IDLE documentation for Unix obsolete/incorrect

[stevendaprano]

BPO	5066
Nosy	@birkenfeld, @terryjreedy, @orsenthil, @devdanzin, @ezio-melotti, @serwy, @merwok, @stevendaprano, @asvetlov, @rovitotv, @zware
Files	issue5066.patch: update IDLE menu option descriptions 5066IDLEocumentationforUnixObsoleteIncorrect.patch 5066IDLEocumentationforUnixObsoleteIncorrectVersion2.patch 5066IDLEocumentationforUnixObsoleteIncorrectVersion3.patch 5066IDLEocumentationforUnixObsoleteIncorrectVersion4.patch

^{Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.}

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GitHub fields:

assignee = None
closed_at = <Date 2013-01-14.17:28:16.953>
created_at = <Date 2009-01-26.03:56:57.057>
labels = ['easy', 'expert-IDLE', 'type-bug', 'docs']
title = 'IDLE documentation for Unix obsolete/incorrect'
updated_at = <Date 2013-01-14.17:28:16.951>
user = 'https://github.com/stevendaprano'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2013-01-14.17:28:16.951>
actor = 'asvetlov'
assignee = 'docs@python'
closed = True
closed_date = <Date 2013-01-14.17:28:16.953>
closer = 'asvetlov'
components = ['Documentation', 'IDLE']
creation = <Date 2009-01-26.03:56:57.057>
creator = 'steven.daprano'
dependencies = []
files = ['19535', '28138', '28141', '28626', '28643']
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 5066
keywords = ['patch', 'easy']
message_count = 30.0
messages = ['80562', '80595', '81200', '81227', '81268', '86622', '120698', '121743', '176326', '176462', '176463', '176503', '176504', '179033', '179059', '179072', '179266', '179279', '179280', '179312', '179313', '179348', '179359', '179360', '179363', '179406', '179409', '179446', '179957', '179958']
nosy_count = 16.0
nosy_names = ['georg.brandl', 'terry.reedy', 'orsenthil', 'ajaksu2', 'gpolo', 'ezio.melotti', 'roger.serwy', 'eric.araujo', 'steven.daprano', 'asvetlov', 'jesstess', 'docs@python', 'Todd.Rovito', 'ramiroluz', 'python-dev', 'zach.ware']
pr_nums = []
priority = 'normal'
resolution = 'fixed'
stage = 'resolved'
status = 'closed'
superseder = None
type = 'behavior'
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue5066'
versions = ['Python 3.4']

[stevendaprano]

Documentation for IDLE states:

Starting IDLE on UNIX 
On Unix, just type "idle" at a command prompt. This should bring
up a Window similar to the one above. (If it doesn't, look for
the "idle" script in the [Tools/idle](https://github.com/python/cpython/blob/main/Tools/idle) directory in the Python source
distribution.)

http://www.python.org/idle/doc/idlemain.html

I believe that is obsolete, I cannot see a Tools/idle directory in
either 2.5 or 2.6. Perhaps better instructions might be:

(If it doesn't, run "python LOC/idlelib/idle.py" where LOC 
is the location of your Python source distribution, usually 
/usr/lib/python*.)

or similar.

[terryjreedy]

LOL. That doc was apparently last revised in 2000 for the IDLE released
with 1.5.2 (see screenshot). Other needed updates I see are: 'Shell'
and 'Options' have been added to the menu line; we now have unicode
text; screenshots look different (and nicer) on newer Tk on WinXP and
could/should be redone.

If it were decided to update this and add it to the doc package, I would
help in some way.

[birkenfeld]

Well, having nice full docs for IDLE would be nice, but I won't do
anything on this matter except committing a full patch :)

[terryjreedy]

Is there an HTML to acceptable RST converter?

[birkenfeld]

I don't know any. But since rst is so lightweight, it is usually not too
much of a pain to just copy the text from the browser and reintroduce
formatting because you're likely to have to go over and edit the whole
content anyway.

[devdanzin]

This looks like a perfect match for GHOP.

[jesstess]

Attached is a patch updating the IDLE web documentation as well as the help file displayed when you click the Help -> Idle Help menu item in IDLE. It looks like the IDLE web documentation was lifted directly from the help file at some point and they have gotten out of sync.

The section of the document describing starting IDLE was updated in March of 2009, so I've left that alone. I've updated the Menu option descriptions in both files, including: adding missing items, making the help file and web document descriptions the same, and using a consistent format.

The patch is against release27-maint.

[ramiroluz]

I reviewed the texts, applied the patches, ran idle, edited Demo/classes/Dates.py run module inside Idle. Generated the docs inside Doc, with make html and reviewed the IDLE doc in ~/python/py3k/Doc/build/html/library/idle.html?highlight=idle

Only in the 3.2 tree.