One of the recurrent problems with Starlink is that as the volume of software grows, so does the number of documents describing it. These include project wide documents and documents which are local to other sites. It is often extremely difficult to find out which document should be consulted about a particular topic.
Starlink maintains a list of currently valid project wide documents called ‘STARLINK
DOCUMENTATION’ in the file /star/docs/docs_lis. This may be printed if required. It is
maintained at RAL by the Starlink Software Librarian and updated at other sites by the Starlink
software update process. The current date is stated at the beginning of the file so you can see if
your site is up to date by comparing your site’s file with the RAL file available via the
WWW.
An alternative approach is to consult file /star/docs/subject_lis. This is a Key-Word index to
Starlink documentation which does not rely only on document titles. Once again, it is maintained
up to date at RAL but other sites may lag behind. The specified current date will tell all.
/star/docs/analysis_lis is also centrally maintained. This is a list of the Starlink documents listed
by which Software item is the main subject of each document.
The docfind program has been developed to help users search this mass of information.