And I request all others on the list to do the same. :)
Jostein
-------- Opprinnelig melding --------
Emne: [Fwd: Re: Procmail Books]
Fra: "Jostein Berntsen" <jostein(_dot_)berntsen(_at_)sensewave(_dot_)com>
Til: <nuts(_at_)oreilly(_dot_)com>
Hi,
I'd love to see a Procmail cookbook.
Regards,
Jostein Berntsen,
Porsgrunn
Norway
-------- Opprinnelig melding --------
Emne: Re: Procmail Books
Fra: Martin McCarthy <marty(_at_)ancient-scotland(_dot_)co(_dot_)uk>
Til: Procmail list <procmail(_at_)Lists(_dot_)RWTH-Aachen(_dot_)DE>
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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