/srv/irclogs.ubuntu.com/2005/01/26/#ubuntu-doc.txt

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=== Topic for #ubuntu-doc: Ubuntu Doc Team - general discussion - backlog at http://irclog.workaround.org | This channel tries to follow the tradition of the #gnome-love channel on irc.gimp.net, all new comers and questions are welcomed, as long as you follow the Ubuntu community code of conduct @ http://www.ubuntulinux.org/community/conduct first.
=== Topic (#ubuntu-doc): set by sivang at Sat Jan 1 20:48:30 2005
(enrico/#ubuntu-doc) not really a vendor branch: during the docteam bof, jdub said that the Gnome people were working on making it easy to rebrand the Gnome User's Guide, so we could work with them on that08:59
froudmakes sense08:59
enricoDo you mind if I rename DocumentationTeamHome in DocumentationTeam?08:59
froudIts up to you. I am not stuck on anything. Remain flexible09:00
enricofroud: BTW, I remember from a previous IRC log that you and plovs talked about adding authorblurb to book chapters, to mark that one's working on it.  However, I didn't understand what was the agreement on that, so I coudln't cover it on the report09:08
froudgoals and responsabilities are not defined clearly09:09
froudnobody knows who is doing what09:09
froudin the docs I thought it woul dbe good for people to add their name next to sections they want to do09:09
froudI would then use this to automatically make a list of what is in th epipe and what is not09:10
froudthis way new people can also see what they may do09:10
froudI made a proposal in email09:10
froudbut only plovs responds09:10
enricoWe could try to do some step-by-step pages on contributing: "how to write text" (add your name as authorblurb, write things, commit).  "How to review" (read, post comments in the list, fix typos and commit, discuss bigger things in the list with the people in authorblurb)09:10
froudsure, but thiss is a general wiki thing09:11
froudwe need traction on the docbook stuff09:11
froudIn general I am not happy with the spead of work09:11
enricoBut at least it would allow people who want to contribute to just start doing along a clear path, without needing to figure out anything.09:12
froudagreed09:12
froudhence I was building from the inside out09:12
enricoIf I'm lazy and I want to contribute, I'm happy to follow something step by step09:12
froudbut it needs for people to put their names in the source against sections they want to do09:12
froudwritin a step by step is good09:13
froudand should be a goal09:13
froudbut all this detracts from Hoary09:13
enricowell, "add authourblurb like this" could be in the step-by-step09:14
froudalready I have spent more time Documenting the Documentation Project that I should09:14
froudand with all the confusions on the current goals I have now focused on the admin guide09:14
froudthis because I can get traction09:15
froudon most projects you just need the for the hasty09:15
froudand peolple get stuck in09:16
froudand discuss on mail09:16
froudnow discussion is good, but only if people do talk and respnd to one another09:16
froudfor example09:16
froudit is frustrating spending an hour or more composing an RFC or Proposal to only get back one response09:17
froudeventually I think09:17
froudwtf09:17
froudwhy waste my time09:17
froudjust do it and dont talk to anyone about what I am doing09:17
froudbut this is not healthy in OSS projects09:18
froudexcuse me if I am being a bit critical here09:18
froudbut I think it is required09:18
froudwithout proposals/rfc's and responses of others opionions it is hard09:19
froudto organize and mobilize09:19
enricoyou're quite right.  I think you're reasoning at a larger scale than the current docteam is: active people at the moment are roughly you, plovs, me, chrish, sivang (did I forget anyone?)09:19
froudI have a long author group list09:20
froudare they there?09:20
froudor just to get their name on the page?09:20
enricoHow long since their last commit?09:20
enricoMaybe they did something some time ago, and became inactive09:20
froudjust do svn log in th etrunk09:20
froudif you want o see what people did then do svn blame on a folder09:21
froudor file09:21
enricoYes, I know subversion, but that was to tell you about what could be the real size of the team09:21
froudwell I/we cant mandate anything09:22
froudbut my point is people are not reponding on issues posted to the list09:22
enricomy guess on that is because we're quite a tiny team atm, and most of the people hang out on IRC anyway and have discussed such things on IRC with you09:23
froudirc goes away09:24
enricoif they haven't, next time they come to IRC you can say "hey, have you read that?  What do you think?"09:24
froudemail stays09:24
enricoI know IRC goes away (and with the reports I try to make the most important things stay, since more things happen in IRC than in the list)09:24
froudpoint is email is a better log of what was decided to do09:24
enricoHowever, for smaller groups in which everyone hangs out in IRC, IRC can be the main mean of communication09:24
enricoLike "if froud didn't mention that on IRC, then he doesn't need further comments on the list"09:25
enricoI'm not saying that it's right, I'm guessing what's happening09:25
froudenrico, most of the list irc list is comprise don bots and people who doint contribute09:25
enricoBut all the 5 names I mentioned you before hang out on IRC09:26
froudyes. they do09:26
froudbut I dont want to discuss long issues in irc09:26
froudI use my email09:26
froudI can always make messages important and search email09:27
froudto remind me what exactly was said09:27
enricoI suggest you post things on the list, then ping people on IRC.  If I don't see answers to my mails, I chase people on IRC: that's the only way I can have answers, I realized09:27
froudsucks09:27
enricoI know, but I don't seem to be able to get things done otherwise :(09:27
froudwell I have decided that I am just going to hack on. So I may drop out of site09:28
froudyou will see my commits09:28
froudI wont waste my time writing rfc or proposals09:28
enricoI write down things on a mail, then after one or two days I don't get an answer I go on IRC and I start "did you see my mail with subject "xxx" 2 days ago?  when can we do that?"09:29
froudyes we discussed that09:29
froudmy goal is hoary09:29
froudand as I see it the date is 21 feb09:29
enricoI agree.  It's time to hack.09:30
enricoI would so much prefer to be doing progress reports rather than tidying up proposals and consensuses09:30
froudso if u dont see me on irc or on the list, just do svn log09:30
froudwell progress can only be obtained when people know and say what they are doing09:30
enrico:)  But please stay around on IRC... that's comfortable if someone wants to contact you09:31
enricoAnd it's cool having you around here!09:31
froudThey can post to the list, perhaps that will force them to communicate09:31
froudthe problem is that there is no alignment09:32
enricoAnother item for the "step by step": how to contact the others.  Mail in the list, with a "if I don't see people disagreeing within 3 days, I'll go on"09:32
enricowhat do you mean with alignment?09:32
froudgood, agreed09:32
froudpeople need to take ownership and align on what they will do and on what they will help09:33
froudfor example09:33
froudI may take sections about09:33
froudDNS, TCP/IP09:33
froudthen I need people to review09:33
froudif I know who will help09:33
froudit would be easier09:34
froudfrankly I am pissed and that is the time when I normally just kickout. But I have committed to much to do that now so I must ride the wave.09:35
froudI had a chat about this to mako09:35
froudI understand the conditions09:36
froudbut must also decide whether this project is worth it or not09:36
froudIMHO, since I started the Admin Guide I must follow through09:36
froudand I intend to do that by hoary09:36
froudI was innitially intending to help build processes etc. But see that this is not working09:37
froudif it was making progress, I would continue09:37
enricoI'm sometimes pissed or sad to see that very few people are doing things.  When it happens, I just restrict my notion of the team to the few that are making commits, and then I'm happy we have a tiny team of active people.  Then I try to find out ways on how to get more people involved.09:38
froudyou have the time for that, :-)09:39
enricoWell, yes, that's also what I'm paid for.  But it's interesting, nonetheless, to observe the dynamics of communities and see how things go09:40
froudsure09:40
enricoThe cool part is that I cannot judge things, as they just go regardless of my judgements.  So I have a chance to see beyond the current understandings09:40
enricoLike, there may be few active people not because everyone's an asshole, but maybe because we don't advertise the project properly09:41
enricoAnd it may be that we don't advertise it properly because we have no easy and clear enough page to point people at09:41
enricowell, now we probably have some of such pages, so I'm considering advertising09:42
froudThe main problem with documentation iin OSS is that OSS projects do not understand that it is part of a "go-to-market" strategy.09:42
enricoI'm quite enthousiast by your recent work, and I'm very committed in merging in the old things and in makign the step by step pages, then pointing people at them09:42
froudAs you know there is very little go-to-market in OSS09:42
froudthis is why there are so few open source authors09:43
froudthe business case is easy to make for developers09:43
froudbut not so easy for writers09:43
enricowhat do you mean with business case?09:43
froudIMO, OSS projects should hire writers09:43
frouddevelopers, most of them09:43
froudmake money from services09:43
froudsupport, training, implimentation09:44
froudwriters cant do  that09:44
froudthe business case for developers has money behind it09:44
enricogood point09:44
froudfor writers it currently does not09:44
enricothat's why most writers are developers that need to document their thing09:44
froudand developers cant write09:45
froudand if they are paid to write09:45
enricoanother class of writers, however, could be users that want to improve things for themselves09:45
froudthat time is not well spent09:45
enricoI'd like to try to give users a chance to do things09:45
froudenrico, as you know it takes lots of time to write docs09:45
froudproperly09:46
froudmost people will not commit that amount of free time09:46
froudI feel that OSS projects (large ones)09:46
froudneed a core paid team09:46
froudthe ensure progress09:47
froudthey09:47
froudand accept contributions09:47
froudAs an author, I sometimes question the motives of OSS projects in expecting to get free documentation for something that is essentially a go-to-market strategy09:48
froudgo-to-market is a recent thing in the life of OSS09:49
frouda few years ago it never existed09:49
froudbut in going to market, you need to build a complete project09:49
froudand product09:49
enricouhm uhm.  Could it be that the wrong thing we're doing is trying to make books?  I'll explain:09:50
froudthe software alone is not complete09:50
froudok09:50
enricoquality books need quality writers and quite some quality assurance chain; they also need deadlines (they should come together with the software) and they get obsolete as software progresses.  This means that to have a quality book, a team must be paid regularly to create and update something within a given deadline09:51
froudagreed09:51
enricoHowever, there are people writing small tutorials and HOWTOs all the time for various reasons; two that get to my mind are show off what they managed to get, explain something to someone and then share it to others09:52
enricoSo, if we want to harness and structure these volunteer contributions, the book for doesn't capture these pieces of informations very well, as it would be a book that collects autonomous, unrelated pieces of information09:52
enricoBut we don't necessarily need to make books, stealing professional writers their wage09:53
froudagreed09:53
enricoSo, I think at the QuickGuide: that's a collection of unrelated pieces of work, all different introductions to different applications.  That could be workable.09:54
frouddisagree09:54
enricoOr another thing could be collecting all the HOWTOs that have been written in the Wiki and making a yelpable document out of them09:54
froudpart agree09:55
enricoOr packaging the HOWTOs and tutorials that we find around together with the application itself09:55
frouddisagree09:55
enricoOr similar other creative ways of taking what people like to write on their own and seeing if something cool can be done with that09:55
froudwhat is the ultimate objective of Ubuntu?09:56
enricototal world domination as usual, I guess?  Solving bug #1 in bugzilla?09:56
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froudnot possible09:56
enricohello ChrisH!09:57
enricofroud: what do you mean?09:57
froudhello ChrisH 09:57
froudworld domination is not possible in OSS09:57
froudthe fabric of OSS ensures this09:57
froudSo what is the ultimate objective of Ubuntu?09:57
enricoSure, I was joking on that.  I think the goal is making a substainable company that pays developers to improve the world of free software in a way or another09:58
froud*developers*09:58
enricoI think I get what you mean.  Not only developers are required to improve the free software world, right?09:58
froudThe ultimate objective of ubuntu is to create a revenue stream fro Canonical Ltd.09:59
enricoIn 2 minutes I need to pick up the laundry, staying afk for around 5 minutes.  09:59
froudok10:00
enricoyes, sustainable company means revenue stream10:00
froudMark Shuttleworth is not stupid10:00
froudhe knows that OSS is the ceapest way to develop sofwtare10:00
froudCanonical makes money by probviding services around Ubuntu10:01
froudat present the business in sponsoring (investing)10:01
froudthe business plan is long10:01
frouda number of years10:01
froudThi si sfine10:02
froudbut to build a platform that "Just works"10:02
froudrequires quality10:02
froudateention to usability10:02
froudtraining10:02
froudsupport10:02
frouddocs are about knowledge transfer, they are the first line of support10:03
=== enrico nods
froudmost 'users' dont understand HOWTO's10:03
enricoactually quality and usabilty are the even firster lines of support10:03
froudthey dont understand developer docs10:03
froudyes, integral to the product10:03
froudto create a complete product you need it all10:03
froudyou need Certification10:04
froudtraining engineers10:04
froudtrained trainers10:04
froudonly then will large business adopt10:04
froudSuSE/Novell has this right10:04
enricoRedHat is doing the same10:05
froudYes but with Novell enterprises have local support from the mother company10:05
enricothey have trained engineers that are allocated to solve the problems of the large businesses they support10:05
froudtry live in South africa and get support from RH10:05
froudyou cant10:06
enricoMaybe RH doesn't target SA.  I know they do this with US and at least some of the EU10:06
enricoBut yes, I see the point10:06
froudFor ubuntu to succeed10:06
enricoI've started telling people that the best way to help free software is start a company and make money doing support10:06
froudit needs to build a complete project10:06
frouda complete product10:07
froudok so how do writers make money10:07
froudwe have to live10:07
enricoEither you work on your own, or you are hired by someone10:08
enricoIf you work on your own, you create a product and then get money from your target to make it evolve10:08
froudpeople open support companies and have a first line of support in the docs, can I get a royalty10:08
froudnot likely10:09
froudok so as a writer, what would your product be to achieve that objective10:09
enricoa book, an interactive cdrom, an expert system, some useful piece of documentation10:10
froudok but then I will not OSS that10:10
froudif I do it is free to use by all10:10
enricoYou can OSS it and still get money to support it, or customize it to local needs10:11
froudwhere's the money?10:11
froudeverybody can do that10:11
froudwhy do they need me10:11
enricoLike, get paid to extend your OOo guide to cover the local needs of an enterprise, by going there and study how they work10:11
enricoeverybody can do that with software, too10:11
froudthe whol epoint of OSS is that they can get the source10:11
froudyes, they can10:12
froudbut everybody thinks they are a writer10:12
froudnot everybody thinks they are a dev10:12
froudor can impliemnt10:12
enricooh, if you look at PHP software repositories you'll find lots of people thinks they are a dev10:12
enricoor look at ASP e-commerce solutions10:13
froudsure and what do you get10:13
enricopoor quality10:13
froudIf I understand this right, there must have been a reason for Mark Shuttleworth to want to build ubuntu10:13
froudwhy not just take an existing distro10:14
froudwhy do we need a new distro10:14
enricowhat distro would you have taken?10:14
enricolaundry, bbiab10:14
froudwell mandrake is doing a good desktop job10:14
froudok bye10:14
enricoBut mandrake's not Debian10:15
frouddoes that really matter10:15
enricoAppearently, it does10:15
froudthe users dont care10:15
enricoMaybe just as a quirk from Mark10:15
froudwhy go to all the trouble10:15
froudI dont think it is a quirk10:16
enricoMaybe because Debian was potentially much better and only needed that small bit of a cleaning10:16
frouda person that has "There be dragons" written on his web site has done shome serious thinking and reading10:16
froudno there be money here10:17
froudCanonical wants a quality product10:17
froudthey call there own10:17
froudif they took just another distro10:17
froudthey would just be a shop10:17
froudwell to be continued perhaps10:18
enricoI"m back10:25
froudgeeze that was quick10:26
froudyou have a laundromat next door?10:26
enricolaundry here is hung in bamboo sticks: you put the basket on the ground, pull down the stick, shake it and everything falls on the basket :)10:26
froudcool10:27
froudwell, I am going back to respond to your messages and then hack the admin guide.10:28
froudjust wish svn was not down, again10:28
enricois it down?  bu10:28
enricoTuesday I'll hear from Elmo again.  Yesterday I gave him a dump and some hooks so that he can play around with subversion server-side10:29
froudhmm, you try maybe its just the connectivity from South AFrica10:29
froudyes, saw that message sounds good10:30
enricosvn works now10:30
enricojust tried an update10:30
froudmay be it is just the connectivity from here10:30
froudoh hold on here it is :-)10:31
enricofroud: can I take the Docbook 4.3 item away from DocteamWishlist?  (or move it to a solved part) ?10:39
froudsure, we have all 4.3 now10:39
enricofroud: moved.  Thanks!10:42
enricofroud: I merged the descriptions from the FAQ into DocteamProjects11:00
froudlooking11:01
enricoI'm adding a desc of the AdminGuide11:02
enricodone11:02
froudenrico, nice, I see a few touches needed in text, but will do those11:05
froudwhat about the internationalization?11:06
_d4vidhi all11:06
froudhello _d4vid 11:07
froudenrico, why do we duplicate content under the FAQ?11:07
froudtis better to link between the pages11:08
froude.g. What is being worked on?11:08
enricoI wanted to put something just to avoid the frustration of finding a link but not an answer; however with this question you convinced me to just list the names of the things and link to DocteamProjects.  I'm doing it now...11:09
enricodone11:14
froudmuch better :-)11:18
froudalways easier to maintain in one place and link to it in various contexts11:18
froudenrico, do we really want to port GNOME documentation11:19
enricoThat'd be important afaik, since ubuntu would be one of the main distros featuring gnome11:22
froudyes but why port11:23
froud*port*11:23
froudSeems to me, GOME has a code base11:25
froudwe should reuse it 11:25
enricoPort does not make much sense, yes.  Rebrand does11:25
enricoUbuntu doesn't make many modifications to Gnome anyway11:25
froudto accelerate doc dev11:25
froudwe should consider a process akin to vendor drops11:25
froudhowever, mako and others have said that there are problems with vendor drops11:26
froudI plan to test it locally11:26
froudGNOME is in CVS11:26
froudwe're in SVN11:26
froudthat further compunds things11:26
froudbut I see they have svn_load_dirs.pl11:27
froudthis could solve much of the overhead11:27
froudthe alternative is to maintain symlink to a local co on each authors host11:29
enricoNo, please... I suggest you ask jdub about the rebranding support they want to build into gnome docs upstream, and we work with them11:29
froudyes we can do the same from our repos11:29
froudfact is everything ubuntu docs related can take place upstream11:29
froudwhat's left11:30
froudone must seriously ask the question, "Do we need core docs?"11:30
enricoAs I see it, we do need the About Ubuntu page, the Quick Guide and the rebranding of the Gnome User's Guide11:31
enricoThose don't exist upstream or require us to work with upstraem11:31
enricoI don't say anything about the User's Guide and the Admin Guide, because they came out spontaneously11:32
froudYes11:32
enricoSame as the FAQ Guide.  But the FAQ Guide has been finished, it's cool, wow!11:33
froudThe only value in having our own versions is if we have a difference between ubuntu and upstream11:33
froudthanks to plovs11:33
enricoThe about ubuntu page has been "finished", but still misses a make target that generates it11:34
froudyes, I have this as a bug11:34
enricoSo, for what hoary is concerned, we miss the Quick Guide11:35
froudyes, but much of quick guide stuff can be reused form GNOME11:37
enricoCan you give me an example in Gnome?11:38
froudwell as I understand QG, its a short intro to the app and a screen capture11:39
froudthis exists in all GMOME docs11:39
enricoCould you give me a link?11:40
froudin cvs?11:41
enricodon't they have them in the web?11:42
froudyes, but I never look at it11:44
froud:-)11:44
froudjust the code ?11:44
froudgrrrr. never can find anything on GNOME site11:46
froudenrico, the other way is to use the docs from the app source like GAIM11:49
froudbut that means  many vendor drops11:49
enricoDo you have a CVS example, then?11:50
froudhold getting it11:50
enricoI'd like to look at it to see if they are already doing a short useful self-contained description: I'm used at seeing introductions to further text rather than small, self-contained intros.11:51
froudhere is a generic example from their tutorial src11:52
froud<sect2 id="aboutex">11:52
froud   <title>About this Document and gdp-example2</title>11:52
froud   <indexterm>11:52
froud    <primary>ScrollKeeper</primary>11:52
froud    <secondary>Examples</secondary>11:52
froud    <tertiary>gdp-example2</tertiary>11:52
froud   </indexterm>11:52
froud   <para>11:52
froud    The package <filename>gdp-example2</filename> illustrates how11:52
froud    to set up a GNOME 2 package to properly install its documentation and OMF11:52
froud    files and register them with ScrollKeeper.  This document is part11:52
froud    of the <filename>gdp-example2</filename> package and explains what the11:52
froud    important files in the package are.  This document also provides 11:52
froud    step-by-step instructions on how to modify an existing package to include11:52
froud    the documentation files and build instructions.11:52
froud   </para>11:52
froud   <para>11:52
froud    That this document is meant to be a brief explanation and tutorial11:52
froud    on what needs to be done.  For more information, look inside the 11:52
froud    various files in this package or contact the authors.11:52
froud   </para>11:52
froud   <para>11:52
froud    This package is maintained in <ulink type="http"11:52
froud    url="http://www.gnome.org/">GNOME</ulink> CVS for11:53
froud    in the <filename11:53
froud    class="directory">gnome-docu</filename> module under 11:53
froud    <filename class="directory">gnome-docu/gdp/</filename>.11:53
=== enrico hopes froud isn't pasting it all
froud   </para>11:53
froud  </sect2>11:53
froudyou want to use pastebin11:53
enricopastebin?11:54
enricoAnyway, from that intro, that document is a bit too much.11:54
enrico(it seems to me)11:54
enricoThe quick guide shouldn't really spend too much time teaching how to use things.  More like telling what could be done with things.11:55
froudyes, but you can get only what you need11:55
enricoMaybe I should write a page as an example11:55
froudthat would be good11:55
enricoThe other question is: is it simpler to pull in all the bits we need or to just write?11:56
froudfrom a maintenance perspective it is better to use a vendor drop11:56
enricoI imagine the QuickGuide would be rewritten in most parts for every Ubuntu release11:57
froudsure that's why you want to reuse11:58
enricofroud: [different topic]  Since every product page (AboutUbuntuPage, QuickGuide and so on) has a status section, do we really need DocteamStatus?  I was considering aggregating it with DocteamProjects, saying that the link also contains status info11:58
froudeach doc has a revisionhistory12:00
froudno status12:00
froudbut that revision history is not the same as status12:00
froudover at GNOME they maintain a document owner list12:01
froudand KDE to12:01
enricoI try to  explain myself better: http://www.ubuntulinux.org/wiki/QuickGuide has a "Status" section, and DocteamStatus claims to be linking to just that12:01
froudThere is too much in that spec12:02
enricohttp://www.ubuntulinux.org/wiki/FAQGuide has a better status section12:02
enricohttp://www.ubuntulinux.org/wiki/AboutUbuntuPage even better12:02
froudalso to much12:02
enricothere is not much in QuickGuide because not much work in it has taken place yet :)12:02
froudwhy have the outline there12:03
enricoNo reason to have hte outline, can be fixed, but12:03
frouddoc spec is short to the point12:03
=== enrico points froud to the "status" section :)
froudstatus is something long12:03
froudeach section has a staus12:03
enricouhm... who would maintain that?12:03
froudand that is agregated to give the overall stat12:03
froudautomatic if you read the message I sent. I will expand on it in a response12:04
enricoUnless it could be autogenerated from docbook tags and svn commits, I see problems in maintaining tags by hand12:04
enricoOk, I'll wait for the response then12:04
froudI have a meeting now. must go12:04
enricodinnertime here.  brb12:05
enricoBusy evening is going to be.  I'll resume works tomorrow.  Tomorrow I'll be working on Ubuntu the whole day12:31
enricoBye!12:31
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_d4vidplay HIM - You Are the One.mp307:59

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