Wiki and docs in cvs

Bill Hacker wbh at conducive.org
Mon Apr 4 15:54:02 PDT 2005


justin at xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

Which implies a 'frozen' Release set for each and every release, though.
Lots of stuff in the attic.
I seriously doubt they would see much use.


You're right - historical versions of the docs won't help anyone.  I
suppose what's I'm really interested in is having a formal cleanup period.
When the wiki idea was first brought up, it was considered good, but not a
good replacement for the existing docs in CVS.  I'd like the process to be
more formalized - not to make it difficult, but to make it more reliable,
whatever that may mean.
Resources for coding, documenting, editing/reviewing are scarce and have 
at least moderate overlap.

Like it or not, I think the resource constraints, coupled with the 'rate 
of advance' will mean the wiki (or something like it)
will have to replace the docs in cvs (and/or be the 'master' not the 
'slave').

Good examples of 'dynamic' docs include the Exim 4.x Spec - where
the hardbound book can never stay current, but the online one is very good.
Bad examples might include Plone - where the user commentary is 
sometimes so 'immediate' and inline-embedded (and sometimes irrelevant) 
that it is not possible to follow the thread of the original doc.

FreeBSD's system overall, BTW, is a good one.  One can find more info, 
and more concise info, there in one place about Linux, for example, than 
from most Linux sites - and it is a *BSD* site.

Handbook, man pages, how-to's, etc.

Bill





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