discuss: Debian, et. al. distributing stale LDP documentation
Subject:
Re: [discuss] Debian, et. al. distributing stale LDP documentation
From:
"Mahesh T. Pai" ####@####.####
Date:
15 Feb 2006 07:07:07 -0000
Message-Id: <20060215070621.GA12350@home.wki>
David Lawyer said on Tue, Feb 14, 2006 at 09:48:17PM -0800,:
> I wrote this after I couldn't find documentation I needed on my PC due
> to Debian's mis-conceived policy.
Debian `unstable' has a snapshot of doc-linux-* for 2005.12-1.
I Really do not think `stable` will accept anything except what was in
there when the repository was declared to be `stable`.
I guess something can/should be done about testing. (Currently, etch).
>
> David Lawyer
> <!doctype linuxdoc system>
> <article>
> <title> Why Everyone Should Distribute Only the Latest HOWTOs
> <author>David S.Lawyer <tt><url ####@####.####
> <date> Feb. 2006
>
> <sect>Introduction
> <p>The Debian distribution is using stale packages of LDP HOWTOs
> (packages named doc-linux-text, etc.) in their testing and stable
> distributions of Linux. Why? It's because they are handling
> documentation like one handles software: the very latest revision of
> software is more likely to have serious bugs, so it's safer to use
> previous versions that have gone thru a testing period. But this
> policy is ill advised for documentation because documentation is of a
> much different nature than software. The policy of Debian and others
> needs to be changed to always distribute the latest HOWTOs. This
> article will explain why.
>
BTW, debian is unlikely to treat anything which is carried on its ISO
images / servers as anything except software. That is why it treats
the GNU Free Documentation license as non-free.
--
Mahesh T. Pai || http://paivakil.blogspot.com
Distributing free copies of non-free software is --
-- like advertising drugs.
