn all over again. Any while maybe that’s not the best thing for the desktop space, that’s not all Linux is, and it’s truly difficult to say if there is a wrong way. Linux is what it is, and while change happens, it won’t be quick, and if it does change to the point where it’s made to be for the general person, the hackers will make the next leap in computing.