309 lines
12 KiB
HTML
309 lines
12 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN">
|
|
<HTML>
|
|
<HEAD>
|
|
<TITLE>The Linux Documentation Project: Manifesto</TITLE>
|
|
<META NAME="description" CONTENT="Linux Documentation Project: Manifesto">
|
|
</HEAD>
|
|
|
|
<BODY bgcolor="#AAAAAA" LINK="#003355" ALINK="#003355" VLINK="#003355">
|
|
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="4" CELLSPACING="0">
|
|
<TR>
|
|
<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>
|
|
</TR>
|
|
|
|
<TR BGCOLOR="#AAAAAA">
|
|
<TD ALIGN="center"><font face="arial,helvetica" color="#ffffff"><B>
|
|
<A HREF="index.html"><font face="arial,helvetica" color="#ffffff">
|
|
home</font></A> |
|
|
<A HREF="docs.html#howto"><font face="arial,helvetica" color="#ffffff">
|
|
HOWTOs</font></A> |
|
|
<A HREF="guides.html"><font face="arial,helvetica" color="#ffffff">
|
|
Guides</font></A> |
|
|
<A HREF="docs.html#faq"><font face="arial,helvetica" color="#ffffff">
|
|
FAQs</font></A> |
|
|
<A HREF="docs.html#man"><font face="arial,helvetica" color="#ffffff">
|
|
man pages</font></A> |
|
|
<A HREF="docs.html#lg"><font face="arial,helvetica" color="#ffffff">
|
|
Linux Gazette</font></A> |
|
|
<A HREF="docs.html#lf"><font face="arial,helvetica" color="#ffffff">
|
|
LinuxFocus</font></A>
|
|
</B></font></TD>
|
|
</TR>
|
|
|
|
<TR BGCOLOR="#BBCCEE">
|
|
<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="center"><BR>
|
|
<H3><FONT FACE="arial,helvetica">
|
|
Linux Documentation Project Manifesto </FONT></H3>
|
|
</TD></TR>
|
|
|
|
<TR><TD BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF">
|
|
<P><BR><FONT FACE="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">
|
|
|
|
<P align="center">
|
|
Revised by: <B>David S. Lawyer</B> (<A href="mailto:dave@lafn.org">dave@lafn.org</A>)<BR>
|
|
Last Revision: <B>18 Dec 2000</B><BR>
|
|
</P>
|
|
|
|
<P><EM>
|
|
Describes the goals, status, documentation conventions, and license
|
|
requirements of the Linux Documentation Project.
|
|
</EM></P>
|
|
|
|
<P><HR WIDTH="66%"></P>
|
|
|
|
<H3><A NAME="s1">1. OVERVIEW</A></H3>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
The Linux Documentation Project is working on developing free, high
|
|
quality documentation for the GNU/Linux operating system. The overall
|
|
goal of the LDP is to collaborate in all of the issues of Linux
|
|
documentation. This includes the creation of "HOWTOs" and "Guides".
|
|
We hope to establish a system of documentation for Linux that will be
|
|
easy to use and search. This includes the integration of the manual
|
|
pages, info docs, HOWTOs, and other documents.
|
|
</P>
|
|
<P>
|
|
LDP's goal is to create the canonical set of free Linux documentation.
|
|
While online (and downloadable) documentation can be frequently
|
|
updated in order to stay on top of the many changes in the Linux
|
|
world, we also like to see the same docs included on CDs and printed
|
|
in books. If you are interested in publishing any of the LDP works,
|
|
see the section "<A href="#pub">Publishing LDP Documents</A>", below.
|
|
</P>
|
|
<P>
|
|
The LDP is essentially a loose team of <A href="vlist.html">volunteers</A> with
|
|
minimal central organization. Anyone who would like to help is welcome to
|
|
join in this effort. We feel that working together informally and discussing
|
|
projects on our mailing lists is the best way to go. When we disagree
|
|
on things, we try to reason with each other until we reach an informed
|
|
consensus.
|
|
</P>
|
|
|
|
<P><HR WIDTH="66%"></P>
|
|
|
|
<H3><A NAME="s2">2. CURRENT PROJECTS and GETTING INVOLVED</A></H3>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
Currently, the major effort of the LDP is the writing of HOWTOs. If
|
|
you think you would like to write a certain HOWTO first check to see
|
|
if one already exists on your topic. If so, you may contact the
|
|
<A HREF="mailto:linux-howto@metalab.unc.edu">maintainer</A> and offer to help.
|
|
If there is no HOWTO about it, you may want to create a new HOWTO.
|
|
See the <A href="LDP/LDP-Author-Guide/index.html">LDP Author Guide</A>
|
|
(formerly the <i>HOWTO-HOWTO</i>)
|
|
and/or the <A href="HOWTO/HOWTO-INDEX/index.html">HOWTO-INDEX</A> for more details.
|
|
</P>
|
|
<P>
|
|
The "<A href="guides.html">Guides</A>" are large book-size
|
|
LDP documents covering broad topics such as system administration.
|
|
We also maintain the man-pages for C-programming and devices.
|
|
</P>
|
|
<P>
|
|
Other tasks include checking the HOWTOs for clarity and errors,
|
|
improving our website, and developing an integrated system of
|
|
documentation for Linux. If you are interested in any such project
|
|
(other than writing HOWTOs), contact the current LDP coordinator <b>Guylhem
|
|
Aznar</b> at <a href="mailto:guylhem@metalab.unc.edu">guylhem@metalab.unc.edu</a>
|
|
or email the LDP at
|
|
<A href="mailto:feedback@en.tldp.org">feedback@en.tldp.org</A>.
|
|
</P>
|
|
|
|
<P><HR WIDTH="66%"></P>
|
|
|
|
<H3><A NAME="s3">3. LDP WEBSITES</A></H3>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
The LDP has over 250 mirror sites worldwide where one may inspect
|
|
and/or download LDP documents. The main site is
|
|
<A href="http://tldp.org/">http://tldp.org</A>.
|
|
Go here to find the list of <A href="mirrors.html">mirror sites</A> and
|
|
then use the nearest mirror site.
|
|
</P>
|
|
|
|
<P><HR WIDTH="66%"></P>
|
|
|
|
<H3><A NAME="s4">4. DOCUMENTATION CONVENTIONS</A></H3>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
Here are the conventions that are currently used for LDP documents.
|
|
If you are interested in writing another document using different
|
|
conventions, please let us know of your plans first.
|
|
</P>
|
|
|
|
<UL>
|
|
<LI>
|
|
<P>
|
|
All <B>HOWTO</B> documents must be in one of the two SGML formats:
|
|
LinuxDoc or DocBook. LinuxDoc is the simplest while DocBook is more
|
|
complex with more features.
|
|
</P>
|
|
</LI>
|
|
<LI>
|
|
<P>
|
|
The <B>guides</B> -- full books produced by the LDP -- have historically been
|
|
done in LaTeX, as their primary goal has been to be printed
|
|
documentation. However, guide authors have been moving towards SGML
|
|
with the DocBook DTD, because it allows them to create more different
|
|
kinds of output, both printed and on-line. If you use LaTeX, we have
|
|
a style file you can use to keep your printed look consistent with
|
|
other LDP documents.
|
|
</P>
|
|
</LI>
|
|
<LI>
|
|
<P>
|
|
The <B>man pages</B> -- the Unix standard for online manuals -- are created
|
|
with the Unix standard nroff man (or BSD mdoc) macros.
|
|
</P>
|
|
</LI>
|
|
</UL>
|
|
|
|
<P><HR WIDTH="66%"></P>
|
|
|
|
<H3><A NAME="s5">5. LICENSE REQUIREMENTS</A></H3>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
Anyone may copy and distribute (sell or give away) LDP documents (or
|
|
other LDP works) in any media and/or format. No fees are required to
|
|
be paid to the authors. It is not required that the documents be
|
|
modifiable, but it is encouraged.
|
|
</P>
|
|
<P>
|
|
You can come up with your own license terms that satisfy these
|
|
conditions, or you can use a previously prepared license. The LDP has
|
|
a boilerplate license that you can use if you wish. Some people like
|
|
to use the <A href="ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu:/pub/gnu/COPYING">GPL</A>,
|
|
while others write their own. There is a project
|
|
underway to create a special GPL license just for documents and this
|
|
may turn out to be a good choice.
|
|
</P>
|
|
<P>
|
|
The copyright for each document should be in the name of the principal
|
|
authors. "The Linux Documentation Project" isn't a formal entity
|
|
and thus can't be used as a copyright owner.
|
|
</P>
|
|
</P></LI>
|
|
|
|
<P><HR WIDTH="66%"></P>
|
|
|
|
<H3><A NAME="s6">6. BOILERPLATE LICENSE</A></H3>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
Here is a sample copyright notice and "boilerplate" license you may
|
|
want to use for your work:
|
|
</P>
|
|
<P><FONT face="courier">
|
|
<P>
|
|
Copyright (c) 2000 by John Doe (change to your name)
|
|
</P>
|
|
<P>
|
|
Please freely copy and distribute (sell or give away) this document in
|
|
any format. It's requested that corrections and/or comments be fowarded
|
|
to the document maintainer. You may create a derivative work and distribute
|
|
it provided that you:
|
|
</P>
|
|
|
|
<OL><LI><P>
|
|
Send your derivative work (in the most suitable format such as
|
|
sgml) to the LDP (Linux Documentation Project) or the like for posting
|
|
on the Internet. If not the LDP, then let the LDP know where it is
|
|
available.
|
|
</P></LI>
|
|
<LI><P>
|
|
License the derivative work with this same license or use GPL.
|
|
Include a copyright notice and at least a pointer to the license used.
|
|
</P></LI>
|
|
<LI><P>
|
|
Give due credit to previous authors and major contributors.
|
|
</P></LI>
|
|
</OL>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
If you're considering making a derived work other than a translation,
|
|
it's requested that you discuss your plans with the current maintainer.
|
|
</P>
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P><HR WIDTH="66%"></P>
|
|
|
|
<H3><A NAME="pub"></A><A NAME="s7">7. PUBLISHING LDP DOCUMENTS</A></H3>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
If you're a publishing company interested in distributing any of the
|
|
LDP documents, read on.
|
|
</P>
|
|
<P>
|
|
By the license requirements given previously, anyone is allowed to
|
|
publish and distribute verbatim copies of the Linux Documentation
|
|
Project documents. You don't need our explicit permission for this.
|
|
However, if you would like to distribute a translation or derivative
|
|
work based on any of the LDP documents, you may need to obtain
|
|
permission from the author, in writing, before doing so, if the
|
|
license requires that.
|
|
</P>
|
|
<P>
|
|
You may, of course, sell the LDP documents for profit. We encourage
|
|
you to do so. Keep in mind, however, that because the LDP documents
|
|
are freely distributable, anyone may make copies and distribute them.
|
|
Thus the parts of a book which may be freely copied should be
|
|
separated (and identified) in such a manner as to facilitate copying
|
|
them without infringing on the copyright of other material.
|
|
</P>
|
|
<P>
|
|
We do not require you to pay royalties from any profit earned by
|
|
selling LDP documents. However, we would like to suggest that if you
|
|
do sell LDP documents for profit, that you either offer the author
|
|
royalties, or donate a portion of your earnings to the author, the LDP
|
|
as a whole, or to the Linux development community. You may also wish
|
|
to send one or more free copies of the LDP documents that you are
|
|
distributing to the authors. Your show of support for the LDP and the
|
|
Linux community will be very much appreciated.
|
|
</P>
|
|
<P>
|
|
We would like to be informed of any plans to publish or distribute LDP
|
|
documents, just so we know how they're becoming available. If you are
|
|
publishing or planning to publish any LDP documents, please send mail
|
|
to <A href="mailto:feedback@en.tldp.org">feedback@en.tldp.org</A>.
|
|
It's nice to know who's doing what.
|
|
</P>
|
|
<P>
|
|
We encourage Linux software distributors to distribute the LDP
|
|
documents on CDs with their software. The LDP documents are intended
|
|
to be used as "official" Linux documentation, and we are glad to see
|
|
distributors bundling the LDP documents with the software.
|
|
</P>
|
|
<BR>
|
|
|
|
</TD></TR>
|
|
|
|
<TR BGCOLOR="#AAAAAA">
|
|
<TD ALIGN="center"><font face="arial,helvetica" color="#ffffff"><B>
|
|
<A HREF="index.html"><font face="arial,helvetica" color="#ffffff">
|
|
home</font></A> |
|
|
<A HREF="docs.html#howto"><font face="arial,helvetica" color="#ffffff">
|
|
HOWTOs</font></A> |
|
|
<A HREF="guides.html"><font face="arial,helvetica" color="#ffffff">
|
|
Guides</font></A> |
|
|
<A HREF="docs.html#faq"><font face="arial,helvetica" color="#ffffff">
|
|
FAQs</font></A> |
|
|
<A HREF="docs.html#man"><font face="arial,helvetica" color="#ffffff">
|
|
man pages</font></A> |
|
|
<A HREF="docs.html#lg"><font face="arial,helvetica" color="#ffffff">
|
|
Linux Gazette</font></A> |
|
|
<A HREF="docs.html#lf"><font face="arial,helvetica" color="#ffffff">
|
|
LinuxFocus</font></A>
|
|
</B></font></TD>
|
|
</TR>
|
|
|
|
<TR BGCOLOR="#AAAAAA">
|
|
<TD ALIGN="center"><font face="arial,helvetica" size="-1">
|
|
<b>Previous Manifesto:</b> <A href="manifesto_18Oct1999.html">1999-10-18</A> |
|
|
Last Modified: 2003-07-24 |
|
|
<a href="mailto:feedback@en.tldp.org.NOSPAM">feedback@en.tldp.org</a></font></TD>
|
|
</TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
</BODY>
|
|
</HTML>
|
|
|