Hi, my name is Joey and I am trying to get started helping in the community. I love Linux and open source. I currently work for a software company in the Client Services department and have 3 years of experience in software testing, training, and documentation. Is there anyone that can help me figure out my role? Thanks so much!
-Joey b
On Sun, Apr 20, 2014 at 13:01:12 -0400, Joey Brandt yahweh009@gmail.com wrote:
Hi, my name is Joey and I am trying to get started helping in the community. I love Linux and open source. I currently work for a software company in the Client Services department and have 3 years of experience in software testing, training, and documentation. Is there anyone that can help me figure out my role? Thanks so much!
You might look through the Join page for ideas: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Join
I would suggest starting small and with something that you think will be fun.
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Hi Joey:
On 20 April 2014 13:01:12 Joey Brandt wrote:
Hi, my name is Joey and I am trying to get started helping in the community. I love Linux and open source. I currently work for a software company in the Client Services department and have 3 years of experience in software testing, training, and documentation. Is there anyone that can help me figure out my role? Thanks so much!
Welcome to Fedora Docs! You can find project ideas in many places; the "Join" page Bruno suggested is obviously a great place to start.
If you're serious about joining us, we recommend you follow the instructions on this wiki page: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Join_the_Docs_Project
One of the standard tasks for new Docs contributors is the Release Notes.[0]
I also have a specific project idea, inspired by Jon Kent's difficulties with the documentation for Fedora packagers.[0] Difficult-to-use documentation intimidates potential packagers, and also makes it more difficult for current packagers to follow the guidelines. The Docs people could make a big difference here, and because it's all on the wiki, it's a good task for new contributors too!
You might start by proofreading the content on a smaller page, like "Packaging:Ruby."[2] At minimum, you can revise sentences for style and clarity. If you don't know anything about packaging, that's fine too, because these guidelines serve both experienced and new packagers. After you understand a smaller page, you may be able to create or improve the documentation for new packagers.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask, even (especially!) if you think it should be obvious. We don't always respond quickly, but we try our best.
Christopher
[0] https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Category:Documentation_beats [1] http://littledaemons.tumblr.com/post/83090736069/back-to-fedora-packaging [2] https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging:Ruby
On Mon, Apr 21, 2014 at 1:33 PM, Christopher Antila < crantila@fedoraproject.org> wrote:
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Hi Joey:
On 20 April 2014 13:01:12 Joey Brandt wrote:
Hi, my name is Joey and I am trying to get started helping in the community. I love Linux and open source. I currently work for a software company in the Client Services department and have 3 years of experience
in
software testing, training, and documentation. Is there anyone that can help me figure out my role? Thanks so much!
Hi Joey, Welcome! Everyone wants to help :) You can find us here, or on # fedora-docs@irc.freenode.net . You can also adopt a mentor[3] if you like.
Welcome to Fedora Docs! You can find project ideas in many places; the
"Join" page Bruno suggested is obviously a great place to start.
If you're serious about joining us, we recommend you follow the instructions on this wiki page: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Join_the_Docs_Project
One of the standard tasks for new Docs contributors is the Release Notes.[0]
I wrote something about this process recently[3] that might give you some insight.
I also have a specific project idea, inspired by Jon Kent's difficulties with the documentation for Fedora packagers.[0] Difficult-to-use documentation intimidates potential packagers, and also makes it more difficult for current packagers to follow the guidelines. The Docs people could make a big difference here, and because it's all on the wiki, it's a good task for new contributors too!
I agree, the packaging documentation is nebulous and sometimes confusing. I like the idea of an abbreviated overview of packaging - at least, I think that's part of what you're going for, Christopher. Petr Kovář has been talking about really diving into the Packager's Guide[4], that would probably be the best place to direct your efforts.
You might start by proofreading the content on a smaller page, like
"Packaging:Ruby."[2] At minimum, you can revise sentences for style and clarity. If you don't know anything about packaging, that's fine too, because these guidelines serve both experienced and new packagers. After you understand a smaller page, you may be able to create or improve the documentation for new packagers.
The packaging docs and guidelines are sort of a special case among wiki documentation. The guidelines are generally maintained by the Fedora Packaging Committee, domain specific pages by the appropriate Special Interest Group, and the more broad pages by experienced packagers. Don't take that as discouragement, though - there's surely room for improvement in all, and someone with technical writing experience and a fresh perspective could go a lot of good. It would be a good idea to coordinate with stakeholders on such pivotal pages, whether that's a SIG or just mailing people that show up a lot in the edit history. They might get cranky if you make changes without at least checking in :)
I know that diving into Publican and Git right away is intimidating, but IMO if you want to hack on packaging docs, the Packager's Guide is the best place to do it.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask, even (especially!) if you think it should be obvious. We don't always respond quickly, but we try our best.
Seconded, on all counts. Do reach out, we're all friends here.
Christopher
[0] https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Category:Documentation_beats [1] http://littledaemons.tumblr.com/post/83090736069/back-to-fedora-packaging [2] https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging:Ruby
I also have a pet project, the Fedora Cookbook[6]. The idea is to provide a place for short tutorials; things that don't fit into larger Guides or are in the Guides but not presented as procedurally as some prefer. Part of the motivation for starting the book was to provide a place for new writers to play and see their work published without the buy-in associated with contributing to a larger guide. I've been waiting to publish and publicize until there's a bit more content, so there's mostly just the source to point at for now; some help getting there would be welcome. There's a few 'recipes' already written and some templates committed to get you started.
The Documentation Guide[7][8] is worth checking into as well. There's been some renewed effort into this book recently, and you're welcome to suggest changes or work up patches as you read and learn from it. As with any documentation, feedback of any kind will help improve the work.
[4] https://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/docs/2014-April/015583.html [5] https://git.fedorahosted.org/cgit/docs/packagers-guide.git [6] https://git.fedorahosted.org/cgit/docs/fedora-cookbook.git [7] https://git.fedorahosted.org/cgit/docs/documentation-guide.git [8] http://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/Fedora_Draft_Documentation/0.1/html/Docu... outdated, better to clone and build before reading at the moment )
--Pete
Hi all,
On Mon, 21 Apr 2014 15:46:36 -0600 Pete Travis me@petetravis.com wrote:
(...)
I also have a specific project idea, inspired by Jon Kent's difficulties with the documentation for Fedora packagers.[0] Difficult-to-use documentation intimidates potential packagers, and also makes it more difficult for current packagers to follow the guidelines. The Docs people could make a big difference here, and because it's all on the wiki, it's a good task for new contributors too!
I agree, the packaging documentation is nebulous and sometimes confusing. I like the idea of an abbreviated overview of packaging - at least, I think that's part of what you're going for, Christopher. Petr Kovář has been talking about really diving into the Packager's Guide[4], that would probably be the best place to direct your efforts.
Absolutely. Jon Kent makes some good point in his post:
"Personally I find the current wiki packaging details way too verbose, nice simple steps ensures no mistakes. If more detailed is required that can be linked off somewhere else."
I put together a content spec for the new Packager's Guide that I'm now working on:
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packagers_Guide_Wishlist
As for Jon's post, I also agree that a packaging guide should first offer basic steps and only go into more details later in the book. That's why in the content spec there is first an introductory section on the Basics of Building RPM Packages, and then, after that introductory content, we provide more details in a spec File Overview.
Joey, if you are interested in contributing to the Packager's Guide, please let me know so that we can coordinate our efforts. New contributors are always welcome!
You might start by proofreading the content on a smaller page, like "Packaging:Ruby."[2] At minimum, you can revise sentences for style and clarity. If you don't know anything about packaging, that's fine too, because these guidelines serve both experienced and new packagers. After you understand a smaller page, you may be able to create or improve the documentation for new packagers.
The packaging docs and guidelines are sort of a special case among wiki documentation. The guidelines are generally maintained by the Fedora Packaging Committee, domain specific pages by the appropriate Special Interest Group, and the more broad pages by experienced packagers. Don't take that as discouragement, though - there's surely room for improvement in all, and someone with technical writing experience and a fresh perspective could go a lot of good. It would be a good idea to coordinate with stakeholders on such pivotal pages, whether that's a SIG or just mailing people that show up a lot in the edit history. They might get cranky if you make changes without at least checking in :)
Yes, please always talk first to the SIG or Packaging Committee people before making changes to a wiki page in the Packaging: namespace (such as https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging:Ruby).
Thanks, pk