Hello,

On 1/9/14, 7:24 AM, nano wrote:

[snip]

>
> I share your opinion regarding nginx documentation. It is woeful.
> Particularly when compared to other exemplary open source projects, such
> as Postfix and FreeBSD. My inability to easily transfer my webservers to
> nginx from Apache, due to (my own shortcomings compounded by) terribly
> inadequate documentation, nearly made the transition impossible. Insult
> was only added to injury when, after transferring some sites to the
> recommended nginx, I found very little performance enhancement.
> Admittedly, I am most probably not properly utilizing the application
> and will only see improvements when my own abilities allow it.
> Nevertheless, the documentation needs work. It is prudent to accommodate
> less technically aware users.
>

You may not see much "performance enhancement" if your server was not
heavily loaded or if it is using PHP to serve static content, such as
WordPress used to do up until version 3.4 and continues to do on some
sites that were upgraded from older versions to the current version.
Also, if you are running a PHP daemon and a MySQL server on the same
server as you run nginx, they may contribute more to server load than
does nginx. Optimizing them, especially MySQL, may give you significant
"performance enhancement". I mention WordPress because you link to a
WordPress site in your signature. Since your domain was first registered
in November and since you only have a few posts most of which are
rudimentary, I am going to doubt that you don't have a lot of traffic.
Alexa does not even have data on your site yet, it's so new. Plus using
a self signed certificate and creating SSL links on your home page -
http://bsdbox.co - give the big red page on Chrome. I have no desire to
add an exception for a two month old domain. Spring for $4.99/year at
https://www.cheapssls.com/domain-only.html and get a PositiveSSL
certificate.

The shortcomings are yours indeed. The documentation is for people who
understand the concepts and is not meant to be a replacement for a "for
Dummies" book. I believe that (almost) every directive is covered. If
you do not understand what the directives mean, there are many ways to
figure it out. In such a case, Google is your friend.

Comparing nginx documentation to FreeBSD documentation is a bit
unrealistic. FreeBSD documentation is written by volunteers of which
there are dozens if not hundreds. The entire project is a community
effort. Despite that, some is out of date. For instance, look at
http://www5.us.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/svn-mirrors.html. Do you see
svn0.eu.FreeBSD.org listed there, or its fingerprint? There may be other
servers missing as well. I have found many other examples but that's the
first that comes to mind.

Anyone who wants to *volunteer* to improve the documentation should do
so. I'm sure the devs would at least look at any provided patches.

Of course, you can always create a community effort of your own and
organize your own wiki or alternate set of documentation. Or perhaps you
can apply for a job at Nginx.com to work on upgrading the documentation
to your standards.

The original purpose of the wiki was to serve as English documentation
when there was little to none. Sure, it had a bit more hand holding, but
it really has become superfluous at least in terms of providing up to
date documentation, at least IMMHO.


--
Jim Ohlstein

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