linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH] docs: discourage use of list tables

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Date:   Mon, 3 Jan 2022 15:01:36 -0800
From:   Randy Dunlap <rdunlap@...radead.org>
To:     Jonathan Corbet <corbet@....net>, linux-doc@...r.kernel.org
Cc:     linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH] docs: discourage use of list tables



On 1/3/22 14:36, Jonathan Corbet wrote:
> Our documentation encourages the use of list-table formats, but that advice
> runs counter to the objective of keeping the plain-text documentation as
> useful and readable as possible.  Turn that advice around the other way so
> that people don't keep adding these tables.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@....net>

for sure.

Acked-by: Randy Dunlap <rdunlap@...radead.org>

Thanks.

> ---
>  Documentation/doc-guide/sphinx.rst | 11 +++++------
>  1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/Documentation/doc-guide/sphinx.rst b/Documentation/doc-guide/sphinx.rst
> index 673cbb769c08..bb36f18ae9ac 100644
> --- a/Documentation/doc-guide/sphinx.rst
> +++ b/Documentation/doc-guide/sphinx.rst
> @@ -261,12 +261,11 @@ please feel free to remove it.
>  list tables
>  -----------
>  
> -We recommend the use of *list table* formats. The *list table* formats are
> -double-stage lists. Compared to the ASCII-art they might not be as
> -comfortable for
> -readers of the text files. Their advantage is that they are easy to
> -create or modify and that the diff of a modification is much more meaningful,
> -because it is limited to the modified content.
> +The list-table formats can be useful for tables that are not easily laid
> +out in the usual Sphinx ASCII-art formats.  These formats are nearly
> +impossible for readers of the plain-text documents to understand, though,
> +and should be avoided in the absence of a strong justification for their
> +use.
>  
>  The ``flat-table`` is a double-stage list similar to the ``list-table`` with
>  some additional features:

-- 
~Randy