Re: Documentation Policy
Christian Schwarz <schwarz@monet.m.isar.de> proposes:
>
> The documentation will be distributed via several packages:
>
> foo-doc-html for HTML docs
> foo-doc-info for GNU info docs (where available)
> foo-doc-xxx for other formats (only where appropriate)
>
We already have over 900 packages. This could double or even triple
the total. In order to minimize the impact, I propose these
supporting features for diety:
- The sysadmin can select his preferred documentation format.
- By default, the documentation-only packages are not displayed.
- Selecting/installing/removing a package automatically
selects/installs/removes the preferred documentation package too.
- Documentation packages should be managable by type, so that if a
sysadmin changes his mind he can install all the -info packages
corresponding to installed binary packages, or remove all the -html
packages, or whatever. (He may learn to use emacs, or find an HTML
browser he likes, or run short on disk space.)
There is an alternative I think we should consider. Let each binary
package include both .info and .html files. Give dpkg two additional
switches --no-html and --no-info which would be used with -i. These
would cause dpkg to immediately remove /usr/doc/foo/*html or any files
installed in /usr/info, respectively. Diety could still manage the
sysadmin's preferences, but the only effect would be to add the above
switches to the dpkg command line. If the sysadmin changes his mind,
he could simply reinstall the binary packages.
This had the disadvantage of taking up more space on the mirrors and
CDROMs -- there is a copy of the documentation in the binary package
for each architecture. However, I think it would be much simpler to
implement and administer.
- Jim Van Zandt
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