INSTALL file (was Re: [HACKERS] Re: HISTORY for 6.5.2)

On Sep 20, Bruce Momjian mentioned:

> I agree our INSTALL is very large. Is there some way we can simplify
> the install process?

On the one hand a database server is probably not your everyday
./configure && make && make install program you get from freshmeat and you
do want to put some time into a proper installation. On the other hand the
INSTALL file is really way too long and makes for unpleasant reading.

Here are a couple of ideas.

* Chapter 2 "Ports" should be moved to the README file (has nothing to do
with the actual installation).

* Move the gory details of item 5 (flex) to a separate file (README.flex).

* Move the locale stuff into a separate file.

* Same with Kerberos

* Move the release notes at the end to CHANGELOG.

That should make the file somewhat smaller, then also it is really to
verbose at times and is formatted really oddly, at least on my system.

Okay, now I really went out of my way and redid the whole thing. You'll
find the result attached. This is merely an idea of what I would consider
simpler. I removed some inconsistencies, things that were unnecessary, too
complicated, etc. Okay, I removed a lot of stuff, but most of the stuff
people can really figure out themselves if they need them in the first
place. And I shrunk the thing to 25%.

Perhaps there should be a separate Install FAQ of the sort "My shell said
'export: Command not found.'" or "What's a shared library?" to move the
really annoying stuff out of people's ways.

Comments?

--
Peter Eisentraut - peter_e(at)gmx(dot)net
http://yi.org/peter-e