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On Monday 07 Jun 2004 22:02, Karsten Wade wrote:
There are a few
FedoraNEWS.ORG contributors on this list, and
I've been
considering a few notions I'd like to discuss with this whole group of
writers, to see what develops.
We're here...
I want to acknowledge that
FedoraNEWS.ORG has been doing a great service
to the Fedora community. The accuracy, timeliness, and usefulness of
the articles is great. I've personally used several tutorials to
accomplish new things with Fedora Core, such as setting up a yum
repository.
Thank you. We try. I don't know how many of us are subscribers here.
It seems that the niche
FedoraNEWS.ORG documentation and the Fedora
docs
project (FDP) fill are not the same. I think the two groups (ideally)
provide different and useful services to Fedora users.
Agreed.
I see the
FedoraNEWS.ORG articles as generally being timely, short, and
focused on solving single problems. These articles are responsive and
useful during test periods. Over the longterm, there may be less
attraction in maintaining much of the docs because the problems they
solve are no longer problems.
Yes, My apt test1 howto was hits thousands of times, but is no longer valid.
I see the Fedora docs project as providing longer, broader documents
that focus on multiple aspects of using Fedora Core or are more complex
in their handling. There is room to grow into sizable books. Normally,
the majority of the content in an FDP guide shouldn't change very much
from Fedora Core release to release, typically just details of command
usage and so forth.
More like manuals.
Even if you accept my definitions as entirely true, there is still
plenty of room for crossover, and it was exactly that fact I have in
mind.
I'm wondering about the possibility of converting some of the longer
FedoraNEWS.ORG articles/tutorials into formal FDP guides. I would
envision something like this:
1. Identify
FedoraNEWS.ORG tutorials which have momentum and scope to be
maintainable for the long term.
There are a few I would like to do, I have a list of about 20 or so, but what
with my son just arriving...
2. The author(s) either convert the content to FDP standard DocBook, or
enlist the help of other FDP contributors to convert. Once in DocBook,
this is maintainable as the single source for all target systems,
hopefully including
FedoraNEWS.ORG.
Not hard. I agree with docbook for long term docs, but for short docs/howtos
it can be a pain. We would need to write our own css/xslt to keep it within
the
FedoraNEW.ORG look/style also.
I bought a "Learning XML" O'reilly book for christmas (6 months ago) and
most
of the requirements are in there. Again, just the time.
3. Either the original author can continue maintaining, take on a joint
maintainer from existing FDP writers, or hand over maintenance if there
is someone interested in taking it on.
The bigger ones would benefit from a joint effort.
It might be possible to stitch together several
FedoraNEWS.ORG articles
into one guide, for example a Fedora Yum Guide that includes how to
configure and use yum, how to set up a repository, solutions for common
problems, customizations, etc. These could easily be rendered for FDP
as one guide, and for
FedoraNEWS.ORG as a series of short articles.
Single source, multiple audiences.
Yes. I also think Alex's RPM is brilliant, and the tips section too.
One of my goals is clear - to increase the quantity and usefulness of
the FDP guides. Hopefully there is something useful in here for the
FedoraNEWS.ORG contributors.
I agree, and I will do as much as I can.
I'm usually hanging out at #fedora-docs on
irc.freenode.net, or can come
over to #fedoranews.org for discussion. I know licensing is one thing
to cover; fortunately, a copyright holder can dual-license, so that is a
solution. So far, FDP docs are under the GNU FDL 1.2+ (e.g.
http://fedora.redhat.com/participate/documentation-guide/ln-legalnotice.htm
l). Since the CC license used by
FedoraNEWS.ORG allows it
(
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/1.0/), anyone could make a
derivative work from
FedoraNEWS.ORG articles, but it seems like a better
idea to collaborate and single-source.
Again, agreed.
I hope I speak for the rest of the writers.
- --
Kind Regards,
Gavin Henry.
http://www.magicfx.co.uk
http://FedoraNEWS.ORG/ghenry
http://shorl.com/dokypyrirypa
http://www.suretecsystems.com
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