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<TITLE>The Linux Documentation Project: History</TITLE> |
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<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top"><A HREF="index.html"><IMG SRC="images/ldp.gif" WIDTH="300" HEIGHT="120" ALIGN="absmiddle" BORDER="0" ALT="The Linux Documentation Project"></A> |
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<TD ALIGN="center"><font face="sans-serif,helvetica,arial" color="#ffffff"><B> |
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<A HREF="index.html"><font face="sans-serif,helvetica,arial" color="#ffffff"> |
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home</font></A> | |
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<A HREF="docs.html#howto"><font face="sans-serif,helvetica,arial" color="#ffffff"> |
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HOWTOs</font></A> | |
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<A HREF="guides.html"><font face="sans-serif,helvetica,arial" color="#ffffff"> |
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Guides</font></A> | |
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<A HREF="docs.html#faq"><font face="sans-serif,helvetica,arial" color="#ffffff"> |
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FAQs</font></A> | |
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<A HREF="docs.html#man"><font face="sans-serif,helvetica,arial" color="#ffffff"> |
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man pages</font></A> | |
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<A HREF="docs.html#lg"><font face="sans-serif,helvetica,arial" color="#ffffff"> |
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Linux Gazette</font></A> | |
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<A HREF="docs.html#lf"><font face="sans-serif,helvetica,arial" color="#ffffff"> |
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LinuxFocus</font></A> |
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</B></font></TD> |
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<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="center"> |
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<p><H2> Linux Documentation Project History </H2></p> |
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<TR><TD BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF"> |
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<P> |
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<h2 class="title"> |
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Inside TLDP</h2> |
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<div class="submitted"> |
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By Machtelt Garrels</div> |
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<div class="created"> |
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Created 2004-03-04</div> |
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<div class="source_url"> |
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Originally Created For the <a href="http://www.linuxjournal.com"><em>Linux Journal</em></a> : <a href="http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/7433">http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/7433</a> |
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<div class="content"> |
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A behind-the-scenes look at the evolution of the Linux Documentation Project. |
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<div class="article" lang="en"> |
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<div class="simplesect" lang="en"> |
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<div class="titlepage"> |
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<h2 class="title"><a name="N0x850ca00.0x857391c"></a></h2> |
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</div> |
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<p><a href="http://tldp.org" target="_top">TLDP</a> is short for The Linux Documentation Project, an |
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organization of volunteers authoring, reviewing and managing documents about the Linux operating system. |
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Documents basically come in two formats based upon their length. The shorter ones generally are called HOWTOs |
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(or mini-HOWTOs, if they are really short), the longer documents, called guides, deal in-depth with a Linux |
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feature.</p> |
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<p>The number of topics discussed in these HOWTOs and guides is practically unlimited, ranging from |
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installing the Linux system to managing all kinds of devices, services and environments, to creating your own |
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system from scratch: there's something about it in TLDP, mainly thanks to <a href="vlist.html">volunteers</a> who |
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share their experiences. Nevertheless, it must be admitted that there are still some important topics missing from the collection.</p> |
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<p>All the documentation is freely available in several formats suitable for printing and on-line browsing. |
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The main submission language is English, but several translation efforts, including French, German, Italian, Korean and |
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Chinese, try to make this immense amount of information available to a wider public.</p> |
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<p>This is only an article, not a book. Some people who have done fantastic work are not mentioned here. I hope these people understand the context of this article and know that I am thinking about them, eventhough they are not all listed by name.</p> |
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</div> |
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<div class="simplesect" lang="en"> |
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<div class="titlepage"> |
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<h2 class="title"><a name="N0x850ca00.0x8573a24"></a>How to Use TLDP</h2> |
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</div> |
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<p>Linux environments tend to change at a rather high speed, so do the docs. Sooner rather than later, |
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submissions about new protocols and applications reach TLDP, outdating older documents. The main problem here |
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is TLDP maintainers usually are rather soft-hearted, so partly out of melancholy, partly out of respect and |
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sometimes partly because of the lack of volunteers for upgrading a document, they tend to archive |
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everything. Some also argue that it is better to have an outdated document than none at all.</p> |
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<p>Given this information, it might thus be best to stick to the following golden rules when searching the |
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LDP collection:</p> |
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<div class="itemizedlist"> |
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<ul type="disc"> |
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<li> |
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<p>1. Check the revision date on a document. If it's older than a year, don't depend on it too much (Unless, of course, we are discussing proven technology that has been around in the same form for years or decades).</p> |
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</li> |
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<li> |
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<p>2. Check that a document is being updated regularly; this is an extra sign that it is being maintained |
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seriously.</p> |
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</li> |
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</ul> |
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</div> |
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<p>Most documents contain revision history information in the preface or in an appendix.</p> |
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</div> |
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<div class="simplesect" lang="en"> |
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<div class="titlepage"> |
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<h2 class="title"><a name="N0x850ca00.0x8573bdc"></a>How Did TLDP Get Started?</h2> |
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<h3>1992 - 1996</h3> |
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</div> |
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<p>As Matt Welsh, one of the co-founders, puts it: "The history of the LDP is a pretty murky memory these |
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days." It started in 1992, before the World Wide Web existed. It's hard to imagine how we did without HTML, |
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but in those days almost everything was FTP and Usenet and dial-in to a BBS was most likely. In the |
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beginning, most of the documentation was in one big file, split into sections, called the <span class=" |
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emphasis"><em>Linux FAQ</em></span>.</p> |
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<p>Later, Matt got together with Lars Wirzenius and Michael K. Johnson, who had the idea of producing printed |
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Linux documentation. Michael initially started on a kernel hackers guide, Lars did the system administrator |
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guide and Matt wrote the first installation guide. Everything was done in LaTeX, so the only way to read |
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these docs in a reasonably comfortable way was either by printing them out or using a PostScript viewer.</p> |
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<p>But as Linux capabilities grew, it was no longer possible for one person to maintain everything. Pretty |
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soon, not even several people could manage the job. Thus, the HOWTOs were born, each describing a part of the |
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original big chunk of information. This created an easily extendible system that allows for many authors to |
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contribute to their areas of specialization.</p> |
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<p>That effort lead to the use of (Linuxdoc) SGML, which enabled the fast generation of all sorts of output formats, |
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including HTML, from one source file or set of files. The first tests were conducted at Sunsite (a famous |
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server machine at the University of North Carolina), which was the first Web site offering information about |
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Linux. Also, when you wanted to download Linux software, Sunsite.unc.edu was the place to go. It still |
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contains some kernel archives--probably by accident, there also are a lot of empty directories these |
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days.</p> |
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<p>Before the crash (May 2003) I was able to find, via FTP, a document referring to two maintainers of the |
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LDP as it was run by the end of 1994 at UNC. It pointed to Jon Magid and a mysterious Erik with no last name, |
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who was still at Sunsite in 1996.</p> |
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<p>After extended research in the dungeon server rooms of Google, we can state with almost certainty that the |
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mysterious Erik does have a last name after all. Most likely, we are dealing here with the Erik Troan, who |
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supported possibly half of the Linux users in the 1993-1996 period and later on became the Senior Director of |
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Engineering at Red Hat.</p> |
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<p>Further research revealed that sometime in 1996, Greg Hankins became the HOWTO coordinator of the LDP project. He was |
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the original author of the <a href="HOWTO/Serial-HOWTO.html" target="_top">Serial |
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HOWTO</a>, which he began maintaining in 1993; he also was one of the main contributors to the SGML-tools |
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development project.</p> |
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</div> |
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<div class="simplesect" lang="en"> |
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<div class="titlepage"> |
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<h2 class="title"><a name="N0x850ca00.0x8573dc0"></a>Growing</h2> |
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<h3>1996 - 1999</h3> |
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</div> |
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<p>LDP is becoming more popular by the day, and the collection was published on paper several times, in part or entirely. |
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LSL (now CheapBytes) was the publisher of multiple editions. They were called "The Linux Bible", "Dr. Linux", |
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"Linux Getting Started", "Linux the Complete Reference" and "The Linux Encyclopedia".</p> |
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<p>1998 saw the publication of "Linux Undercover", subtitled "Linux Secrets as Revealed by the Linux |
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Documentation Project". Red Hat was the first to use the new just-in-time production method. Previous printed |
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versions often contained stale HOWTOs, but this one essentially was printed straight from the on-line master |
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documents.</p> |
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<p>The linuxdoc.org domain was registered and the entire Linux documentation collection moved to it |
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and promptly was mirrored. The relationship with iBiblio (formerly sunsite.UNC.edu) was maintained during |
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the romance with SGI, and the university became a mirror site. The love didn't last, however, and TLDP moved |
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to iBiblio again after the short SGI intermezzo. Paul Jones and his colleagues, responsible for managing TLDP |
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at iBilbio, were very understanding and provided a lot of support, which enabled the centralization of |
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resources in North Carolina.</p> |
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<p>Prior to the mailinglists, discussion primarily happened in the Usenet newsgroups. In 1996 the ldp-l@cornell.edu mailinglist was created. It moved to ldp-l@linux.org.au around 1998. The mailing lists were a good thing; I |
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remember that newsfeed in those days was generating enormous amounts of traffic and consumed--for that |
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time--unreasonable amounts of bandwidth. Some ISPs decided to offer only a partial feed or none at all. The ldp-l mailinglist was stopped and replaced by the <a href="http://lists.tldp.org">current lists</a> (discuss, feedback, announce, submit etc.) in 1999.</p> |
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<p>Lars and his crew started working on an automated system for submission and publication of updates during this period of growth, but the system was never finished.</p> |
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</div> |
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<div class="simplesect" lang="en"> |
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<div class="titlepage"> |
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<h2 class="title"><a name="N0x850ca00.0x8573f4c"></a>Some Serious Organizing</h2> |
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<h3>1999 - 2001</h3> |
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</div> |
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<p>By 1999, Guylhem Aznar was elected coordinator of the LDP. His job was to unify the LDP: servers were in operation all over the world, there were no real backup mechanisms when people were ill or unavailable. He |
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started by putting together a staff, a team of volunteers that could give structure to TLDP.</p> |
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<p>The exact configuration of the <a href="LDP-Team-19981212.htm" target="_top">core team</a> in |
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those days has been preserved. It was composed of a hub, consisting of one main |
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coordinator, plus individual FAQ, Guide and HOWTO coordinators, Greg Ferguson, Joshua Drake and Tim Bynum, |
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respectively. Furthermore, most translation efforts started in 1994 now are running more or less at full |
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speed, and people have been appointed to manage each translation. One project not listed here, although it |
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was among the first, is the German translation effort. As with the recent joining of some Italian |
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translators, it sometimes takes a while for people find one another.</p> |
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<p>In 1999, the project hosted eight guides, including version 1.0 of the Linux Network Administrator's Guide |
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and beta-1 of the Linux User's Guide. These and other documents still were written mostly in SGML or |
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LaTeX.</p> |
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<p>The first occurrences of DocBook were seen in 2000; DocBook now is the preferred submission format because |
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it enables easy generation of HTML, PS, PDF and other formats from the source files.</p> |
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<p>Another novelty that came with the 21st century was the creation of a versioning system. Serge |
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Victor and Gregory Leblanc were responsible for the setup; Serge still manages our GitHub repository. He also became |
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the listmaster by the end of 2000. Up until then, Debian hosted the TLDP mailing lists.</p> |
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<p>TLDP project was maturing and growing in every possible way. To this end, David S. Lawyer finalized the |
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<a href="manifesto.html" target="_top">LDP Manifesto</a>. David is still the point of contact |
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for all license issues.</p> |
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<p>A new Web site layout was probably the most visible improvement. The new millennium brought the precursor |
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of the site as it is today.</p> |
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</div> |
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<div class="simplesect" lang="en"> |
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<div class="titlepage"> |
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<h2 class="title"><a name="N0x850ca00.0x85740ac"></a>From LinuxDoc.org to TLDP.org</h2> |
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<h3>2001 - 2003</h3> |
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</div> |
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<p>In some documents you still can see references to the old linuxdoc.org domain. The reason for the domain |
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switch was not pretty, unfortunately, but as it is part of the TLDP story, it should be told.</p> |
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<p>As is so often the case, goodwill and kindness made selfishness rise to the occasion. Many people are |
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interested in TLDP, but not always for the good of the project.</p> |
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<p>At the time Guylhem was elected president, there was only one other candidate. Guylhem didn't want that |
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man to feel left out, so he trusted him to be the webmaster. TLDP lost the linuxdoc.org domain because the |
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webmaster managed to claim ownership of it. He also purchased the .com domain and ran a commercial Web site |
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on it on the back of TLDP. Needless to say, this caused a lot of friction.</p> |
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<p>There is another side to the story, saying that the webmaster (inadvertently or not?) failed to pay the renewal fee for the domain.</p> |
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<p>Anyway, a new domain had to be found, and <a href="http://tldp.org" target="_top">tldp.org</a> was short and |
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free. Guylhem took his responsibilities seriously, registered the domain in 2002 and moved the project to the |
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current domain. The team also took this opportunity to broaden the scope of the project, and they combined |
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the move with a restructuring operation that made the project much more efficient.</p> |
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</div> |
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<div class="simplesect" lang="en"> |
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<div class="titlepage"> |
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<h2 class="title"><a name="N0x850ca00.0x85741e0"></a>New Procedures</h2> |
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<h3>2003 - 2005</h3> |
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</div> |
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<p>But all these efforts were not enough. Ever more authors and other volunteers needed guidance, and ever |
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more documents had to be organized. The project hosted a lot of outdated documents by now, which became a bit |
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shameful. Another problem was the random publication of documents. There was so much work and not enough |
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people to do it, so anybody could publish almost anything. Scandal broke loose when a couple of opinionated |
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documents were found, containing tainted and sometimes plainly wrong information that was possibly harmful to |
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the readers.</p> |
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<p>Thus, 2003 became the year of revamping. A thorough search through the entire collection revealed more old |
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or doubtful documents that were taken off-line for a revision. Documents too old to be useful were moved to |
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the attic. Tabatha Marshall was appointed review coordinator and put together a team of reviewers. Together, |
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they edit new submissions: they check for technical correctness, readability and grammar and spelling errors. |
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Furthermore, they apply the TLDP style so as to give the collection consistency. The Weekly News was revived |
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and offered over RSS feed. Input from the feedback mailing list was followed up once more. |
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The <a href="LDP/LDP-Author-Guide/html/index.html" target="_top">Author Guide</a> was revised to list the |
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new procedures for publishing documents in accordance with the quality control guidelines. A HOWTO generator |
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was created to facilitate submissions by new authors. Beyond these visible accomplishments, hundreds of |
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authors are working together now, everyone of them contributing a small part to this huge project.</p> |
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<p>People responsible for managing projects often ask us how we do it. This is how. There is no book that |
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tells you how to do it. We are on a road with many bumps and ups and downs, and TLDP seemingly hangs together |
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with hooks and eyes--but it's there and it doesn't go away.</p> |
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<h3>More history</h3> |
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<p>As the Weekly News project also has its ups and downs and is currently in a down, we decided to take the link off the front page and make the old issues available <a href="ldpwn/">here</a>.</p> |
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<TD ALIGN="center"><font face="sans-serif,helvetica,arial" size="-1"> |
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Last Modified: 2012-07-07 | |
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<a href="mailto:feedback@en.tldp.org.NOSPAM">feedback@en.tldp.org</a></font></TD> |
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