LDP/LDP/guide/docbook/LDP-Author-Guide/LDP-Author-Guide.xml

791 lines
30 KiB
XML

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='ISO-8859-1'?>
<!DOCTYPE book PUBLIC '-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.1.2//EN'
"/usr/share/sgml/docbook/xml-dtd-4.1.2/docbookx.dtd" [
<!--
A note to future authors and editors of this document:
Thank you a hundred times over for contributing!
-->
<!-- Chapter One: About this guide -->
<!ENTITY aboutthisguide SYSTEM "abouttheguide.xml">
<!ENTITY tldp SYSTEM "tldp.xml">
<!ENTITY thankyous SYSTEM "thankyous.xml">
<!ENTITY conventions SYSTEM "conventions.xml">
<!-- Chapter Two: Authoring TLDP Documents: An Introduction -->
<!ENTITY authoring-overview SYSTEM "authoring-overview.xml">
<!-- Chapter Three: Propose -->
<!ENTITY authoring-proposal SYSTEM "authoring-proposal.xml">
<!-- Chapter Four: Write -->
<!ENTITY authoring-writing SYSTEM "authoring-writing.xml">
<!ENTITY cvs SYSTEM "cvs.xml">
<!-- Appendix B. Editors, Validation and System Setup -->
<!ENTITY tools SYSTEM "tools.xml">
<!ENTITY using-docbook SYSTEM "using-docbook.xml">
<!ENTITY doc-index SYSTEM "index.xml">
<!ENTITY gfdl SYSTEM "fdl-appendix.xml">
<!-- Include macros -->
<!ENTITY conventions SYSTEM "conventions.xml">
<!ENTITY example-article SYSTEM "example-article.xml">
<!ENTITY example-book SYSTEM "example-book.xml">
<!ENTITY example-compile-sgml SYSTEM "compiles-sgml.xml">
<!ENTITY example-table SYSTEM "example-table.xml">
<!ENTITY dsl-example SYSTEM "dsl-example.xml">
<!ENTITY glossary SYSTEM "glossary.xml">
<!ENTITY xml SYSTEM "docbook-xml.xml">
<!ENTITY style-guide SYSTEM "style-guide.xml">
<!ENTITY using-ldp-dsssl SYSTEM "using-ldp-dsssl.xml">
<!ENTITY using-ldp-xsl SYSTEM "using-ldp-xsl.xml">
<!-- Text Macros -->
<!ENTITY conectivasa '<ulink url="http://www.conectiva.com">Conectiva S.A.</ulink>'>
<!ENTITY conectiva "Conectiva">
]>
<book id="index">
<bookinfo>
<title>LDP Author Guide</title>
<pubdate>2002-04-25</pubdate>
<author>
<firstname>Mark</firstname>
<othername>F.</othername>
<surname>Komarinski</surname>
<affiliation>
<address><email>mkomarinski@wayga.org</email></address>
</affiliation>
</author>
<author>
<firstname>Jorge</firstname>
<surname>Godoy</surname>
<affiliation>
<orgname>&conectivasa;</orgname>
<orgdiv>Publishing Department</orgdiv>
<address><email>godoy@conectiva.com</email></address>
<address><email>godoy@metalab.unc.edu</email></address>
</affiliation>
</author>
<author>
<firstname>David</firstname>
<othername>C.</othername>
<surname>Merrill</surname>
<affiliation>
<address><email>dcmerrill@mindspring.com</email></address>
</affiliation>
</author>
<abstract>
<para>List the tools, procedures, and hints to get LDP authors
up to speed and writing. </para>
</abstract>
<revhistory>
<revision>
<revnumber>4.0</revnumber>
<date>2003-08-13</date>
<authorinitials>ejh</authorinitials>
<revremark>Revised the structure of the document and shuffled
elements into place.</revremark>
</revision>
<revision>
<revnumber>3.15</revnumber>
<date>2002-12-16</date>
<authorinitials>gjf</authorinitials>
<revremark>Contribution by Jaime Irving Davila regarding ldp.dsl
usage. </revremark>
</revision>
<revision>
<revnumber>3.14</revnumber>
<date>2002-05-16</date>
<authorinitials>mfk</authorinitials>
<revremark>Added information about LDP Reviewer HOWTO. New reviewers are asked to read this document.</revremark>
</revision>
<revision>
<revnumber>3.14</revnumber>
<date>2002-04-25</date>
<authorinitials>gf</authorinitials>
<revremark>Update meta-data information, resources; add articleinfo content</revremark>
</revision>
<!--
<revision>
<revnumber>3.13</revnumber>
<date>2002-04-21</date>
<authorinitials>sp</authorinitials>
<revremark>We are now tldp.org</revremark>
</revision>
<revision>
<revnumber>3.12</revnumber>
<date>2002-03-11</date>
<authorinitials>mfk</authorinitials>
<revremark>Bug fixes, learning PSGML, update e-mail address</revremark>
</revision>
<revision>
<revnumber>3.11</revnumber>
<date>2002-01-26</date>
<authorinitials>sp</authorinitials>
<revremark>
Updated CVS information.
</revremark>
</revision>
<revision>
<revnumber>3.10</revnumber>
<date>2001-12-15</date>
<authorinitials>dcm</authorinitials>
<revremark>
Updated contacting LDP information.
</revremark>
</revision>
<revision>
<revnumber>3.9</revnumber>
<date>2001-11-27</date>
<authorinitials>sp</authorinitials>
<revremark>
Updated CVS information.
</revremark>
</revision>
<revision>
<revnumber>3.8</revnumber>
<date>2001-09-25</date>
<authorinitials>dy</authorinitials>
<revremark>
XML/XSLT information.
</revremark>
</revision>
<revision>
<revnumber>3.7</revnumber>
<date>2001-06-20</date>
<authorinitials>mfk</authorinitials>
<revremark>
Now under the GFDL.
</revremark>
</revision>
<revision>
<revnumber>3.62</revnumber>
<date>2001-03-13</date>
<authorinitials>mfk</authorinitials>
<revremark>
Spelling and grammar changes from Dave Edwards (amoamasam@sympatico.ca).
Also performed some housecleaning from comments of discuss@en.tldp.org.
</revremark>
</revision>
<revision>
<revnumber>3.6</revnumber>
<date>2001-01-10</date>
<authorinitials>mfk</authorinitials>
<revremark>
First revision in DocBook XML. Added section covering writing
in DB XML, since first rev is 4.1.
</revremark>
</revision>
<revision>
<revnumber>3.51</revnumber>
<date>2001-01-05</date>
<authorinitials>mfk</authorinitials>
<revremark>sgedit (now tksgml) is not free, included link for pricing, more XML info</revremark>
</revision>
<revision>
<revnumber>3.5</revnumber>
<date>Dec 4, 2000</date>
<authorinitials>mfk</authorinitials>
<revremark>Changed mailing list pointers to new lists.</revremark>
</revision>
<revision>
<revnumber>3.4</revnumber>
<date>Dec 1, 2000</date>
<authorinitials>dcm</authorinitials>
<revremark>Added Crediting Translators and Converters</revremark>
</revision>
<revision>
<revnumber>3.3</revnumber>
<date>Nov 11, 2000</date>
<authorinitials>mfk</authorinitials>
<revremark>Added links to SGML GPL and FDL</revremark>
</revision>
<revision>
<revnumber>3.1</revnumber>
<date>Oct 10, 2000</date>
<authorinitials>mfk</authorinitials>
<revremark>Spelling changes, changed list of LDP policies to now
accept DocBook XML. More information about how to use *jade
with XML will follow.
</revremark>
</revision>
<revision>
<revnumber>3.0</revnumber>
<date>Aug 24, 2000</date>
<authorinitials>gjf</authorinitials>
<revremark>Integrated David Merrill's style guide document. Further clean-up and additions.</revremark>
</revision>
<revision>
<revnumber>2.0</revnumber>
<date>Jul 13, 2000</date>
<authorinitials>mfk</authorinitials>
<revremark>Cleaned up using-docbook a bit. Moved some chapters</revremark>
</revision>
<revision>
<revnumber>1.9</revnumber>
<date>Jun 26, 2000</date>
<authorinitials>mfk</authorinitials>
<revremark>Integrated Jorge's using-docbook document.</revremark>
</revision>
<revision>
<revnumber>1.5</revnumber>
<date>Jun 14, 2000</date>
<authorinitials>mfk</authorinitials>
<revremark>Documented sgedit</revremark>
</revision>
<revision>
<revnumber>1.4</revnumber>
<date>Jun 12, 2000</date>
<authorinitials>mfk</authorinitials>
<revremark>Documented vim and sgedit. Spelling and other
changes from ldp list. Also added LDP guidelines under style
guide.</revremark>
</revision>
-->
</revhistory>
</bookinfo>
<!-- Chapter one: about this guide
This chapter includes:
-->
&aboutthisguide;
<!-- Chapter two: authoring overview
This chapter includes:
-->
&authoring-overview;
<!-- Chapter three: propose
This chapter includes:
-->
&authoring-proposal;
<!-- Chapter four: write
This chapter includes:
-->
&authoring-writing;
<!-- Appendix B: Editors, Validation and System Setup -->
&tools;
<section id="other">
<title>Other/Reference</title>
<para>The items in this section are reference books or other
utilities that can't quite be categorized (yet).</para>
<section id="docbooktdg">
<title>DocBook: The Definitive Guide</title>
<para><ulink
url="http://www.docbook.org/">http://www.docbook.org/</ulink></para>
<para>This book was released by O'Reilly in October 1999, and
is a great reference to DocBook. I have not found it to be a
great practical book, and much of the emphasis is on XML, but
the DocBook tags for version 3.1 are all listed in a handy
format. You can pick it up at the book vendor of choice. The
entire book is also available online (in HTML and SGML
formats) at the above URL. </para>
</section>
<section id="templates">
<title>LDP templates, tools &amp; links</title>
<para>Optional - <ulink url="http://www.tldp.org/authors/index.html#resources">http://www.tldp.org/authors/index.html#resources</ulink></para>
<para>Contains links to SGML templates and their resulting HTML output
to help you see what your document will look like. Many of the tags
just need to be replaced with information unique to your HOWTO.
Also contains links to tools and other useful information.
</para>
</section>
<section id="aspell">
<title>Aspell</title>
<para>Optional - <ulink
url="http://aspell.sourceforge.net/">http://aspell.sourceforge.net/</ulink></para>
<para>This spell checking application can work around SGML
tags, and only spell check the content within the
tags. Older version of ispell will try to spell
check the tags, causing errors at every new tag.</para>
</section>
<section id="ispell">
<title>ispell</title>
<para>Optional - <ulink url="http://www.cs.hmc.edu/~geoff/ispell.html">http://www.cs.hmc.edu/~geoff/ispell.html</ulink></para>
<para>The ispell program is distributed with RedHat (and possibly other
distros) and also ignores markup tags.</para>
</section>
</section>
</chapter>
&using-docbook;
&style-guide;
<chapter id="other-style">
<title> Additional Style-related Items</title>
<para> This section contains additional style-oriented topics to
consider when preparing your document. </para>
<section id="accepteddates">
<title> Date formats </title>
<para> The <sgmltag class="starttag">pubdate</sgmltag> tag in
your header should list the publication date of this particular
version of the document (coincide with the revision date).
It should be in the following format: </para>
<programlisting format="linespecific"><sgmltag class="starttag">pubdate</sgmltag>2002-04-25<sgmltag class="endtag">pubdate</sgmltag></programlisting>
<para>
The date is in the format YYYY-MM-DD, which is one of the
<ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/NOTE-datetime">ISO 8601</ulink> standard
formats for representing dates. For you Yanks out there (me too),
think of it as going from the largest unit of time to
the smallest.
</para>
</section>
<section id="acceptedrev">
<title> Revision History </title>
<para> The <sgmltag class="starttag">revhistory</sgmltag> tag should be
used to denote the various revisions of the document. Specify the
date, revision number and comments regarding what has changed.</para>
<para>
Revisions should be listed with the most-recent version at the
top (list in descending order).
</para>
</section>
<section id="sampleai">
<title> Sample Article (or Book) Information Element </title>
<para> Here is a sample of a complete DocBook (SGML or XML)
<sgmltag class="starttag">articleinfo</sgmltag>
element which contains some of the items and constructs previously
described. </para>
<programlisting format="linespecific">
&lt;articleinfo&gt;
&lt;!-- Use "HOWTO", "mini HOWTO", "FAQ" in title, if appropriate --&gt;
&lt;title&gt;Sample HOWTO&lt;/title&gt;
&lt;author&gt;
&lt;firstname&gt;your_firstname&lt;/firstname&gt;
&lt;surname&gt;your_surname&lt;/surname&gt;
&lt;affiliation&gt;
&lt;!-- Valid email...spamblock/scramble if so desired --&gt;
&lt;address&gt;&lt;email&gt;xxx (at) xxx.xxx&lt;/email&gt;&lt;/address&gt;
&lt;/affiliation&gt;
&lt;/author&gt;
&lt;pubdate&gt;2002-04-25&lt;/pubdate&gt;
&lt;revhistory&gt;
&lt;revision&gt;
&lt;revnumber&gt;1.0&lt;/revnumber&gt;
&lt;date&gt;2002-04-25&lt;/date&gt;
&lt;authorinitials&gt;xx&lt;/authorinitials&gt;
&lt;revremark&gt;first official release&lt;/revremark&gt;
&lt;/revision&gt;
&lt;revision&gt;
&lt;revnumber&gt;0.9&lt;/revnumber&gt;
&lt;date&gt;2002-04-15&lt;/date&gt;
&lt;authorinitials&gt;xx&lt;/authorinitials&gt;
&lt;revremark&gt;first draft&lt;/revremark&gt;
&lt;/revision&gt;
&lt;/revhistory&gt;
&lt;!-- Provide a good abstract; a couple of sentences is sufficient --&gt;
&lt;abstract&gt;
&lt;para&gt;
This is a sample DocBook (SGML or XML) HOWTO which has been
constructed to serve as a template.
&lt;/para&gt;
&lt;/abstract&gt;
&lt;/articleinfo&gt;</programlisting>
</section>
<section id="acceptedgfx">
<title>Graphics formats</title>
<para> When submitting graphics to the LDP, please submit one
set of graphics in <filename>.eps</filename>, and another in
<filename moreinfo="none">.gif</filename>, <filename
moreinfo="none">.jpg</filename> or <filename moreinfo="none">
.png</filename>. The preferred format is <filename moreinfo="none">
.png</filename> or <filename moreinfo="none">.jpg</filename> due to
patent problems with <filename moreinfo="none">.gif</filename>.
</para>
<para>
You can use <filename moreinfo="none">.jpg</filename> file for
continuous-tone images such as photos or images with gradual
changes in color. Use <filename moreinfo="none">.png</filename>
for simple images like diagrams, some screen shots, and images
with a low number of colors.
</para>
</section>
<section id="acceptedversions">
<title>DocBook Versions</title>
<para>
The LDP supports and accepts documentation in the following formats:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
SGML DocBook versions 4.x and 3.1
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
SGML LinuxDoc
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
XML DocBook version 4.1.2
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>When writing your DocBook header, it should look like
this:</para>
<programlisting format="linespecific">
<sgmltag class="starttag">!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook V4.1//EN"</sgmltag>
</programlisting>
</section>
<section id="nooldtags">
<title>Obsolete Tags</title>
<para>Some tags listed in <emphasis>DocBook: The Definitive
Guide</emphasis> may be listed as being discarded in future
revisions of DocBook. To maintain future compatability, the
LDP recommends against using tags that will be discarded in
the future. Some ways to use newer tags are listed in the
tip and tricks section.</para>
</section>
<section id="notagmin">
<title>Tag Minimization</title>
<para>Tag minimization is using <sgmltag
class="endtag"></sgmltag> instead of the full end of a tag (such
as <sgmltag class="endtag">para</sgmltag>. Since this makes the
document more confusing for future authors and LDP members, and
is not allowed in XML DocBook, please refrain from this
practice.</para>
</section>
<section id="usingconventions">
<title>Conventions</title>
<para>Conventions for different kinds of text is as
follows:</para>
<para>If you're going to show the use of a command, format the
command so it looks like a user's command line. The prompt must
contain the shell type (bash, tcsh, zsh, etc) followed by a $
for commands to be run as a normal (non-root) user or a # for a
root user.</para>
<para> A command would then look like this: </para>
<screen format="linespecific">
<prompt>bash$</prompt> <command>command "run as a normal user"</command>
<prompt>bash#</prompt> <command>command "run as a root user"</command>
<prompt>tcsh#</prompt> <command>setenv DISPLAY :0.0</command>
</screen>
</section>
</chapter>
<chapter id="tips">
<title>Tips and Tricks with DocBook</title>
<para>This section covers a few quirks of DocBook that you may run
into when writing your documents.</para>
<section id="images">
<title>Including Images</title>
<para>If you plan on including images in your HOWTOs, you can
now do this, as LinuxDoc didn't support images. Here's a sample
way of including an image in your HOWTOS:</para>
<programlisting format="linespecific">
<sgmltag class="starttag">figure</sgmltag>
<sgmltag class="starttag">title</sgmltag>LyX screen shot<sgmltag class="endtag">title</sgmltag>
<sgmltag class="starttag">mediaobject</sgmltag>
<sgmltag class="starttag">imageobject</sgmltag>
<sgmltag class="starttag">imagedata fileref="lyx_screenshot.eps" format="eps"</sgmltag>
<sgmltag class="endtag">imageobject</sgmltag>
<sgmltag class="starttag">imageobject</sgmltag>
<sgmltag class="starttag">imagedata fileref="lyx_screenshot.jpg" format="jpg"</sgmltag>
<sgmltag class="endtag">imageobject</sgmltag>
<sgmltag class="starttag">textobject</sgmltag>
<sgmltag class="starttag">phrase</sgmltag>Screen shot of the LyX document processing program<sgmltag class="endtag">phrase</sgmltag>
<sgmltag class="endtag">textobject</sgmltag>
<sgmltag class="endtag">mediaobject</sgmltag>
<sgmltag class="endtag">figure</sgmltag>
</programlisting>
<para>This is a better way than using <sgmltag
class="starttag">graphic</sgmltag> for two reasons. First,
<sgmltag class="starttag">graphic</sgmltag> will be removed in
DocBook 5.0 in favor of the <sgmltag
class="starttag">mediaobject</sgmltag> tag. So you may as well
get started with the right way now. Second, <sgmltag
class="starttag">mediaobject</sgmltag> allows for different kinds
of media based on what the output is. In this example, the first
<sgmltag class="starttag">imageobject</sgmltag> is an encapsulated
PostScript(eps) file for use with formats derived from TeX such as
DVI, PS, and PDF. The second <sgmltag
class="starttag">imageobject</sgmltag> is a JPEG image for visual
display, mostly for HTML output. The <sgmltag
class="starttag">textobject</sgmltag> is presented if the output
doesn't support graphics (TXT). Think of it as an HTML <sgmltag
class="starttag">alt</sgmltag> tag.</para>
</section>
<section id="namedfiles">
<title>Naming separate HTML files</title>
<para>By default, when separate HTML files are made, the SGML
processor will assign arbitrary names to the resulting files.
This can be confusing to readers who may bookmark a page only to
have it change. Whatever
your reasoning, here's how to make separate files named the way
you want:</para>
<para>In your first <sgmltag class="starttag">article</sgmltag>
tag (which should be the only one) include an id parameter and
call it index. This will make your tag look like this:</para>
<programlisting format="linespecific">
<sgmltag class="starttag">article id="index"</sgmltag>
</programlisting>
<para>On the first <sgmltag class="starttag">chapter</sgmltag>
tag, do not modify it, as it's usually an introduction and you
want that on the first page. For each other <sgmltag
class="starttag">section</sgmltag> tag, include the id parameter
and name it. A name should include only alphanumeric characters,
and it should be short enough to understand what it is.</para>
<programlisting format="linespecific">
<sgmltag class="starttag">chapter id="tips"</sgmltag>
</programlisting>
</section>
&using-ldp-dsssl;
&using-ldp-xsl;
</chapter>
<chapter id="distribution">
<title> Distributing your documentation </title>
<section id="beforeyoudistribute">
<title> Before you distribute </title>
<para> Before you distribute your code to millions of potential
readers there are a few things you should do. </para>
<para> First, be sure to spell-check your document. Most
utilities that you would use to write SGML have plug-ins to
perform a spell check. If not, there's always the aspell
program. </para>
<para> Second, get someone to review your documentation for
factual correctness. You can also ask for general
comments. The documentation that is
published by the LDP needs to be as factually correct as
possible, as there are millions of Linux users that may be
reading it. If you're part of a larger mailing list talking
about the subject, ask others from the list to help you
out. </para>
<para> Third, create a web site where you can distribute your
documentation. This isn't required, but is helpful for people to
find the original location of your document. </para>
<section id="validatecode">
<title>Validating SGML code </title>
<para> Using jade, or really the nsgmls command, you can
validate your .sgml code against the DTD to make sure there
aren't any errors. </para>
<screen>
<prompt>bash$</prompt> <command>nsgmls -s HOWTO-HOWTO.sgml</command>
</screen>
<para> If there are no issues, you'll just get your command
prompt back. </para>
</section>
<section id="validatexml">
<title>Validating XML code</title>
<para>Validating XML is a touch harder than validating SGML
code, but it can be done. You will need to have XML DocBook
installed, and then set the <envar>SGML_CATALOG_FILES</envar>
to the location of xml.soc (included with jade) and to
the location of the DocBook XML catalog file.
</para>
<screen>
<prompt>bash$</prompt> <command>export <envar>SGML_CATALOG_FILES</envar>=/usr/lib/sgml/declaration/xml.soc:/usr/lib/xml/catalog</command>
<prompt>bash$</prompt> <command>nsgmls -s HOWTO-HOWTO.xml</command>
</screen>
</section>
</section>
<section id="makingcopyright">
<title> Copyright and Licensing issues </title>
<para> In order for an LDP document to be accepted by the LDP,
it must be licensed to conform to the "LICENSE REQUIREMENTS"
section of the LDP Manifesto located at <ulink
url="http://www.tldp.org/manifesto.html">http://www.tldp.org/manifesto.html</ulink>.
As an author, you may retain the copyright and add other
restrictions (for example, you must approve any translations or
derivative works). </para>
<para> We recommend using the <ulink
url="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html">GNU Free Documentation
License (GFDL)</ulink> or the <ulink
url="http://opencontent.org/openpub/">Open Publication License
(OPL)</ulink> <emphasis>without</emphasis> options A and B. If
you choose, you can get DocBook markups of both the GNU GPL
and the GNU FDL from <ulink url="http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gdp/licenses.html">
the GNOME Documentation Project</ulink>. You can then merely
include the license in its entirety in your document. Due
to its length, you may just want to provide a link
to the source.</para>
<para>If you choose to use a boilerplate copyright, simply copy it
into your source code under a section called <quote>Copyright
and Licenses</quote> or similar. Also include a copyright
statement of your own (since you still own it). If you are a new
maintainer of an already-existing HOWTO, you must include the
previous copyright statements of the previous author(s) and the
dates they maintained that document. </para>
<para>You'll note that the licensing for the LDP Author Guide
requires notification to the author of any derivative works or
translations. I also explicitly place any source code (aside
from the SGML the Guide was written in) under the GPL. If your
HOWTO includes bits of source code that you want others to use,
you may do the same.</para>
</section>
<section id="submission">
<title> Submission to LDP </title>
<para> Once your LDP document has been carefully reviewed, you
can release your document to the LDP. Send an e-mail with the
SGML source code as an attachment (you may gzip it if you like)
to <email>submit@en.tldp.org</email>. </para>
<para> Be sure to include the name of your HOWTO in the subject
line, and use the body to outline changes you've made and attach
your HOWTO. This allows the maintainers to do their jobs faster,
so you will not have to wait for your HOWTO to be updated on the
LDP web site. If you don't hear anything in 5 calendar days,
please follow up with an e-mail to make sure things are still in
process. </para>
<para>If your HOWTO contains extras, such as graphics or a
special catalog, create a.tar.gz file with all the files in it
including the .sgml source code and mail it as an attachment to
the ldp-submit list.</para>
<para>If you are using the LDP CVS tree while developing
your document, the LDP will still need to be notified when your
document is ready to be published. E-mail should be sent to
<email>submit@en.tldp.org</email>. Indicate
the title of your document and the relative path to the
file(s) in the LDP CVS tree within your message. </para>
</section>
<section id="maintentance">
<title>Maintaining Your HOWTO</title>
<para>
Just because your HOWTO has now been published doesn't mean your
job is done. HOWTOs need regular maintenance, to make sure they
are up to date, and to improve them in response to readers' ideas
and suggestions. A HOWTO is a living, growing body of knowledge,
not just a publish-and-forget-it static document.
</para>
<para>
You put your email address in the HOWTO, and politely requested
feedback from your readers, right? Once you are officially published,
you will begin to receive notes with suggestions. Some will be
very valuable; others will request personal assistance. You should
feel free to decline personal assistance if you cannot spare the
time. Writing a HOWTO for the LDP doesn't commit you to a lifetime
of free support for anyone on the net. It is polite to refer
questioners to another resource, if you can. And, if you see a
pattern in the questions you receive, it might indicate a topic
you should add to your HOWTO.
</para>
</section>
</chapter>
<chapter id="faq">
<title> FAQs about the LDP </title>
<qandaset defaultlabel="qanda">
<qandaentry>
<question>
<para>I want to help the LDP. How can I do this?</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para> The easiest way is to find something and document
it. Also check the unmaintained HOWTOs and see if there is a
subject there that you know about and can continue
documenting. </para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>
<qandaentry>
<question>
<para> I want to publish a collection of LDP documents in a
book. How is the LDP content licensed? </para>
</question>
<answer>
<para> Please see <ulink
url="http://www.tldp.org/manifesto.html#pub">http://www.tldp.org/manifesto.html#pub</ulink> for more information about publishing LDP documents.
</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>
<qandaentry>
<question>
<para> I found an error in an LDP document. Can I fix it? </para>
</question>
<answer>
<para> Contact the author of the document, or the LDP
coordinator at <email>feedback@en.tldp.org</email> and
mention the problem and how you think it needs to be
fixed. </para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>
<qandaentry>
<question>
<para>But I don't know SGML/Can't get the tools working/Don't
like SGML</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para> That's okay. You have the option of writing your first
draft of the HOWTO in the format of your choice, then submit
that to the LDP. An LDP volunteer will review the document,
then convert it into DocBook for you. Once that's done,it will
be easier for you to maintain the HOWTO. If you have
questions, you can always drop a line to the LDP volunteer or the
LDP Docbook list
at <email>docbook@en.tldp.org</email>.</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>
</qandaset>
</chapter>
&gfdl;
&glossary;
&doc-index;
</book>
<!--
Local Variables:
mode: sgml
sgml-set-face: 1
sgml-validate-command: "nsgmls -s /usr/share/sgml/xml.dcl %s %s"
End:
-->