discuss: [tfox@redhat.com: HOWTO doc's in 7.3]
Subject:
Re: [tfox@redhat.com: HOWTO doc's in 7.3]
From:
Hal Burgiss ####@####.####
Date:
11 May 2002 16:09:53 -0000
Message-Id: <20020511120952.E2060@feenix.burgiss.net>
On Sat, May 11, 2002 at 07:32:36AM -0700, David Lawyer wrote:
> Since we've lost RedHat as a distributor of our HOWTOs, and since
> Debian is irrationally splitting them, what's the status of HOWTOs
> with the other distributions: SUSE, Mandrake, etc.? If the
> distributions are not going to supply them adequately, shouldn't we
> make our own RPMs and debian packages?
I was thinking the same thing. As another option, if the tarball
included an rpm specfile, and rpm can be built direct from the tarball
with 'rpm -tb'. A very short script could download tarball, build and
install an rpm. But I think posted rpms and debs would be best.
Another thought, and I hate to say it, but there is probably a fair
amount of dead weight in the HOWTOs from the distributions point of
view. I can see their point if they include 'Documentation' that
either conflicts with their own tools and methodologies, or maybe is
not even relevant (eg 'how to configure home LAN on redhat' would not
have wide appeal), then there is a problem.
So it looks like to me, there is always going to be a certain number
of docs that are not apropos to any given distro. No matter what
happens. This probably _is_ confusing to a novice user.
What about a packaged sub-classification of say 'LDP-Gold' or
'LDP-classic' or 'LDP-whatever' that is the cream of the crop and
includes those HOWTOs that a) meet stylistic guidelines b) are up to
date c) and cover broad *Linux* topics (eg Net HOWTO) and are 'must
have' type topics. This might have wider appeal among distros, and give
authors something to shoot for (ie be included on the cream of the
crop list). Maybe David M could flag the database for this, and the
package is dynamically built based on database flags. <sorry to
suggest extra work>
> With hundreds of HOWTOs written by volunteers, it's to be expected
> that there will be many errors, etc. But the solution is to contact
> the maintainers and fix the errors, not to drop them from a major
> distribution.
In an ideal world it would be nice if all the distros participated
here, and had some contact with the authors. I know Red Hat does this
with non-documentation packages. They have someone assigned to that
package that can make suggestions, or even help with distro related
issues. But apparently they don't want to go this far with docs.
And then there is the 'hearding cats' problem, and authors that don't
respond to email, etc, so maybe they don't think its worth their time
to actively participate.
When I did the Security-Quickstart HOWTO, this included Redhat
specific content. The doc can be built as generic linux, or as a Redhat
version with a simple entity toggle. (It would take relatively little
work to further adapt this model to other distros...)
Anyway, I contacted their docs people afterward to ask that they
review it for errors, or other suggestions to make it better suited to
'Red Hat'. I got a quick, nice response that they were already aware
of it, and were 'reviewing' it. That was six months or so ago, and not
a peep since. So either its perfect, or it sucks out loud, not sure
which. I also notice the RPM HOWTO (a RH doc) is badly out of date.
Anyway, I don't see wide spread distro particpation happening to any
extent.
--
Hal Burgiss
