Date: Tue, 17 Mar 1998 13:24:20 -0800 From: Studded <Studded@dal.net> To: FreeBSD Questions <freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG>, FreeBSD Doc <freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Documentation project - Volunteers needed Message-ID: <350EEA04.ED32BD65@dal.net>
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Greetings, :) For those who might not be aware there is a movement afoot to renovate the documentation associated with the FreeBSD Project. This will be an excellent opportunity for those of you (like myself) whose C coding skills aren't adequate to contribute code, but would like to help. Due to the impending timetable for the release of 2.2.6 we are prioritizing things a little differently than we might otherwise. The first priority is to rewrite what we're referring to as the "FOO.TXT" documents. These are the documents that are in the root directory of each snapshot on the ftp site. Check out ftp://releng22.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/2.2.6-980315-BETA/ for the examples. We'd like to reorganize them around the following model: README.TXT - Short, general introduction, table of contents similar to the following, including some of what's in ABOUT.TXT now. Add a more prominent pointer to the www page and resources available there. INSTALL.TXT - Overhaul this a bit, add answer to the -questions FAQ, "what do I download?," move all info on upgrading to, UPGRADE.TXT - Information specific to upgrading. Pull the info from from various of the files already there, and improve/streamline/add to it. (I think someone is already working on this?) HARDWARE.TXT - This is actually in pretty good shape. ABOUT.TXT - Consider losing this, the info that's there should basically be in other places. IMPORTNT.TXT - Start with changes from 2.2.5->2.2.6 like the disk slice code, plus tidbits like /etc/sysconfig -> /etc/rc.conf, etc. RELNOTES.TXT - Ideally, someone knowledgeable should diff 2.2.5 and 2.2.6 and make a list. (Yes, I'm serious.) Barring that, we need as much good, detailed information about the changes as possible, preferably with the big shiny things up front, then broken down into "Different from 2.2.5, Different from 2.2.2, Different from 2.1," etc. I plan to tackle README.TXT, the other bits are up for grabs. Barring announcements to the contrary, the deadline for a good working draft of your work will be March 23rd, with the rock solid deadline for all work being 11:59pm PST March 27th. The other short term project we have is for people to read through the FAQ and Handbook and point out problems or inconsistencies. It would be nice if someone could provide a more clear text along with this, but details about the glaring errors are good too. The sooner you can get these things in the better. In the long term we plan to completely overhaul the documentation available on the www site and create one unified "Handbook" (hopefully with a new name). This is a very complex undertaking and plans for it are still being discussed. This work will certainly not be completed before 2.2.6 is ready. So how do you make a contribution? First step is to subscribe to the freebsd-doc list. All discussion regarding these projects will be held there, and all follow-ups to this mail should be sent there. Next, if you're interested in tackling any of the FOO.TXT docs (or if you have other ideas on how they should be structured) please speak up on -doc. Finally, if you want to be one of the handbook/faq readers, just get to it. :) Send the info to (you guessed it) freebsd-doc@freebsd.org. Regards, Doug -- *** Chief Operations Officer, DALnet IRC network *** *** Proud operator, designer and maintainer of the world's largest *** Internet Relay Chat server. 5,328 clients and still growing. *** Try spider.dal.net on ports 6662-4 (Powered by FreeBSD) To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-doc" in the body of the message
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