discuss: Revision history at end of document
Subject:
Re: Revision history at end of document
From:
"Ruth A. Kramer" ####@####.####
Date:
14 Jan 2004 13:42:27 -0000
Message-Id: <40046340.4417@fast.net>
Miroslav Skoric wrote:
> David Lawyer wrote:
> >I would repeat my argument that the revision history should be kept
> >hidden in the source to save bandwidth. Except that recent revisions
> >need to be at the start and not hidden. For example one can put at
> >subsection near the start called: "New in Recent Versions".
> >
> What is the real purpose of the revision history? Wouldn't be enough to
> just take care of a version of the document, say: v1.23 (where 1 stands
> for the order of the maintainers, in this case it is the first
> author/maintainer, and 23 may be a version/revision of that particular
> author). I myself use that method of designating versions of documents I
> write/maintain:
Must be my day to delurk. ;-)
As a reader, here's how I think I'd like to use the revision history.
Let's say I've read (or skimmed) the Made Up HOWTO, version 1.1 at some
point in time. Now I'm using Made Up and have a question that I don't
recall being covered in the HOWTO. Althought I 'd probably search
Google first, eventually I might try to retrieve
the latest version of the Made Up HOWTO (maybe 2.3??) and check the
revision history to see if the topic I'm looking for has been addressed
in one of the revisions since I last read / skimmed the document.
If the total revision history was buried in CVS or not easily
accessible, I might experience some frustration. (On the other hand,
assuming the latest revision is on line and indexed in Google, I
probably would not need to consult the revision history.)
Just to provoke discussion, what needs does the revision history serve
for an author (and what does it take to satisfy those needs?)? If it is
only for the author, keeping it in CVS / source is probably adequate.
Randy Kramer
