[Discuss] Dropping obsolete commands (Linux Pocket Guide)

[Daniel Barrett]

On November 9, 2015, I wrote:
>While writing the third edition of my book, "Linux Pocket Guide"
>(O'Reilly) [...] I welcome any opinions on whether the following
>commands are still widely useful enough to keep in the book.

Thanks so much to everyone who offered advice on keeping and dropping
commands in my book. The most-discussed decision was about dump and
restore, and I've decided to de-emphasize them in favor of programs
that are more common today (e.g., rsync), but still retain information
about them regarding their strengths.

As for the rest of the commands I asked about, I plan to drop finger
and chfn, to keep telnet for connecting to arbitrary ports (and add
netcat as a more versatile option), to drop the dnsdomainname /
nisdomainname / ypdomainname commands, to keep write and talk (but
also add sendxmpp for something closer to today's messaging), and to
drop slrn and discussion of Usenet (a decision that is personally
painful to me, as a former very frequent poster).

In a couple of months, I will be seeking technical reviewers for the
manuscript, if anyone is interested. You get your name in the
acknowledgments, a copy of the book, and a small honorarium from
O'Reilly. Email me privately if you'd like to read the book prior to
publication and offer comments & corrections.

Thanks again for all the advice!

--
Dan Barrett
dbarrett at blazemonger.com