Subj : Linux books (was Re: Solaris)
To   : Lawrence Garvin
From : William McBrine
Date : Mon Oct 30 2000 09:39 pm

-=> Lawrence Garvin wrote to William McBrine <=-

 LG> When the book is published... I think it's safe (and fair) to presume
 LG> that the book is shipping with the LATEST AVAILABLE version...

No. The book is written to a certain version of the distro -- the latest 
available at the time of writing, not the time of publication. It's safer to 
assume that the book is shipped with THAT version of the distro; if a later 
version were included, the book would be in danger of containing serious 
innacurracies. (Even more serious than the ones they end up with anyway.)

Assumptions aside, I can tell you for a fact that the distributions included 
with books were NOT current at all, the last time I bothered with Linux books. 
(Which was quite a while ago -- around the time of that book you were talking 
about. I can only hope the situation has improved since then.) This is what I 
observed, not speculation.

The situation is quite different from that of your typical commercial software, 
where writers often work from prerelease materials, and the books and software 
are timed to be released close together. Linux development takes place largely 
in the open, and is in a constant state of flux; tracking stuff prior to 
release is mostly impossible.

.... What is mind? No matter! What is matter? Never mind! - Homer S.
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