docs October 2008

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159 discussions

Outage Notification - 2008-10-05 07:00 UTC
by Mike McGrath 03 Oct '08

03 Oct '08

There will be an outage starting at 2008-10-05 07:00 UTC, which will last approximately 2 hours. To convert UTC to your local time, take a look at http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Infrastructure/UTCHowto or run: date -d '2008-10-05 07:00 UTC' Affected Services: Buildsystem CVS / Source Control Database DNS Fedora Hosted Fedora People Fedora Talk Mail Mirror System Torrent Websites Unaffected Services: All Ticket Link: https://fedorahosted.org/fedora-infrastructure/ticket/875 Reason for Outage: Doing our monthly updates to our systems, there's a kernel update this time around and we'll be rebooting everything. In theory most systems won't go down at all. But many will be down for a few minutes at a time during our 2 hour outage window. Contact Information: Please join #fedora-admin in irc.freenode.net or respond to this email to track the status of this outage.

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A New Look at How We Write Content for the Desktop User Guide
by Elizabeth Ann West 03 Oct '08

03 Oct '08

Hello All, I am a fairly new contributor to Fedora-Docs, and a <1 year Linux user. My background is predominantly writing, so I approach the documentation more from a literary stand point than a heavily entrenched computer user. If anything, I'm a good example of the type of person you are looking to convert from proprietary software to open source. I took a hard look at the Desktop Users Guide F9, specifically the page giving instructions to install financial software. First, there was a large issue with the content-- the instructions simply would not work for a new user with Fedora 9. Second, the instructions were not clear for a brand new user to Linux. After finishing the content change, and major style changes to the Financial Software page, I deconstructed the changes and differences so others may learn from them, and contribute their own ideas and experiences. Yes, we are writing documentation for free, but we have an opportunity here as open source enthusiasts to use our piece of the project at large to further the cause and acceptance of Fedora as an operating system. These suggestions below are only for the Desktop Users Guide, the specialized guide for new users of Fedora, presumably coming from Windows, without Linux experience. For discussion purposes, this is the old page: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Drafts/DesktopUserGuide/Financial This is the new and improved page: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/User_Guide-Financial_Software Here are the major improvements I want to point out as potential "best practices" for future work on the Desktop User Guide: * The page stands completely alone for a new user. Links and everything are great, but switching to a new operating system is highly nerve-wracking. I have done this 3 times in the last 5 months, including my first switch to Linux from Windows. Experienced Linux users take so much for granted, when just something as simple as installing software from a command line is foreign (a distant memory for Windows users who remember DOS). Ease new users' frustrations by providing all needed instructions in one document page or chapter that apply to functionality, or getting something done. Certainly link to topics that may be of interest to me for other actions, but don't leave out information I need to accomplish what I want/need to do right now. It's like giving landmarks when you give someone directions for the first time, instead of letting them rely just on Mapquest, or sending them an entire road map for the state. * Stand alone chapters fit in more with how all users utilize help manuals. We're all guilty of this one. No one voluntarily reads a help manual from cover to cover unless he or she absolutely must. New and old users alike use an index for printed manuals to jump right to the information needed, and electronically search is a godsend. Working to write and offer stand alone chapters helps the users help themselves in the manner they naturally will try first. The fewer places a user must go for information, the more likely he or she can use the data effectively. * White space is visually pleasing in print and electronically. The old version crams together two sets of instructions to perform the same task, without clearly delineating when the desired result is accomplished in either situation. The new version sets off the simple sentence "[Application] is now installed on your computer." with a double line space on each side. This naturally draws the eye to the completion of the first set of instructions, without a garish ALL CAPS or other formatting scream. Breaking up complex instruction sets with this practice re-focuses the reader's attention. This is vital, as it is likely the user is hopping between windows, reading directions, and then carrying them out. Under the old instruction set, a new user from Windows very possibly could install with the command line, miss the concept that terminal and Pirut are two different methods of the same thing (after all both are new to the user), and keep following the directions ticking that box to remove the application. Over and over again until they decide it's just broken. The new page lets the reader know in the introduction two installation methods are available, and then uses white space to reinforce the distinction. * Give Graphical User Interface(GUI) example before command line, if possible. The Desktop User Guide has an audience of someone with no previous Linux experience. So, start with what is familiar, and move to the unfamiliar. The prevalence of Windows has made mainstream computer users clickers, clickers, clickers. Even shortcut commands are forsaken in the culture of right-clicking. Windows has trained people to click 'Next', a seemingly infinite numbers of times, and follow baby steps. It will naturally occur to the new users how powerful and efficient the command line is to Linux. Eventually, they will get to where they want to do something beyond the scope of the Desktop User Guide and it will only have instructions for the command line in a forum post or other documentation. Starting out, it's enough for them to know it exists and it will accomplish the same tasks as that clicking. Now, if the topic is on the command line commands, there is little reason to start with GUI. * Qualify the information the user is reading. One of the largest differences between Windows and Linux a new user immediately encounters is just the sheer increase in information his or her computer is sharing. On top of the increase, the computer also demands new decisions the user never had to make before. What do you mean I have the option of NOT installing these other packages, the ones you are telling me will make this package I do want work? People are naturally intimidated by notations they do not understand, like the numbers with decimal points under a package's name in Add/Remove Software. With instructions, leaving out actions or messages the computer will give confuses a new user. It starts questions that stop the process of learning: Is this normal? Where is this in the instructions? Why can't I find this step? Did I mess up? Going back to the landmarks concept when you give someone road directions, I added the messages Add/Remove Software gives while it is performing the user's requests. This is from my personal first experiences with Add/Remove Software, it was s......l......o......w (I fixed it when I disabled the auto-updater, not advice I want to share as a good habit to get into). Everything else, Internet, chat, was moving very briskly. As soon as I quit everything and just started Add/Remove Software it was still so painfully slow even I gave up a few times trying to install GnuCash. If I was reading instructions, the "Downloading repository information" landmark would at least reassure me the application was still working, not stuck or refreshing itself. Some other quick notes: * Changed icon info to "associated" as neither installation method auto-creates desktop launcher. Didn't get into that because it doesn't fit the "do I need it for this function" litmus test. * Clarified confusion the first page had of Live-CD versus DVD to plainly state DVD has both, does not install automagically, if you do not have Internet access use the DVD, otherwise..... list of instructions to install. * Qualified the information that suddenly appears in the bottom boxes when they tick the box as just extra information so they don't think it affects the install. * Included [y/N] step for command line so the new user isn't hesitant about answering yes. Anytime a Windows user encounters typing 'y' or 'n' it's not usually a good thing. Also, again qualified all that test the Terminal spits out is just information about the application so they don't try to keep up. * Opted to teach Search box rather than clicking Office category because Office category takes too long to populate, and new users will be turned off trying to find the exact name of the package to install from that long list when none of the icons are different. Limitations/Criticisms * Have not placed in links to those "extra words and concepts" like KDE Desktop Environment should link to the page about that. I don't quite understand yet which are new versus old, versus frozen in the document structure (many all look the same to me). I need help to add that in. * Have not taken my editor's scalpel to the wording. I know there are a number of passive sentences, but I am too close to the text right now to see the problems or areas for improvement. In a few days, I can better judge nuances in wording. * Other writers may not care for this style as it is more involved, and fights against the elitist concept of self discovery that is so common in the open source community. * Other writers and Fedora doc leaders may not care for the writing style because of the departure from the traditional, or view it as repeating the same information over and over again. * Many others I'm sure..... I invite others to weigh in on this issue. I am very open to hear criticism and realize critiquing my content is not the same as critiquing me. :) I want to offer my strong English background to help our group as a whole start to question when we work on documents: Who am I writing this for? What knowledge will they already know? Always Smiling, Elizabeth Ann West

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L10n and Docs fallback
by Paul W. Frields 03 Oct '08

03 Oct '08

We have several problems currently brewing with using hosted git repos of Publican-based documents with L10n's Transifex (Tx). 1. Publican uses multiple POT files instead of the single POT model. Transifex apparently does not currently handle multiple POT files well. 2. The current (obsolete but soon to be replaced) Damned Lies (DL) used in L10n doesn't respond well to multiple POT files either. 3. There may also be some issues in Tx about support for the ISO language codes used in Publican. I've asked Dimitris Glezos to give us an idea how much work is involved in fixing each of these factors. Problem #1 is a high risk, and if we can't solve it quickly we have to fall back to our original methodologies. Problem #2 is lower risk, because DL is being obsoleted anyway, and Tx will soon take over its duties. Plus there is the possibility of a low-drag workaround, which I think some folks are working on now. Problem #3 is medium-to-high risk -- again, translators need to be able to get at the content. I expect Dimitris, Asgeir, and other L10n leaders will respond to this thread with some suggestions for (1) some estimate of how big these problems really are, (2) whether they can have the higher-risk ones repaired in the next, say, 1-2 weeks. -- Paul W. Frields http://paul.frields.org/ gpg fingerprint: 3DA6 A0AC 6D58 FEC4 0233 5906 ACDB C937 BD11 3717 http://redhat.com/ - - - - http://pfrields.fedorapeople.org/ irc.freenode.net: stickster @ #fedora-docs, #fedora-devel, #fredlug

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New language codes?
by Paul W. Frields 03 Oct '08

03 Oct '08

If the Docs Project is able to complete a transition to Publican for the release notes for Fedora 10, many of our language codes will change to ISO standards. This includes moving from en_US to en-US, as in "Release_Notes-en-US.txt". It would probably be good if any tools used to spin or release the distribution get updated to support both of these options. I would suggest shifting them to use the ISO standard, en-US, first and the try falling back to en_US. That way, if we fail utterly and have to drop back to the old way of doing business, the results will still land properly. -- Paul W. Frields http://paul.frields.org/ gpg fingerprint: 3DA6 A0AC 6D58 FEC4 0233 5906 ACDB C937 BD11 3717 http://redhat.com/ - - - - http://pfrields.fedorapeople.org/ irc.freenode.net: stickster @ #fedora-docs, #fedora-devel, #fredlug

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Re: version comparison guidance (was Re: self introduction and rel notes advice)
by Dale Bewley 02 Oct '08

02 Oct '08

----- "Karsten 'quaid' Wade" <kwade(a)redhat.com> wrote: > In general, the marketing approach is to talk about GA to GA. For > documentation, I could see arguments either way. > > Dale - great question! Let's hash it out on list, set the guidance, > and > then you'll know. It seems to me that release notes are strong marketing pieces, and are inherently documentation. For prudent people the release notes are often the the first thing they consult before upgrading, or taking the time to evaluate software through installation. Describing the differences using the previous release notes gives one an apples to apples comparison. Also, assume F9 released with v1.0 of a pkg. Through updates it is now at v1.9. If F10 releases with v1.9, or even v2.0. Do you not describe all those enhancements between .0 and .9? I'd think those features would be worth bragging about in the rel notes. That's basically how I came to the question. F9 has seen a few upgrades of libvirt with many feature enhancements from v0.4.2 up to 0.4.6 currently. I think describing the delta from 0.4.2 to the F10 version (0.4.6? 0.4.7?) is the only useful way to do it. -- Dale Bewley - Unix Administrator - Shields Library - UC Davis GPG: 0xB098A0F3 0D5A 9AEB 43F4 F84C 7EFD 1753 064D 2583 B098 A0F3

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self introduction and rel notes advice
by Dale Bewley 02 Oct '08

02 Oct '08

Howdy. I guess I'm supposed to talk about me a little bit first. I switched from Slackware on a pile of floppies to RH 3.3 back in the day. I contributed a couple of RPMs to redhat-contribs. I ran RH through 9, and I've been using Fedora since Core 1. I'm versed in system administration, networking, and programming (scripting mostly). I run a public mirror. blah de blah... Anyway, I started the FWN Virtualization Beat[1], and have been doing it for a few weeks now. Jason Taylor saw it, and asked if I wouldn't mind working on the Fedora 10 Virtualization Release Notes[2]. I would like to do that. I have started to gather up info, and scratch together a very rough draft on my user page.[3] I'll move it to the Beat page soon; when it's less scratchy. A couple of questions. When describing new features of a release, should one describe the improvements between the feature as it existed at F9 release time or as it exists in the most recent F9 updates? I assume the former. I'm dense. Can someone explain the schedule[4] to me? Apparently the beats were recently combined on 9/22. Is the next deadline 10/2 (Translation Freeze)? And the final deadline appears to be 10/29? Thanks! [1] https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Beats/Virtualization [2] https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Beats/Virtualization [3] https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/DaleBewley#Virtualization_Release_Notes [4] https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject/Schedule -- Dale Bewley - Unix Administrator - Shields Library - UC Davis GPG: 0xB098A0F3 0D5A 9AEB 43F4 F84C 7EFD 1753 064D 2583 B098 A0F3

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F10 Beta release
by Paul W. Frields 02 Oct '08

02 Oct '08

Great job with the release this morning, guys. I know there were some gremlins in a torrent or two, but overall very painless and you guys made it look easy (as always). Hurrah, another milestone on the path to Cambridge! If anyone has any issues, we could plant them on a page for the next release day planning group call. -- Paul W. Frields http://paul.frields.org/ gpg fingerprint: 3DA6 A0AC 6D58 FEC4 0233 5906 ACDB C937 BD11 3717 http://redhat.com/ - - - - http://pfrields.fedorapeople.org/ irc.freenode.net: stickster @ #fedora-docs, #fedora-devel, #fredlug

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working on scheduling via gobby 2300 UTC 1 Oct (right now)
by Karsten Wade 01 Oct '08

01 Oct '08

Sorry for the late notice, if you want to lurk, John Poelstra and myself are going to be working on the Docs schedule for the rest of F10. It is going to be via gobby (shared document editing), drop by #fedora-docs for instructions on joining gobby.fedoraproject.org if you don't already know. - Karsten -- Karsten Wade, Community Gardener Dev Fu : http://developer.redhatmagazine.com Fedora : http://quaid.fedorapeople.org gpg key : AD0E0C41

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Re: F10 Documentation
by Asgeir Frimannsson 01 Oct '08

01 Oct '08

----- "Asgeir Frimannsson" <asgeirf(a)gmail.com> wrote: > On Tue, Sep 30, 2008 at 3:13 AM, Dimitris Glezos <dimitris(a)glezos.com> > wrote: > > 2008/9/29 Paul W. Frields <stickster(a)gmail.com>: > >> On Mon, Sep 29, 2008 at 05:19:14PM +0530, Ankitkumar Rameshchandra > Patel wrote: > >>> Dimitris Glezos wrote: > >>>> 2008/9/26 Paul W. Frields <stickster(a)gmail.com>: > >>>> > >>>>> On Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 12:08:31PM +0300, Dimitris Glezos > wrote: > >>>>> > >>>>>> We'll need the usual steps followed to add these modules to > transifex: > >>>>>> > >>>>>> http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/L10N/FAQ#add-transifex > >>>>>> > >>>>>> The most important ones are having 'transif' added to the > respective > >>>>>> account system groups and notifying us with which <VCS root, > module, > >>>>>> branch> to use. One bug report for all moved Docs would be > sufficient, > >>>>>> and we can re-open it when a new module has been moved. > >>>>>> > >>>> All 7 docs projects have been registered and enabled [1] in > Transifex. > >>>> > >>>> https://translate.fedoraproject.org/submit/module/ > >>>> > >>> > >>> Can we get all 7 docs projects enabled in DL as well? > >> > >> I think Dimitris mentioned earlier that Damned Lies won't support > >> Publican's multiple POT files. It would be great if Red Hat > I18n/L10n > >> would collaborate with the community to help pave the way for > >> statistics reporting for these repos. I don't know whether that > means > >> fixing part of DL, or simply accelerating the rate at which > >> statistical support in Tx is written. I know Dimitris, Asgeir, > and > >> any of the other Tx developers would be thrilled to have some > >> assistance with this. > > > > Patches are welcome with champagnes and fireworks, as always. :D > > > >> In the meantime, Dimitris also suggested a workaround using some > sort > >> of simple Python script. I doubt that's been written yet, maybe > >> someone can help there? > > > > Here's a sample skeleton for such a script/scenario, for anyone > who'd > > like to actually code it. > > > > ----------------------- > > == Get the source == > > > > First time: > > $ project-list = ['about', 'release-notes'] > > $ for p in project-list: > > git clone git://git.fedoraproject.org/git/{p}.git > > > > Later, to pull new changes: > > $ for p in project-list: > > git fetch && ... > > > > == Calculate statistics == > > $ wget http://.../fedora-docs-l10n-script.py > > $ python fedora-docs-l10n-script.py pt_BR > > pt_BR statistics: > > about: 80% (115T, 40F, 10U) > > release-notes: 80% (115T, 40F, 10U) > > ----------------------- > > If I remember correctly, publican actually has a 'genearate > translation statistics' make target that can even generate HTML. > > Would it be ok If I set up a cron job that: > 1) Puts translation statistics on a public web page (to make it > simple, e.g. my fedorapeople web space) > 2) Sends updated statistics to fedora-trans-list daily, or even after > each 'submission' depending on how much we want to spam that list... > > In addition, we could add a link to this stats through the front page > of translate.fedoraproject.org > > Comments on this workflow is welcome, but I'll try to make sure we at > least have some statistics for our documentation SOON. > > I guess the fedora infrastructure is in 'freeze' mode, so I'm not > sure > how easy it would be to make the script run inside the > infrastructure... But the main concern now is giving translators some > statistics :) > > But first for some breakfast... Could anyone review the attached script for converting release-notes to a publican-friendly PO structure? Figured I'd learn ABC in bash scripting while I was at it... I could send out a git patch, but it makes it a bit hard to see what I was doing... cheers, asgeir

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