[RFC] Legacy documentation

[David Curry]

Karsten Wade wrote:

>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.
>  
>

I will certainly pitch in on FC2 documentation and FL documentation 
generally in near future.  At the moment, I'm still getting past the 
reality noted in the Documentation Quick Start Guide, " Since reading 
the Documentation Guide 
<http://fedora.redhat.com/participate/documentation-guide/> can be a bit 
overwhelming ...."  Don't have much in the way of technical skills so 
editing is a non-starter.  Even a writing effort will need guidance 
toward selection of topics.  Hard to write about something one knows 
little about.

>## 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  It may not be out of date,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.
>
>Package List for Fedora Core 2 
>  http://fedora.redhat.com/docs/package-list/fc2/
>
>  I don't know anything about this or its value.
>
>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.
>
>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.
>
>## 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.
>
>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.
>
>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.
>  
>

It matters not to me whether I work through Fedora docs, FL docs, or both.

>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.
>
>
>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
>  
>
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