At 10:52 AM 6/9/2003 -0400, Isaac Richards wrote:
[...]
>Also, I would very much prefer that you submit patches to the existing
>docs to
>Robert, instead of writing your own.
The best way to encourage this approach would be to get Robert to accept
more "patches". His unwillingness to add the information that recent
versions of LIRC changed the name of the "rc" program to "irsend" (see his
response to me on this list a few days ago) is a handy illustration of the
problem.
His response to me was *correct* in that the HowTo discusses a specific
version or LIRC, and this name change appears in a newer version. But while
correct, the response is not *helpful* to Debian-Sid users ... since the
current version of LIRC in Debian-Sid is that newer version. A
Debian-Sid-specific complement to the HowTo is needed to address details
that Robert knows about but specifically declines to add to the HowTo (this
is just one example; my past postings here have identified many others).
In general, rigidity with respect to adding distro-specific information
into the HowTo is what prompts people to write distro-specific supplements
to the HowTo. Not being a Red Hat user, I do not know the extent to which
Jared's notes address these kinds of distro-specific questions that Robert
is reluctant to add to the HowTo ... but do know that last week's exchanges
have completed the process of discouraging me from offering any more
suggestions about or updates to the "official" HowTo.
Isaac, the "official" HowTo can quite reasonably be limited to information
about how to install Myth from "official" sources (including getting other
required software from their "official" sources rather than distro
packages). In that case, you should expect, even desire, to see
distro-specific supplements, particularly ones geared to the idiosyncracies
of prepackaged versions for the distros. (Another example would be the
Debian-Sid packages moving ./setup to /usr/bin/mythtv-setup .) I even
recall a posting, by you or Robert (I forget which) that explicitly said
that documentation for distro-specific pre-packages of Myth should be the
responsibility of the packager, not Myth.
Or the "offficial" HowTo can attempt to be inclusive, providing as much
distro-specific info as Robert can get from those of us who install to the
various distros and report our problems and solutions or workarounds.
It can't simultaneously be both of these things. Right now, it appears to
be a mix of the two, with the cutoff set by ... well, I really don't really
understand what the cutoff criteria are for inclusion. That may be part of
my problem with the current approach.
In any case, until it becomes easier to get distro-specific information
added to the HowTo, you should expect to see distro-specific documents
continue to turn up.
[...]
>Also, I would very much prefer that you submit patches to the existing
>docs to
>Robert, instead of writing your own.
The best way to encourage this approach would be to get Robert to accept
more "patches". His unwillingness to add the information that recent
versions of LIRC changed the name of the "rc" program to "irsend" (see his
response to me on this list a few days ago) is a handy illustration of the
problem.
His response to me was *correct* in that the HowTo discusses a specific
version or LIRC, and this name change appears in a newer version. But while
correct, the response is not *helpful* to Debian-Sid users ... since the
current version of LIRC in Debian-Sid is that newer version. A
Debian-Sid-specific complement to the HowTo is needed to address details
that Robert knows about but specifically declines to add to the HowTo (this
is just one example; my past postings here have identified many others).
In general, rigidity with respect to adding distro-specific information
into the HowTo is what prompts people to write distro-specific supplements
to the HowTo. Not being a Red Hat user, I do not know the extent to which
Jared's notes address these kinds of distro-specific questions that Robert
is reluctant to add to the HowTo ... but do know that last week's exchanges
have completed the process of discouraging me from offering any more
suggestions about or updates to the "official" HowTo.
Isaac, the "official" HowTo can quite reasonably be limited to information
about how to install Myth from "official" sources (including getting other
required software from their "official" sources rather than distro
packages). In that case, you should expect, even desire, to see
distro-specific supplements, particularly ones geared to the idiosyncracies
of prepackaged versions for the distros. (Another example would be the
Debian-Sid packages moving ./setup to /usr/bin/mythtv-setup .) I even
recall a posting, by you or Robert (I forget which) that explicitly said
that documentation for distro-specific pre-packages of Myth should be the
responsibility of the packager, not Myth.
Or the "offficial" HowTo can attempt to be inclusive, providing as much
distro-specific info as Robert can get from those of us who install to the
various distros and report our problems and solutions or workarounds.
It can't simultaneously be both of these things. Right now, it appears to
be a mix of the two, with the cutoff set by ... well, I really don't really
understand what the cutoff criteria are for inclusion. That may be part of
my problem with the current approach.
In any case, until it becomes easier to get distro-specific information
added to the HowTo, you should expect to see distro-specific documents
continue to turn up.