documentation scope (Re: why o why [off topic])

[Karsten Wade]

On Thu, 2005-04-21 at 15:50 +0100, Stuart Ellis wrote:

> FWIW, I think that the general view has been that we cover software that
> is either in Core or Extras, so a document on installing a third-party
> product (Oracle/Mono/Whatever) may be out of scope, but I don't know if
> that is a hard-and-fast rule.  I think the best thing to do is open a
> separate thread requesting clarification/discussion if this is still a
> live issue.

+1

AFAIK, Enterprise Linux documentation only covers the free stuff.  There
are a very few non-free bits in RHEL.  To document them would imply we
support them.  Regardless, this is not a moot[1] point, and it's off-
topic.

Just like the Fedora Project, we cover only free software.  Our first
priority is to software that is in Core or Extras.  Stand-alone docs
that cover software not in Core or Extras is fine.  Docs covering a
subject area that has several choices will cover the choices in Core or
Extra primarily.  Choices that are outside of the project are noted as
not being "supported by Fedora".

I know there are people in the community who use non-free software on
Fedora.  Our reason for not documenting this usage is related to why
developers won't support a system running a tainted kernel.  We send our
readers into a risky situation.  The risk is they are using unsupported
pieces that will make it hard or impossible to get help in fixing
anything that is broken.  Not a pretty situation for a production
system.

- Karsten
[1]
The term "moot point" is often misused, I think many of us got it from a
Jesse Jackson skit on SNL many years ago.  A moot point is one that is
open for debate and could be disproved.  It is not a point that is no
longer worth discussing.
-- 
Karsten Wade, RHCE * Sr. Tech Writer * http://people.redhat.com/kwade/
gpg fingerprint:  2680 DBFD D968 3141 0115    5F1B D992 0E06 AD0E 0C41   
                       Red Hat SELinux Guide
http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/RHEL-4-Manual/selinux-guide/
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