why o why

[gaurav]

Hi,
Rahul Sundaram wrote:

> Hi
>
> gaurav wrote:
>
>> Hi List,
>>            I was wondering why this documentation submition process 
>> is overly complex...why don t we we use some wiki like tikiwiki or 
>> media wiki (of webopedia fame) to manage documents ...why I am 
>> required to submit docs in docbook xml format ....and check into cvs 
>> ....then built it .....,most wiki system have have built in work 
>> flow, revision mechanism, doc conversion to pdf and tons of other 
>> stuff etc ...........what is the requirement or need for such 
>> complexity ...
>>
>> Regards,
>> Gaurav
>
>
>
> You dont have to convert into Docbook.  If you have the content and 
> find it hard to convert it to Docbook, someone else can do it for you. 

I use  OO docbook export plugin to convert my docs to DocBook .....so I 
can do this part myself

> Having the source content in Docbook helps in keeping the content and 
> presentation segregated.  It also makes it easier to convert into 
> HTML, PDF or other common formats
>
> CVS revision mechanism is useful for the same reasons that its useful 
> for any software project ie. to keep track of changes.

You can easily track changes with wiki , implement workflow and change 
history ...revert the changes, discuss changes  ..edit document online, 
resolve conflicts  and yes its possible to export wiki into docbook 
format do lot dynamic stuff with content ... 
(http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/DocBook_XML_export) ...

I think wiki have evolved to be better documentation lifecycle 
management tool than doing stuff manually

I guess present process  more of buerocratic process :-) ... I wish it 
can simplified

>
> regards
> Rahul
>
>