[matthiasv]

So, for the simplest tasks such as writing a README you need a Ruby gem these days? Or is it some satire which I didn't get yet?

(Just to clarify my position: I am all for automatizing daunting tasks as much as possible, but this seems to be a little far-fetched.)

[sanderjd]

Well, no, nobody said you need a library to help you write your README, but if you get tired of writing the same structure or making the the same updates over and over again, you can use this to automate some of that process if you so desire. Seems pretty nifty to me, though I may well never use it.

I really don't understand the mindset that takes people from "hey look somebody wrote a free piece of software I can use if I want" to "what, now I need to use yet another piece of software for something?"

[matthiasv]

> I really don't understand the mindset that takes people from "hey look somebody wrote a free piece of software I can use if I want" to "what, now I need to use yet another piece of software for something?"

It's not that I stop people from doing things they want to do. I just wanted to point out that something seemingly simple as writing a README usually does not require yet another tool that has to be learned and – being a dependency – maintained.

[svoroval]

Not really far-fetched. Look at Sinatra README for example: https://github.com/sinatra/sinatra

There are 11 versions of Sinatra’s README which don’t share any general templates. They should be manually edited after each release. This is kind of thing that needs automatization.

Plus, it is much easier to inject badges by a mixin, not by copypasting and manually changing some elements from your old READMEs.

[matthiasv]

Good point about those many versions. It's actually the first time that I've seen multiple READMEs in one project.

[benaiah]

It doesn't seem to be useful so much as a way to make README writing easier, but rather as an easier and more modular way to keep it updated. This is important - stale docs are a PITA for anyone trying to use a library, and it's very easy to let them fall by the wayside.

[svoroval]

Sure! You’ve got the idea.

[ret]

I agree, but why not use existing program like M4.

[svoroval]

Because it is not designed for this purpose?