Submission: Home Server Setup Guide

[Miles Brennan]

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Karsten Wade wrote:
> I haven't read all the way through, so this is a preliminary overview.
> 
> 0. Thank you for bringing this here, we are very interested in working
> with you to get this into Fedora Documentation.
> 
> 1. Great work.  Very useful.  Covers -lots- of common topics we have no
> documentation for.  This project will benefit greatly from the inclusion
> of this guide.
> 
> 2. A small book this size would benefit from more help; I'd be concerned
> that maintenance by yourself would be tiring.  Recruit help? 

It probably could be turned into a neat book with a little more info.
Maintenance is a little slow atm (bit busy), some help would be beneficial.

> 
> 3. Fedora docs focuses on solutions found only in Core and Extras; if
> there are solutions you choose outside of those, we would want them
> changed to Fedora-only solutions.  We can reference other solutions in a
> stand-alone chapter, if you don't want to totally kill the content.  I
> haven't finished reading through yet, so I have no examples, _if_ they
> exist.

I have tried to utilise Fedora only solutions, the extra ones you
mention are:
 - SquidGuard - which is TODO ( I never DO'd it yet anyway!), squash it.
 - phpMyAdmin - MySQL Web Admin, can move to annex if need be.
 - phpLDAPadmin - LDAP Web Admin, can also go to annex if needed.
The remainder is pure Fedora fun ;)

> 
> 4. Small style changes, throughout.  For example, consistent use of the
> active ("Click OK and a dialog opens") v. passive ("When you click on
> OK, then a dialog will open").  We like the active voice, it engages the
> reader with what they actually experience.  We expect most folks to do
> the task with the documentation present, so what they see is not what
> they -will- see but what the -are- seeing. ;-D

Totally agree. My target audience was the new Linux users, this would be
more suitable. See then do.

> 
> Another example is changing the pronouns from first-person plural ("we")
> to second-person singular/plural ("you").  I'll be happy to explain
> these style choices further, if anyone needs.
> 

Agreed, infact this was my original intent (for consistancy), but after
writing so much I got a little sloppy.

> 
> IMO, this is more of a guide than a how-to.   It's definitely in the
> how-to format, but it is really a full length book/guide.  Once it has
> chapters, it's a book. :)
>

I originally wrote it in the traditional form so stuck with the HOWTO
style etc... but a guide it is.

> 
>>I now offer it for comment / criticism / appraisal / submission.
> 
> 
> What do you want to do:
> 
> 1. Maintain sole authorship, under the FDP
> 2. Lead a team of writers, under the FDP
> 3. Toss over the wall to the FDP, let us recruit writers and editors to
> continue your work

I think option 2 would be the best avenue here.

> 
> Option 3 is the one we try to avoid.  I recommend option 2.  It keeps
> you in charge of the document, as the lead writer.
> 
> As for the CVS parts, that is much easier than you think.  Easier than
> learning to use DocBook, and much easier than the concepts you cover in
> this guide. 

This is really what stopped me from progressing it any further,
DocBook/LinuxDoc etc...  After I wrote it all, that last thing I wanted
to do was then convert it all again into a format I knew nothing about.
But if CVS it easy, lets do it.

> 
> A first step is to work with an editor to convert the guide to use the
> FDP DocBook template and style.  The we can publish it for FC3.  We can
> also recruit interested writers to work on sections to update to FC4,
> unless you are able to do that yourself.
>

I would suggest conversion to DocBook then publish FC3 'as it is', make
minor modifications to version FC4 (with small team) to bring it up to
date (file paths, version numbers), then concentrate on FC5 as a major
revamp.

> Content and concept are easy to keep together.  Normally, we would have
> written up each chapter as a stand-alone document, then tie them all
> together.  This comes prepackaged, which is fantastic.  Our only changes
> would be minor formatting via the stylesheets and XML choices we make,
> and writing style.

Anythings better than the current HOWTO format :)
I have had plenty of requests for PDF version also, mainly because when
they are building their server it is offline.

> 
>>BTW, hello list :)
> 
> 
> Hello!  Welcome, this was quite a nice self-introduction.
> 

:) :)

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