[RFC] Legacy documentation

[Tammy Fox]

On Tue, 2005-04-05 at 17:49 -0700, Karsten Wade wrote:
> I've been wondering about this for a while, so when Stuart brought up
> the age of the Keeping Up to Date tutorial:
> 
> http://fedora.redhat.com/docs/updates/
> 
> today on #fedora-docs, I figured it was time to open this discussion.
> I'm hoping you are interested in taking over some documentation.
> 
> We have a few documents that are FC2 specific and are going to be
> orphaned when FC2 moves over to the Legacy Project.  The Docs Project
> (FDP) follows the Fedora Core release and maintenance schedule, meaning
> when a version of Core goes to the Legacy Project, the docs should go
> with it.  I'll list what those docs are (just a few), bring up some
> ideas about what can be done with them, and finish with a few useful
> URLs.
> 
> ## The Docs:
> 
> We'll have a list that is a bit longer for FC3 when that time comes.
> 
> Keeping Up to Date (FC2) 
>   http://fedora.redhat.com/docs/updates/
>   We're likely to update this for FC4, if a writer pops up wanting it.
> 
> Fedora Jargon Buster 
> 
>   http://fedora.redhat.com/docs/jargon-buster/
> 
>   This was written originally under FC1.  It may not be out of date,
>   but it hasn't been updated in six months.
> 

This document isn't version-specific. Since it really just defines
common terms, I don't see a reason to ever move it into legacy unless we
do a total overhaul at some point.

Tammy

> Package List for Fedora Core 2 
>   http://fedora.redhat.com/docs/package-list/fc2/
> 
>   I don't know anything about this or its value.
> 
> Release notes for FC2 
> 
>   http://fedora.redhat.com/docs/release-notes/fc2/x86/
>   http://fedora.redhat.com/docs/release-notes/fc2/x86_64/
> 
>   Not sure that you'd ever want to update them, and we can certainly  
>   leave them in place.  For relnotes in particular it's a good thing to
>   keep old ones around.
> 
> Fedora Core 2 SELinux FAQ 
> 
>   http://fedora.redhat.com/docs/selinux-faq-fc2/
> 
>   SELinux had a breakdown in updates to FC2, and this FAQ says at the
>   top to upgrade to FC3.  However, if anyone is trying to work with
>   SELinux in FC2, this FAQ might be valuable.
> 
> ## What to Do?
> 
> I'm just throwing out a few ideas, which may even be somewhat exclusive
> of each other.
> 
> 1. Legacy Docs could be a sub-project of the Docs Project.
> 
> There is no rule that says what is in our purview.  I keep the nose of
> the project turned in the direction Fedora Core is going, but the rest
> of the head can be doing other things at the same time.
> 
> Currently, we don't have enough writers to work on new documents that
> are needed for FC.  I don't know of anyone interested in the Legacy
> docs.
> 
> IMO, maintenance of a set of Legacy docs is likely to be easier than a
> doc that tracks something with an active update schedule in FC.  I had
> this with the SELinux FAQ.  It was very active during the early parts of
> the release, and tapered off as rawhide become more of the next version.
> 
> This means that one or two people could maintain quite a large set of
> docs.  This could be great experience for someone interested in
> technical writing, open source projects, or need to support a legacy
> app.
> 
> By integrating the efforts, current docs could be written with Legacy
> needs in mind.  Whatever those turn out to be.
> 
> 
> 2. Legacy Project can form the Legacy Docs as a sub-project.
> 
> This is more of a throw over the wall scheme.  I'd recommend that the
> FDP remain available to help train on the tools.
> 
> Since the Legacy Project is going to need to staff the a documentation
> effort with writers, you might as well keep them close to the rest of
> the project.
> 
> 
> 3. Legacy Project could cherry-pick from the versioned docs.  The FDP
> would likely keep the outdated docs available, but mark them clearly as
> not current.  The FDP will help get Legacy writers up to speed, mainly
> through our standard docs and procedures, then mailing list support
> where needed.
> 
> 
> ## URLs
> 
> FDP page:
> 
> http://fedora.redhat.com/projects/docs/
> 
> For an overview of the docs process:
> 
> http://fedora.redhat.com/participate/documentation-quick-start/
> 
> Our Wiki page is still being added to, we'll be adding process
> documentation through this medium:
> 
> http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject
> 
> 
> Thanks - Karsten
> -- 
> Karsten Wade, RHCE * Sr. Tech Writer * http://people.redhat.com/kwade/
> gpg fingerprint:  2680 DBFD D968 3141 0115    5F1B D992 0E06 AD0E 0C41   
>                        Red Hat SELinux Guide
> http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/RHEL-4-Manual/selinux-guide/
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