178 lines
8.1 KiB
Plaintext
178 lines
8.1 KiB
Plaintext
LINUX GAZETTE ARTICLES
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~ means /home/lg. All programs are in ~/bin unless noted.
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~/data/articles is a symlink to ~/data/issues; use whichever you prefer.
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===== Preparing the issue =====
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1) Run:
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newissue.sh ##
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(## is the issue number.) This creates ~/issue##/. The program is
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non-destructive; you can run it even if you've already created the issue
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directory and put some files in it.
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2) Edit ~/data/ISSUES to add a line for the next issue.
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3) copy previous ~/data/issues/PREVIOUS.yml ###.yml
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4) copy previous ~/data/issues/PREVIOUS.yml ###.yml
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5) In ###.yml (use leading zero if necessary) delete all entries
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execept the ones you're sure will be in the next issue. Remember
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that you will have to change the titles as you receive the new articles.
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===== Adding an author =====
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1) Determine the author key (AUTHOR). It's usually the last name (no spaces or
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special characters). If that's not unique, use "lastname.firstname" or
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something else. Sometimes I use the first name or nickname, especially for
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authors from India who do not normally advertise their last name. If you
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use an unusual key, tell the author to remind you of it when they submit
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future aricles.
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2) See if ~/data/authors/AUTHOR exists and is the right person. Update the
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info if necessary.
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3) (In the rare case that it's the wrong person, change it
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to "lastname.firstname" and change all author: references in
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~/data/articles/*.yml .)
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4) If the key doesn't exist, look in ~/data/legacyAuthors/ . If found,
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move it into place, update it, and make sure it's in the correct format.
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In particular, copy the HTML around the bio from ~/data/authors/TEMPLATE.
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5) If still not found, copy ~/data/authors/TEMPLATE and modify.
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The file is in rfc822 (email message) format, not YAML.
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name: as it should be published
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email: as it should be published. Some authors provide a spam-obscured
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format.
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privateEmail: not published. Some authors provide a contact address for
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you to use.
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tag: 'y' if the person is a member of The Answer Gang.
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updated: date updated in YYYY-MM-DD format.
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Body is an HTML snippet that is the author's bio. Put it between
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<em> and </em>. If the author doesn't provide a bio, put HTML comment
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markers around it (inside the BEGN/END comments).
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===== Adding an article =====
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1) Determine the author key and add the author as described above.
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2) Determine the article key (ARTICLE). This is normally the same as the
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author key. If multiple articles by the same author, number them
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(ARTICLE, ARTICLE2, ARTICLE3). Other article keys I use:
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lg_mail : The Mailbag
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lg_tips : 2-Cent Tips
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lg_answer: The Answer Gang
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lg_bytes: News Bytes
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collinge: HelpDex cartoon strip (author collinge)
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ecol: Ecol cartoon strip (author malonda)
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qubism: Qubism cartoon strip (author harsem)
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foolish: The Foolish Things We Do With Our Computers (author you)
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lg_backpage: The Back Page (author orr)
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3) Add or modify a stanza in ~/data/articles/###.yml in YAML format:
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---
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key: okopnik
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author: okopnik
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title: Perl One-Liner of the Month
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key: is the article key. author: is the author key. The order of
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entries determines the TOC. I order articles by the article key,
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but leave lg_* in their fixed positions. (lg_backpage goes last if
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present.)
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4) Put the HTML file in ~/I/ARTICLE.html (using the article key).
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5) Run "refresh". This rebuilds the article database (~/data/cache.pickle)
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from the config files. *** ALWAYS RUN "refresh" AFTER MODIFYING ANYTHING
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IN ~/data/, BEFORE RUNNING ANOTHER BUILD COMMAND, or you'll get an error
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or the wrong result. ***
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6) Run "article ARTICLE.html" (using the article key). This (re)generates
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the LG header/footer for the article. It can be run again later to update
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the header/footer if desired.
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7) Clean up the article HTML, delete any style crap or fancy fonts, proofread
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spelling/grammar, etc. How closely you do this depends on how much time you
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have. You can send it to a volunteer proofreader if it has a lot of grammar
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mistakes. Since many LG readers speak English non-natively, we aim to be
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as simple as possible. Since many readers have text browsers, old browsers,
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Palm pilots, etc, we keep the HTML as simple as possible. Keep the number
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of images reasonable, since some readers pay lots of $$ for bandwidth.
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Look for any literal < > & which should be displayed verbatim; you'll have
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to change them to < > & respectively; vim highlights these in an
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red background so they're easy to spot. We allow authors to send text if
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they don't know HTML; in that case, you'll have to add the HTML tags
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yourself. You may want to ask some of the proofreaders to be assistant
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editors to lessen the load on yourself.
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8) Put supplemental files in ~/I/misc/ARTICLE (using the article key) and
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make sure the links from the article work. Text files should usually
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end in .txt; e.g., program.c.txt, program2.py.txt so they show up
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correctly in the browser. If the article contains a long program listing
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the user might want to run without typing in, copy it to a text file, change
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< > & to < > & respectively.
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9) ** ALWAYS USE RELATIVE LINKS FROM ONE PORTION OF LG TO ANOTHER. **
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E.g., "misc/okopnik/flowchart.png", "../issue89/lg_bytes.html".
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Otherwise the links won't work when read on a mirror or off-line.
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Exceptions are CGI scripts, the search page, and some links to the
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home page; always mention that the link is to the main site.
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10) When finished, save the original e-mail message in "d".
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===== What we publish =====
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http://www.linuxgazette.com/faq/author.html explains the guidelines for
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articles we publish, both re content and HTML format.
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===== The Mailbag, 2-Cent Tips, The Answer Gang =====
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Send the "ljwnn" mailbox to Heather Stern a week before publication.
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She will send you a tarball ready to publish, just untar it in ~/I.
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The tarball contains a file TWDT.lg_answer##.html . Move it to
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~/twdt/ . It is needed for the "twdt" command below.
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Heather's script often puts an extra "/" in the IMG tag for the LG
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logo in lg_*.html. If the image is broken, check for this. Also check
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for any other obvious errors in the columns and let her know.
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===== News Bytes =====
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In the second half of the month, send Mick Conry the accumulated "bytes"
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mailbox. Make sure he has a weekend to work on it before the publishing date.
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He will send a finished column. I don't think you need to run "article" on it,
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but check.
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Copy the current LJ cover image (200x268, png) to ~I/misc/bytes/lj-cover.png
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and make sure it shows up all right.
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Copy the events from http://www.linuxjournal.com/events.php to the appropriate
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section in News Bytes. (Mick usually does this.) There are comment markers
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in the file showing where to cut. Delete any references to banner images,
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and any entries which will be finished by the publishing date.
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Guido Socher will send HTML links to Linux Focus articles (linuxfocus.org).
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Put these in the top of the Linux Links section or have Mick do it. Usually
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these come after Mick has finished News Bytes. LF is published bi-monthly.
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(Eventually I'd like to see the LF links on the issue TOC since it's a sister
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publication.)
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===== Cartoons (HelpDex, Qubism, Ecol) ====
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I've been assembling the cartoon articles, and I'll probably continue to do so
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when I'm available. Otherwise you can have the authors assemble the articles,
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or you can select the panels from their website or a tarball and assemble the
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articles yourself. To assemble the articles yourself:
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1) Place the images in misc/ARTICLE/
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2) Run "cartoon ARTICLE". This creates ARTICLE.html with IMG links.
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The template (~/lib/python/T_Cartoon.tmpl) adds extra text for
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collinge (HelpDex), ecol and qubism, but you can use the command for any new
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cartoon series.
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3) Run "article ARTICLE.html" and edit the article as usual.
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===== The Foolish Things We Do With Our Computers ===
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When you get enough messages in "foolish", assemble them into an article
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similar to the previous ones.
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