Subject:
Re: why the bible translation howto is inappropriate for LDP
From:
"Rodolfo J. Paiz" ####@####.####
Date:
22 May 2004 03:13:21 -0000
Message-Id: <6.1.0.6.0.20040521202240.02595a08@mail.simpaticus.com>
At 20:00 5/21/2004, Rahul Sundaram wrote:
>LDP is entirely within its right to tell a Author that
>his document will not accepted by the LDP.
Of course. I'm sure we also agree that the inclusive nature of the
principles and community on which LDP is based mean that any such rejection
would have to be based on solid, clear, objective grounds and not the
opinions or beliefs of any given subset of us. I specifically mean to leave
the door open for rejection of works that we collectively consider are
harmful to the public good. A document detailing Hitler's diary and
advocating his views would, IMHO, be one such case.
>1)Some software in non cross platform and will run
>only on Window
Teus is trying to promote the writing of similar software for Linux which
will also allow an increased migration of users from Windows to Linux.
>2)This particular software is meant to translate the
>bible
Who cares? Why is it your business (or anyone else's) what his task is? If
I use Windows software that drives a robot arm to scratch me in odd places,
and I write a HOWTO on successfully using this with Linux, and you find my
scratching objectionable, will you disapprove of that HOWTO as well? What
the software does (as long as it's not *harmful* to the public good, yadda,
yadda, yadda) is IRRELEVANT.
>3)The author is trying to document the process of
>running the software in vmware and getting this
>translated using Linux possibly using some of the
>Linux tools( the extend to which this is done is not
>clear at this point)
The author is attempting to help those people who perform this task move
successfully to Linux and away from Windows. So he uses VMware... so what?
So do thousands of others, and as we've argued before this is not the
"Exclusively Open Source" DP or else we wouldn't have documents about
Sybase, Oracle, MS SQL Server, DB2, and StarOffice in there. Enough
proprietary, closed, expensive apps for you?
Besides, he can make version 2 of his HOWTO use WINE. <grin>
>1)The software itself does not natively work on Linux.
>If you are document vmware do it in a vmware howto.
I've disagreed with you before on this, and I'll do it again. Users who
want to move to Linux and who need a certain application are entitled to
write/read/find documentation on how to use that app. See the EOS-DP remark
above. You can't conquer the world all at once... get people to move to
Linux, get them productive and happy, and then remove obstacles one by one.
Starting with VMware can proceed to moving to WINE. Starting with Windows
tools ported to Linux later leads to the writing of Linux software.
This objection is spurious, even though I realize you mean it sincerely. If
this is such a problem, how the hell do you account for the "Windows
Newsreaders under Linux HOWTO" [1]? And don't give me "it uses Wine instead
of VMware" since I highly doubt you're going to base your entire argument
on that.
[1]
http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/other-formats/html_single/Windows-Newsreaders-under-Linux-HOWTO.html
There's even stuff on Non-Free *hardware* like the "Linksys Blue Box Router
HOWTO" [2]:
[2]
http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/other-formats/html_single/Linksys-Blue-Box-Router-HOWTO.html
I don't object to any of this stuff, but I don't see how you're OK with one
and not the other. Why is there no "tell Eric Raymond to host this stuff on
Linksys's site" outcry?
>2)The focus of the howto is on translating the bible
>which by itself is non technical.
No! Again you go back to the material with which he works. The Bible is
irrelevant.
The focus of the document is to help people who use software X, available
only for Windows, move to Linux. The author has further stated the
objective (before the argument began) to incite the further writing of
better software and tools natively in Linux to perform his favorite task.
This *is* the kind of thing LDP helps people do. And just like a
Dilbert-Translation-HOWTO, the content he is translating is not relevant as
long as it's not "harmful to the public good."
For Pete's sake, go read the "Coffee HOWTO" and the "Lego HOWTO"! Both of them
>3)Such a document would probably be limited in use. It
>would probably be only useful to others who might want
>to translate the bible in Linux.
Of course the Belarusian HOWTO has a massive audience, right? As does the
Esperanto HOWTO? Why do you care that a document would be limited in use?
Bluntly, I think you're looking for reasons to object, and that your actual
objections are not at all technical. But since you objected that the HOWTO
is not technical, you are searching for technical objections. Baloney.
Besides. Um... I don't mean any insult, but saying that a "Translating the
Bible in Linux HOWTO" is only useful to those who want to translate the
Bible in Linux is not only a very foolish thing to say, but also hardly the
base for a serious objection. LDP is here *precisely* for people who want
to do things with Linux that today they can only do with Windows.
> It is according to
>the Author himself non generic and will not apply to
>translation of generic content. If it does then it
>should go into a translation howto.
Oh, I see. Non-generic is now a Bad Thing. So I'm sure we'll be removing
the "Installing GNU/Linux on the IBM RS/6000 43P model 7248 HOWTO" [1] and
the "The Elite's K7s5a mainboard HOWTO", right? Two of the least-generic
pieces of work *I've* ever seen:
[1]
http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/other-formats/html_single/IBM7248-HOWTO.html
[2]
http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/other-formats/html_single/K7s5a-HOWTO.html
>(I am not sure why a bible would be very different in
>the process of translation from other content.)
Well, the author has already stated that it's very different. So if you're
ignorant on the subject...
a) why not let the author educate you a little?
b) what are you objecting to?
>4)I think we are *much* better if we reject any
>documents related to religion, sexism and such thing
>keep LDP documents technical in nature with few if any
>exceptions. example) linux marketing howto
Putting religion and sexism in the same breath is hardly what I would call
an unbiased comparison! And if you want few exceptions, get rid of lots of
other documents since there are several out there which are not very
technical in nature. Ecology HOWTO is a nice one, but hardly too technical.
Advocacy HOWTO, Encouraging Women in Linux HOWTO, Linux Commercial HOWTO...
I can go on, but I hope my point is obvious.
I can't resist mentioning both the Coffee HOWTO and the Lego HOWTO as some
of my favorites. :-)
I do not see *any* validity in any of the objections you have brought up.
Cheers,
--
Rodolfo J. Paiz
####@####.####
http://www.simpaticus.com
