New to fedora

Mon Apr 21 21:46:36 UTC 2014

On Mon, Apr 21, 2014 at 1:33 PM, Christopher Antila <
crantila at fedoraproject.org> wrote:

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> Hi Joey:
>
> On 20 April 2014 13:01:12 Joey Brandt wrote:
> > Hi, my name is Joey and I am trying to get started helping in the
> > community. I love Linux and open source. I currently work for a software
> > company in the Client Services department and have 3 years of experience
> in
> > software testing, training, and documentation. Is there anyone that can
> > help me figure out my role? Thanks so much!
>
>
Hi Joey, Welcome! Everyone wants to help :)  You can find us here, or on #
fedora-docs at irc.freenode.net . You can also adopt a mentor[3] if you like.

 Welcome to Fedora Docs! You can find project ideas in many places; the
> "Join"
> page Bruno suggested is obviously a great place to start.
>
> If you're serious about joining us, we recommend you follow the
> instructions
> on this wiki page:
> https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Join_the_Docs_Project
>
One of the standard tasks for new Docs contributors is the Release Notes.[0]
>
>
I wrote something about this process recently[3] that might give you some
insight.

> I also have a specific project idea, inspired by Jon Kent's difficulties
> with the
> documentation for Fedora packagers.[0] Difficult-to-use documentation
> intimidates potential packagers, and also makes it more difficult for
> current
> packagers to follow the guidelines. The Docs people could make a big
> difference
> here, and because it's all on the wiki, it's a good task for new
> contributors
> too!
>
>
I agree, the packaging documentation is nebulous and sometimes confusing. I
like the idea of an abbreviated overview of packaging - at least, I think
that's part of what you're going for, Christopher. Petr Kovář has been
talking about really diving into the Packager's Guide[4], that would
probably be the best place to direct your efforts.

You might start by proofreading the content on a smaller page, like
> "Packaging:Ruby."[2] At minimum, you can revise sentences for style and
> clarity. If you don't know anything about packaging, that's fine too,
> because
> these guidelines serve both experienced and new packagers. After you
> understand a smaller page, you may be able to create or improve the
> documentation for new packagers.
>

The packaging docs and guidelines are sort of a special case among wiki
documentation.  The guidelines are generally maintained by the Fedora
Packaging Committee, domain specific pages by the appropriate Special
Interest Group, and the more broad pages by experienced packagers.  Don't
take that as discouragement, though - there's surely room for improvement
in all, and someone with technical writing experience and a fresh
perspective could go a lot of good.  It would be a good idea to coordinate
with stakeholders on such pivotal pages, whether that's a SIG or just
mailing people that show up a lot in the edit history.  They might get
cranky if you make changes without at least checking in :)

I know that diving into Publican and Git right away is intimidating, but
IMO if you want to hack on packaging docs, the Packager's Guide is the best
place to do it.

> If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask, even
> (especially!) if
> you think it should be obvious. We don't always respond quickly, but we try
> our best.
>
>
Seconded, on all counts. Do reach out, we're all friends here.

> Christopher
>
> [0] https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Category:Documentation_beats
> [1]
> http://littledaemons.tumblr.com/post/83090736069/back-to-fedora-packaging
> [2] https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging:Ruby
>

I also have a pet project, the Fedora Cookbook[6]. The idea is to provide a
place for short tutorials; things that don't fit into larger Guides or are
in the Guides but not presented as procedurally as some prefer.  Part of
the motivation for starting the book was to provide a place for new writers
to play and see their work published without the buy-in associated with
contributing to a larger guide.  I've been waiting to publish and publicize
until there's a bit more content, so there's mostly just the source to
point at for now; some help getting there would be welcome. There's a few
'recipes' already written and some templates committed to get you started.

The Documentation Guide[7][8] is worth checking into as well.  There's been
some renewed effort into this book recently, and you're welcome to suggest
changes or work up patches as you read and learn from it. As with any
documentation, feedback of any kind will help improve the work.

[4] https://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/docs/2014-April/015583.html
[5] https://git.fedorahosted.org/cgit/docs/packagers-guide.git
[6] https://git.fedorahosted.org/cgit/docs/fedora-cookbook.git
[7] https://git.fedorahosted.org/cgit/docs/documentation-guide.git
[8]
http://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/Fedora_Draft_Documentation/0.1/html/Documentation_Guide/index.html(somewhat
outdated, better to clone and build before reading at the moment )

--Pete
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