[Bug 427481] Review Request: documentation-devel - Documentation tool chain

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Summary: Review Request: documentation-devel - Documentation tool chain


https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=427481





------- Additional Comments From bforte at redhat.com  2008-01-14 19:02 EST -------
A Printer's Devil was an assistant or apprentice to a Printer. They mixed inks, fetched supplies, re-filled type 
trays, carried paper and generally did all the scut work the Printer didn't want to do anymore.

The term's origins are uncertain with the assistants to William Caxton (who was named Deville) and Aldus 
Manutius (who was a Moor) both being credited by different sources.

OTOH, printing was also seen as akin to the Black Arts in its early days in Europe (not surprising given the 
Church's desire to remain the sole source of Truth). Throw in the tendency of printers and apprentice 
printers to get covered in black ink and the idea they might be devils wasn't a massive leap to mediaeval 
folk, raised to believe black = bad.

Consequently, the Printer's Devil was sometimes something other than a put-upon worker. It has also 
referred to an imp which supposedly came out at night and indulged in mischief, re-arranging type trays, 
moving letters around on already set type and so on.

Both these uses make documentation-devil (or 'Docs devil', to use what I suspect would quickly become the 
use-name) almost perfect as a package name. Docs devil is an assistant to a writer, doing scut work we 
don't want to do (and shouldn't have to do) and it's a convenient scapegoat for those magic typos that only 
appear after the book has gone public.

That this name also preserves, forever, the argument that erupted about the package's name adds 
appropriate Linux-specific lore. This lore is eminently suitable for adding colour and interest to the 
introductory chapters of future books documenting Docs devil.

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