discuss: Manifesto (was Re: small demo page)
Subject:
Manifesto (was Re: small demo page)
From:
David Lawyer ####@####.####
Date:
5 Oct 2005 23:52:42 -0000
Message-Id: <20051005224741.GA1460@lafn.org>
On Tue, Sep 13, 2005 at 09:41:03PM +0200, Stein Gjoen wrote:
> David Lawyer suggested an improved Manifesto with a clear mission
> statement. Has it been put up at the website yet? I would have
> mailed him directly, had his ISP not banned mine.
>
What I posted in 2001 was a proposed change to the "Overview" part of
the Manifesto. I didn't get comments from the mailing list then so I
simply gave up on it. A European meeting in late 2000 proposed some
changes, but I told Guylhem that I wanted to have the mailing list go
over any changes. He agreed but I failed to persistently follow thru.
So I'm sending my draft out again to you (slightly revised). What do
you think of it?
One of the proposed changes made at the European meeting was:
We frequently update documentation -- online and downloadable -- in
order to stay on top of the many changes in the GNU/Linux world.
Well, one major problem is just the opposite of this statement: we
unfortunately don't frequently update many documents. To say that we
do would only result in disrespect for LDP.
My draft of 2001 is a little on the negative side since I've said that
some areas are not adequately covered and that much more remains to be
done. In a sense, this is a plea for help from the reader. Much of
the draft is just lifted from the existing manifesto.
Last night I looked at what I had drafted in 2001 for the "Overview"
part of the Manifesto. I then edited it a little to reflect the
current situation. My former draft stated that most major
distributions distribute LDP documents. This may no longer be true so
I deleted it. Also, I deleted the part about our documents being
printed in books. It's true that a few of our docs are also printed
as books but I haven't seen any books recently that contain collections
of HOWTOs, etc.
David Lawyer
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Draft of Overview section of LDP Manifesto
by David S. Lawyer 2001 with minor changes Oct. 2005
1. OVERVIEW
The goal of the Linux Documentation Project (LDP) is to create and
distribute the canonical set of free GNU/Linux documentation. While
GNU/Linux distributions, desktops, applications and utilities may come
with their own documentation, LDP documentation fills in the numerous
gaps.
The hundreds of existing LDP documents present both overviews and
details of: the GNU/Linux Operating System, System Administration,
Hardware, Networks, Servers, GUIs, Programming, Language Support, etc.
In spite of the large number of documents, much more remains to be
done and some areas are not adequately covered.
An additional goal is to collaborate on all of the issues of GNU/Linux
documentation. We hope to establish a system of documentation that is
easy to use and search. This includes the integration of all available
documents.
We freely distribute our documents via the Internet. Some major
distributions of Linux include them on CDs. If you are interested in
publishing any of the LDP works, see the section "Publishing LDP
Documents" below.
The LDP is essentially a loose team of volunteers with a minimal
central organization. Anyone who would like to help is welcome to join
in this effort. We feel that working together informally and
discussing projects on our mailing lists is the best way to go. When
we disagree on things, we try to reason with each other until we reach
an informed consensus.
