470 lines
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470 lines
12 KiB
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><HEAD
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><TITLE
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>Introduction</TITLE
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><TR
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><TH
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>Free Software Project Management HOWTO</TH
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><TR
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WIDTH="10%"
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><A
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>Prev</A
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ALIGN="LEFT"
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT1"
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><H1
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CLASS="SECT1"
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><A
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NAME="INTRO">1. Introduction</H1
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><P
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> Skimming through freshmeat.net provides mountains of reasons for this
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HOWTO's existence--the Internet is littered with excellently
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written and useful programs that have faded away into the universe
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of free software forgottenness. This dismal scene made me ask
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myself, "Why?"
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</P
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><P
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> This HOWTO tries to do a lot of things (probably too many), but it
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can't answer that question and won't attempt it. What this HOWTO
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will attempt to do is give your Free Software project a fighting
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chance--an edge. If you write a piece of crap that no one is
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interested in, you can read this HOWTO until you can recite it in
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your sleep and your project will probably fail. Then again, you can
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write a beautiful, relevant piece of software and follow every
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instruction in this HOWTO and your software may still not make
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it. Sometimes life is like that. However, I'll go out a limb and
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say that if you write a great, relevant pieces of software and
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ignore the advise in this HOWTO, you'll probably fail <EM
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> more often</EM
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>.
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</P
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><P
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> A lot of the information in this HOWTO is best called common
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sense. Of course, as any debate on interfaces will prove, what is
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common sense to some programmers proves totally unintuitive to
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others. After explaining bits and pieces of this HOWTO to Free
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Software developers on several occasions, I realized that writing
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this HOWTO might provide a useful resource and a forum for
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programmers to share ideas about what has and has not worked for
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them.
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</P
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><P
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> As anyone involved in any of what seems like an unending parade of
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ridiculous intellectual property clashes will attest to, a little
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bit of legalese proves important.
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</P
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><H2
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><A
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NAME="COPYRIGHT">1.1. Copyright Information</H2
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><P
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> This document is copyrighted (c) 2000 Benjamin "Mako" Hill and is
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distributed under the terms of the <I
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CLASS="CITETITLE"
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>GNU Free
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Documentation License</I
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>.
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</P
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><P
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> Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this
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document under the terms of the <A
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HREF="fdl.html"
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><I
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CLASS="CITETITLE"
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>GNU Free Documentation
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License</I
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></A
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>, Version 1.1 or any later version
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published by the Free Software Foundation with no Invariant
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Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy
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of the license can be found in <A
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HREF="fdl.html"
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>Appendix A</A
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>.
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</P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><H2
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><A
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NAME="DISCLAIMER">1.2. Disclaimer</H2
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><P
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> No liability for the contents of this documents can be accepted.
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Use the concepts, examples and other content at your own risk. As
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this is a new edition of this document, there may be errors and
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inaccuracies, that may of course be damaging to your project (and
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potentially your system). Proceed with caution, and although this
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is highly unlikely, the author(s) does not take any responsibility
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for that.
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</P
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><P
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> All copyrights are held by their by their respective owners, unless
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specifically noted otherwise. Use of a term in this document
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should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark
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or service mark.
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</P
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><P
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> Naming of particular products or brands should not be seen
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as endorsements.
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</P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><H2
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><A
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NAME="NEWVERSIONS">1.3. New Versions</H2
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><P
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> This version is the part of the third pre-release cycle of this
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HOWTO. It is written to be released to developers for critique and
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brainstorming. Please keep in mind that this version of the HOWTO
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is still in an infant stage and will continue to be revised
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extensively.
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</P
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><P
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> The latest version number of this document should always be listed
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on <A
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HREF="http://yukidoke.org/~mako/projects/howto"
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TARGET="_top"
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>the projects
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homepage </A
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> hosted by <A
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HREF="http://yukidoke.org"
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TARGET="_top"
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>yukidoke.org.</A
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>
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</P
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><P
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> The newest version of this HOWTO will always be made available at
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the same website, in a variety of formats:
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</P
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><P
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> <P
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></P
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><UL
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><LI
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><P
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> <A
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HREF="http://yukidoke.org/~mako/projects/howto/FreeSoftwareProjectManagement-HOWTO/t1.html"
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TARGET="_top"
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>HTML</A
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>.
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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> <A
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HREF="http://yukidoke.org/~mako/projects/howto/FreeSoftwareProjectManagement-HOWTO.html"
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TARGET="_top"
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>HTML (single page)</A
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>.
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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> <A
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HREF="http://yukidoke.org/~mako/projects/howto/FreeSoftwareProjectManagement-HOWTO.txt"
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TARGET="_top"
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>plain text</A
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>.
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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> <A
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HREF="http://yukidoke.org/~mako/projects/howto/FreeSoftwareProjectManagement-HOWTO.ps.gz"
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TARGET="_top"
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>Compressed postscript</A
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>.
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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> <A
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HREF="http://yukidoke.org/~mako/projects/howto/FreeSoftwareProjectManagement-HOWTO.sgml.gz"
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TARGET="_top"
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>Compressed SGML source</A
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>.
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</P
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></LI
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></UL
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>
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</P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><H2
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><A
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NAME="CREDITS">1.4. Credits</H2
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><P
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> In this version I have the pleasure of acknowledging:
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</P
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><P
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>Fellow Debian developer Martin Michlmayr and Vivek
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Venugopalan who sent me information and links to extremely
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interesting articles. I've added both to the bibliography and I've
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added information from each into the HOWTO. Thanks to Andrew Shugg
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who pointed out several errors in the document. Also, a big thanks
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to Sung Wook Her (AKA RedBaron) who is doing the first translation
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of the HOWTO into Korean. I've been happy to see that people have
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enjoyed and benefited from the HOWTO so far.</P
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><P
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> Older thanks that I don't want to take out yet include: Josh
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Crawford, Andy King, and Jaime Davila who all read through this in
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entirety and gave me feedback that has helped me make changes and
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improvements to this document. I can't thank you guys enough for
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your help. An extra <SPAN
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CLASS="QUOTE"
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>"Thank You"</SPAN
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> goes to Andy King who
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who read through this several times and submitted patches to make
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life easier for me.
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</P
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><P
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> Karl Fogel, the author of <I
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CLASS="CITETITLE"
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>Open Source Development with
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CVS</I
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> published by the Coriolis Open Press. Large parts
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of his book are available <A
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HREF="http://cvsbook.red-bean.com"
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TARGET="_top"
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>on the web</A
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>. 225 pages of
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the book are available under the GPL and constitute the best
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tutorial on CVS I've ever seen. The rest of the book covers,
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<SPAN
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CLASS="QUOTE"
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>"the challenges and philosophical issues inherent in running
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an Open Source project using CVS."</SPAN
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> The book does a good job
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of covering some of the subjects brought up in this HOWTO and much
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more. <A
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HREF="http://cvsbook.red-bean.com"
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TARGET="_top"
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>The book's
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website</A
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> has information on ordering the book and provides
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several translations of the chapters on CVS. If you are seriously
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interested in running a Free Software project, you want this
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book. I tried to mention Fogel in sections of this HOWTO where I
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knew I was borrowing directly from his ideas. If I missed any, I'm
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sorry. I'll try and have those fixed in future versions.
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</P
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><P
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> Karl Fogel can be reached at <TT
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CLASS="EMAIL"
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><<A
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HREF="mailto:kfogel (at) red-bean (dot)
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com"
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>kfogel (at) red-bean (dot)
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com</A
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>></TT
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>
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</P
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><P
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> Also providing support material, and inspiration for this HOWTO is
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Eric S. Raymond for his prolific, consistent, and carefully
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crafted arguments and Lawrence Lessig for reminding me of the
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importance of Free Software. Additionally, I want to thank every
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user and developer involved with the <A
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HREF="http://www.debian.org"
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TARGET="_top"
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>Debian Project</A
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>. The project
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has provided me with a home, a place to practice free software
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advocacy, a place to make a difference, a place to learn from
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those who have been involved with the movement much longer than I,
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and proof of a free software project that definitely, definitely
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works.
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</P
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><P
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> Above all, I want to thank <EM
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>Richard Stallman</EM
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>
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for his work at the Free Software Foundation and for never giving
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up. Stallman provides and articulates the philosophical basis that
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attracts me to free software and that drives me toward writing a
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document to make sure it succeeds. RMS can always be emailed at
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<TT
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CLASS="EMAIL"
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><<A
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HREF="mailto:rms (at) gnu (dot) org"
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>rms (at) gnu (dot) org</A
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>></TT
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>.
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</P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><H2
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><A
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NAME="FEEDBACK">1.5. Feedback</H2
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><P
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> Feedback is always and most certainly welcome for this
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document. Without your submissions and input, this document
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wouldn't exist. Do you feel that something is missing? Don't
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hesitate to contact me to have me write a chapter, section, or
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subsection or to write one yourself. I want this document to be a
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product of the Free Software development process that it heralds
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and I believe that its ultimate success will be rooted in its
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ability to do this. Please send your additions, comments, and
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criticisms to the following email address:
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<TT
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CLASS="EMAIL"
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><<A
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HREF="mailto:mako@debian.org"
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>mako@debian.org</A
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>></TT
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>.
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</P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><H2
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><A
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NAME="TRANSLATIONS">1.6. Translations</H2
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><P
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> I know that not everyone speaks English. Translations are nice and
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I'd love for this HOWTO to gain the kind of international reach
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afforded by translated versions.
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</P
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><P
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> I've been contacted by a reader who promises a translation into
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Korean. However, this HOWTO is still young and other than the
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promise of Korean, English is all that is currently available. If
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you would like to help with or do a translation, you will gain my
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utmost respect and admiration and you'll get to be part of a cool
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process. If you are at all interested, please don't hesitate to
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contact me at: <TT
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CLASS="EMAIL"
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><<A
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HREF="mailto:mako@debian.org"
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>mako@debian.org</A
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>></TT
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>.
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</P
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></DIV
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>Free Software Project Management HOWTO</TD
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ALIGN="center"
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> </TD
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>Starting a Project</TD
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