1.10.2. Documentation and Communication

In the areas of documentation and communication, there is little that is specific to Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Since documentation and communication can consist of anything from adding comments to a text-based configuration file to updating a webpage or sending an email, a system administrator using Red Hat Enterprise Linux must have access to text editors, HTML editors, and mail clients.

Here is a small sample of the many text editors available under Red Hat Enterprise Linux:

The gedit text editor is a strictly graphical application (in other words, it requires an active X Window System environment), while vim and Emacs are primarily text-based in nature.

The subject of the best text editor has sparked debate for nearly as long as computers have existed and will continue to do so. Therefore, the best approach is to try each editor for yourself, and use what works best for you.

For HTML editors, system administrators can use the Composer function of the Mozilla Web browser. Of course, some system administrators prefer to hand-code their HTML, making a regular text editor a perfectly acceptable tool as well.

As far as email is concerned, Red Hat Enterprise Linux includes the Evolution graphical email client, the Mozilla email client (which is also graphical), and mutt, which is text-based. As with text editors, the choice of an email client tends to be a personal one; therefore, the best approach is to try each client for yourself, and use what works best for you.