Fedora 7 Test 1 and release notes

[Paul W. Frields]

On Thu, 2007-02-08 at 04:19 -0800, Karsten Wade wrote:
> On Thu, 2007-02-08 at 22:52 +0300, John Babich wrote:
> > After an IRC conversation on fedora-docs earlier today, I decided
> > to put together a wiki page for the Fedora 7 Test1 Release Notes at
> > 
> > http://www.fedoraproject.org/wiki/JohnBabich/Sandbox/Releasenotes
> > 
> > I followed the general outline of the published Fedora Core 6 version
> > as a starting point.
> > 
> > Please review the page and feel free to make any modifications. I
> > especially would like anyone to add more details regarding
> > performance and system administration.
> 
> I think I see some ways we can handle test1 for the future.  However, we
> are now needing to focus on real content for test2, so let's not spin
> too much time on this.

+1, especially not based on Internet "joinalism".¹

> 1. Update /usr/share/doc/HTML/index.html and point at Docs/Beats
> 2. Do the same for the release notes file itself, maybe just have it be
> a copy of the index.html (or a symlink?)
> 3. Do whatever we can to make Docs/Beats/ i) cleaned out from previous
> full release, ii) with a splash page that says it is mainly empty but in
> the works, that iii) invites participation.
> 
> An alternate on this theme are to put what John did[1]
> as /usr/share/doc/HTML/RELEASE-NOTES*.  I like keeping the splash page
> (index.html) with useful content, as-is.

The second approach is, I think, the better one.  That way the homepage
stays pristine and we have One Less Spurious Detail to remember at spin
time.

> From here, let's focus on energizing the developers to put raw content
> in Docs/Beats/
> 
> BTW ... I had a developer complain that "beats don't make sense to me so
> I ignore it because it is too jargony", or something to that effect.  Do
> we need to change the namespace/convention?  As long as it makes sense
> to describe a modular document.  Thoughts?

My first thought is, "hogwash."  Sorry the person in question didn't
understand what the word "beat" meant, but the definition, as intended,
shows up as #8 and #9 in my gdict application.  And that is probably the
lamest excuse I can imagine for not participating -- because one doesn't
agree with a namespace label?  Riiiiight.

(Please excuse my negativity, but having just spent last weekend with a
dedicated, smart group of individuals who -- in large part -- are
generously giving of their free time to do all kinds of really neat
stuff for Fedora, that kind of dismissive attitude just bugs the
bejeebus out of me.  OTOH, maybe I'm just having a bad ${WORKWEEK}.)

I added the definition to the Beats page anyway.  And as for changing
the convention, I vote not only "no," but "HELL, NO."  Unless, of
course, the developer in question would like to concomitantly eliminate
forevermore his use of the words "bug," "hack," and "push."

= = =

¹ This is my newly minted jargon term for "People who know how to run a
Web site and call themselves journalists."  Please use and distribute as
desired.

-- 
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
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