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Re: Procmail Books

2003-01-09 05:36:28
As the author of Procmail Companion, please assume that I am hugely
biased in my opinions.  (I like to think that I'm not...but what I think
doesn't count :-) ).  Trust other peoples' negative comments over my
positive ones...but I guess that's obvious.

I'm somewhat surprised that O'Reilly hasn't done one yet.  Does anyone
know if one is in the works?

I approached O'Reilly quite some time before I got into discussions with
Addison Wesley.  They told me that they were interested in a procmail
book and an author was currently working on one.  That was quite a few
years back and I don't know if it is still in progress.  If memory
serves me right, Chris Lindsey was the author-to-be (but my memory is
rarely to be trusted).

If I'm not mistaken, I believe that the author is pretty active on this list.

Much less active than I was...at least until I clear some of my other
non-procmail projects out of the way.

1.  Is the book primarily an index of commands with brief
explanaitions or does it give examples with demonstartion code? 

The first half of the book is explanations and examples.  The second
half is more of a reference.

2.  What level of Procmail experience does it assume?

It assumes none.  So it explains what recipes are and what regular
expressions are and stuff at that level.  The intention was that it
would be useful and usable by people with many levels of experience.
But then, all authors say that!

3.  Would anyone consider this to be a beginner's level book?  If not...

I hope it starts at a level that is appropriate for a beginner.  That
was certainly the intention.

3.  How much detail does the book go into about advanced topics?

Any particular topics you have in mind?
One of the reviewers tells me they didn't get weighted scoring until
after reading the book - whether you consider it to be advanced probably
depends on what you already know :-)

4.  Is there anything in the book that isn't covered in Nancy's site
or one of the others listed in the FAQ?  If not...

Nancy's site is a wonderful resource, and it's also considerably cheaper
than the book.  And it can be corrected and updated more easily than a
book.  And Nancy explains things well.
If you're familiar with Nancy's site and are wondering whether the book
would be useful to you, consider getting the book from your local
lending library!  (I don't get royalties for library copies - there is
no financial interest in this response :-). )

5.  Is the book organized logically and does it lend itself to easy reference?

I use it for reference...but then I arranged things in a way that is
logical to me.  I hope *somebody* else can also make sense of it :-)

As someone else has said, the index is disappointing.  Too many of the
page references are off by a page one way or the other, and it would be
nice to have many more entries.  I've promised a better index which will
be put online with the other errata at http://procmail.non-prophet.org
at some point.  As has been said, I've been pretty slow about getting
around to that - sorry!

I'd like the idea of a procmail cookbook (or a second edition with a
much expanded cookbook section).
The best way to get such a thing is to tell the publishers directly that
you want one!  Send email to Addison Wesley if you think an expanded
second edition would be good.  Or email O'Reilly and tell them that
you'd love to see a cookbook.  If you think Nancy McGough would make a
good author based on what you've seen on her web site (and I'd certainly
agree with that sentiment!) then tell them that also.  You might be
surprised at just how much influence a single email can have.  If a
publisher gets two emails on the same topic within a month that would
probably look like a flood of demand from the market.  Really!

Martin
-- 
Martin McCarthy                 /</    http://procmail.non-prophet.org
    `Procmail Companion'        \>\
     Addison Wesley             /</                  PGP key available

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