DocBook XML rises from the ashes!

[Paul W. Frields]

Hi gang,

It has become apparent over the last few months that having only a
couple of people with DocBook XML and CVS skills is a bit of a hampering
factor for the Docs Project.  This is completely independent of Wiki
use, and whether we have wiki docs or not, we will *always* need some
people with these skills, more than we have right now for sure.  I
raised this issue in Tuesday's meeting and wanted to follow up with a
proposal.

We need at least four volunteers to step up to learn these technologies,
only to the extent needed to accomplish the following goals:

1. Understand how to check out document modules from our source code
management (SCM) system -- currently CVS.

2. Build documents that are already written and edited, and report
problems fully if unsuccessful.

3. Understand how to make changes as directed and commit them to the
SCM.

4. Understand how to publish documents to the web site.  (Currently this
is fedora.redhat.com/docs, but we will track changes as needed.)

We need to agree on a way to train in these technologies.  I think IRC
meetings would suffice, but we will need to agree on a date and time.
We can use other technologies on an "as needed" basis, such as gobby.

I can promise people that the training will be virtually painless and
will require *NO prior experience* with any markup language, shell
scripting or programming language, although if you've ever hit "View
Source" in your Firefox browser, that's a plus.  (You don't have to
understand what you saw, but the fact that you cared shows a lot of
promise.) :-)  

I can also promise you that anyone can learn this stuff, especially
anyone who already knows how to install and use Fedora.  In fact, I
didn't know any of it until I got here in 2003.  (And some would
probably say that I only know enough to be dangerous now.)

Please step up -- we need YOU!

-- 
Paul W. Frields, RHCE                          http://paul.frields.org/
  gpg fingerprint: 3DA6 A0AC 6D58 FEC4 0233  5906 ACDB C937 BD11 3717
       Fedora Project Board: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Board
    Fedora Docs Project:  http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject