RTFS

2 definitions found

From Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) [jargon]:

  RTFS /R-T-F-S/ [Unix] 1. imp. Abbreviation for `Read The Fucking
     Source'. Variant form of {RTFM}, used when the problem at hand is not
     necessarily obvious and not answerable from the manuals -- or the
     manuals are not yet written and maybe never will be. For even trickier
     situations, see {RTFB}. Unlike RTFM, the anger inherent in RTFS is not
     usually directed at the person asking the question, but rather at the


     people who failed to provide adequate documentation. 2. imp. `Read The
     Fucking Standard'; this oath can only be used when the problem area
     (e.g., a language or operating system interface) has actually been
     codified in a ratified standards document. The existence of these
     standards documents (and the technically inappropriate but politically
     mandated compromises that they inevitably contain, and the impenetrable
     {legalese} in which they are invariably written, and the unbelievably
     tedious bureaucratic process by which they are produced) can be
     unnerving to hackers, who are used to a certain amount of ambiguity in
     the specifications of the systems they use. (Hackers feel that such
     ambiguities are acceptable as long as the {Right Thing} to do is obvious
     to any thinking observer; sadly, this casual attitude towards
     specifications becomes unworkable when a system becomes popular in the
     {Real World}.) Since a hacker is likely to feel that a standards
     document is both unnecessary and technically deficient, the deprecation
     inherent in this term may be directed as much against the standard as
     against the person who ought to read it.
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  RTFS
       
           1. Read The Fucking Source.  Variant form of {RTFM},
          used when the problem at hand is not necessarily obvious and
          not answerable from the manuals - or the manuals are not yet
          written and maybe never will be.  For even trickier
          situations, see {RTFB}.  Unlike RTFM, the anger inherent in
          RTFS is not usually directed at the person asking the
          question, but rather at the people who failed to provide
          adequate documentation.
       
          2. Read The Fucking Standard; this oath can only be used when
          the problem area (e.g. a language or operating system
          interface) has actually been codified in a ratified standards
          document.  The existence of these standards documents (and the
          technically inappropriate but politically mandated compromises
          that they inevitably contain, and the impenetrable {legalese}
          in which they are invariably written, and the unbelievably
          tedious bureaucratic process by which they are produced) can
          be unnerving to hackers, who are used to a certain amount of
          ambiguity in the specifications of the systems they use.
          (Hackers feel that such ambiguities are acceptable as long as
          the {Right Thing} to do is obvious to any thinking observer;
          sadly, this casual attitude toward specifications becomes
          unworkable when a system becomes popular in the {Real World}.)
          Since a hacker is likely to feel that a standards document is
          both unnecessary and technically deficient, the deprecation
          inherent in this term may be directed as much against the
          standard as against the person who ought to read it.
       
          [{Jargon File}]