172 lines
7.2 KiB
HTML
172 lines
7.2 KiB
HTML
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<title>RE: if SGML is so great...</title>
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<link rev="made" href="mailto:GLeblanc@cu-portland.edu">
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[<a href="msg02200.html">Date Prev</a>][<a href="msg02202.html">Date Next</a>][<a href="msg02242.html">Thread Prev</a>][<a href="msg02225.html">Thread Next</a>][<a href="maillist.html#02201">Date Index</a>][<a href="threads.html#02201">Thread Index</a>]
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<h1>RE: if SGML is so great...</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><em>To</em>: LDP <<A HREF="mailto:ldp-discuss@lists.linuxdoc.org">ldp-discuss@lists.linuxdoc.org</A>></li>
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<li><em>Subject</em>: RE: if SGML is so great...</li>
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<li><em>From</em>: Gregory Leblanc <<A HREF="mailto:GLeblanc@cu-portland.edu">GLeblanc@cu-portland.edu</A>></li>
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<li><em>Date</em>: Tue, 2 May 2000 21:03:03 -0700 </li>
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<li><em>Resent-date</em>: Wed, 3 May 2000 00:03:42 -0400 (EDT)</li>
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<li><em>Resent-from</em>: <A HREF="mailto:ldp-discuss@lists.debian.org">ldp-discuss@lists.debian.org</A></li>
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<li><em>Resent-message-id</em>: <DS4L6B.A.K7H.TU6D5@murphy></li>
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<li><em>Resent-sender</em>: <A HREF="mailto:ldp-discuss-request@lists.debian.org">ldp-discuss-request@lists.debian.org</A></li>
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<pre>
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Please, don't send HTML emails, I won't elaborate on that.
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> -----Original Message-----
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> From: Gary Preckshot [<A HREF="mailto:garrell@inreach.com">mailto:garrell@inreach.com</A>]
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> Sent: Tuesday, May 02, 2000 7:57 PM
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> To: LDP
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> Subject: Re: if SGML is so great...
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>
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> I don't give a care whether or not you LIKE sgml, I've given
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> reasons why I
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> think it's important for the LDP.
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> I think it's quite reasonable that LDP uses SGML internally
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> and for document storage.
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You cannot get to SGML from anything else and have it contain real meaning.
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It's pointless to convert from other formats to SGML for the reasons that
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you use SGML, because none of that content is converted over. When I write
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a document, I put in examples of how you can do something. If I did that in
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HTML, I might have it as a different font, or something else entirely. How
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do I translate that into an SGML <example></example> section? It simply
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can't be done. Translating documents TO SGML defeats the purpose of SGML.
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> These arent' reasons that you
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> should
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> write in SGML, but reasons that the LDP should use SGML.
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> Precisely.
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> You can write documents in any
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> format you
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> want, but if you want them to be a part of our "core" collection,
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> then they
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> have to be in a useful format to use, namely, SGML.
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> No, I think you've got it backwards. If YOU want new authors
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> to write for the LDP core document collection then YOU
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> (meaning LDP) need to implement converters from popular
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> formats to SGML. Otherwise, stop whining about getting new
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> authors. If you're not going to be hospitable, you reduce the
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> population from which you can choose.
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The Linux Documentation Project provides a service for users, and for
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authors. We provide a website where you can go to find documentation for
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ANYTHING that you want to do with Linux. We provide these documents in
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multiple formats, and a good way of getting to them, and a good way of
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searching through them. I don't feel that we're stunting the growth of the
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LDP by asking people to write in SGML. If they want to have a completely
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stand-alone document, that's completely ineffective for anything other than
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the exact task it was written for, then fine, write the thing in HTML. If
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you want to have one that's useful, stop whining, sit down for 3 hours, and
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learn enough SGML to write the document. I REALLY don't care, except that I
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want to make the documentation available for linux as good as, or better
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than, for any other operating environment out there. We ain't there yet.
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> If you supply
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> us with
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> an HTML doc, we'll say here's a new HTML doc, it's going in with
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> the rest of
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> our HTML docs.
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> Fine. For what I want to do, that's quite sufficient.
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So do it, and stop whining.
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> For most HOWTOs, if you have to search them, they're too long or
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> too verbose.
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How often do you consult a tecnical reference manual? Say, for example,
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you're sitting down in front of your Meridian1 PBX, and you need to know how
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to add a phone. Wouldn't you rather be able to fire up your documentation
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looker, and say give me an example of how to create a phone using the
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Meridian1 PBX. It would probably come back with 2 examples, 1 for a digital
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phone, and 1 for an analogue phone. You can do the exact same thing for
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something like the IP-MASQ howto. You say, give me an example of a basic
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masquerade script, and it comes back with 2 (or three, soon) examples, 1 for
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the 2.0.x kernels, 1 for the 2.2.x kernels, and 1 for the 2.4.x kernels.
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It's NOT as uncommon as you seem to think.
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> There isn't much to most HOWTO subjects, and
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> they're mostly very diffuse as to information content. I say
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> that as a reader of HOWTOs, and IEEE reviewer, and an
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> experienced technical author. You can look me up in INSPEC or
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> various technical databases. I'm George G. Preckshot.
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Firstly, I disagree. I use the HOWTOs all the time, and I find them to not
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only have good content, but they're also fun to read. I've read lots of
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"professional" technical documents put out by all kinds of people, and they
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are absolutely boring to read, and the information in them is generally
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harder to find, and has FAR more tangents and boring stuff stuck in the
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middle. However, using SGML properly, you don't need to read any of the
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content that you're looking for. :) Thanks,
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Greg
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--
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</pre>
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