Open Source for Dummies?

GNUpowerSoul asks: "I have been working for several years on a large open source library. Ever since we made our first public release three years ago, we have found that the majority of our users seem to have no experience whatsoever with open source ideas and conventions. We have had to dumb down our documentation considerably (to the point where we have multiple pages to describe in excruciating detail the usual 'configure; make; make install' step). Has anyone else had experience in how to deal with a user community who doesn't understand the 'normal' practices for open source projects?"

Comments

Unix

[Hard_Code]

Sounds like your users have problems with Unix, not "open source" per se. I'm not sure how to familiarize people with Unixisms. There was no manual that said "here is how to compile and install stuff" (well, besides the INSTALL file!!). I learned by doing.