[RFC] Legacy documentation

[Gavin Henry]

<quote who="Karsten Wade">
> 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  It may not be out of date,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.

Have you asked the author, mainly Dave?

>
> Package List for Fedora Core 2
>   http://fedora.redhat.com/docs/package-list/fc2/
>
>   I don't know anything about this or its value.

Do people really want to read this doc or just browse the download folder?

>
> 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.

Yes, there's no point in updating them or ditching them, as it's not going
to be re-released.

> 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.

Keep it.

We must understand that people like to get a distro working and then not
touch it too much if it's a server. I know if I had just smoothed out a
FC2 server, and I was implementing SELinux and this doc dissappeared, I
would be a bit annoyed.

>
> ## 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.

I think they should be maintained if anything is backported, but otherwise
just freeze them, unless some bugzilla entries come up.

>
> 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.

Neither do I.

> 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.

Yes, they can be a basis to work on and update them, rather than starting
from scratch.

>
> 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.

Agreed.

>
> 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

No, thank you.

-- 
Kind Regards,

Gavin Henry.
Managing Director.

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