At which point is a question no longer asking for a software recommendation, but asking how to set up a system?
On-topic questions on this site are defined by two criteria: you're trying to accomplish a task or type of task, and this task can be solved with software.
Occasionally we get questions where the task is solved by software that is part of the asker's platform, e.g. questions asking for an application to do something that the core operating system can do, questions asking for a browser plug-in that the browser can do, etc. That's ok, we can answer “use this built-in feature” — and sometimes there can be answers that say “this third-party tool does it better”.
But we also sometimes get questions where clearly the solution is not to install a piece of software dedicated to the task, but to configure a system. These questions are off-topic, and best migrated to sites like Stack Overflow, Super User, etc. Examples:
- https://stackoverflow.com/questions/28082794/ascii-data-import-how-can-i-match-fortrans-bulk-read-performance-in-c — the solution was clearly “program it this way” and not “use this library”
- https://softwarerecs.stackexchange.com/questions/9910/dw375-bluetooth-module-bluebuds-x-headphones?noredirect=1 (deleted by the asker for whatever reason) — clearly asking how to configure drivers, not asking for some other piece of software
Sometimes it isn't obvious that the solution is not going to be installing software dedicated to the task, but configuring software (either preinstalled or not, but the difficulty is in configuring, not in finding the software). Where is the boundary?
Case in point: Which software to put two wifi connection together? (Linux) This is absolutely not a task that can be solved by installing software: it's solved mostly by activating the right features that are bundled in the kernel. However this is not obvious if you aren't familiar with the topic.
At which point do we say “yes, this is on-topic”, “while on-topic, you're likely to get better answers elsewhere”, or “this is off-topic”?