Re: Debian HOWTO
[ please follow-up to debian-doc ... thanks, GH ]
Thank you Kathy.
I left my mail for a few days.
In catching up I noticed some more developments on the HOWTO front.
There were some exchanges involving:
Stephane Bortzmeyer <bortzmeyer@pasteur.fr>
Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@datasync.com>
Igor Grobman <igor@debian.org>,
Lars Steinke <steinke@ciphp01.physik.uni-freiburg.de>
and copying
debian-mentors@lists.debian.org, debian-devel@lists.debian.org
so I will copy the guilty parties directly but not cross-post to those
other lists.
Anyhow, the original proposal on the debian-doc was to do a packaging
HOWTO (dpkg/dselect) rather than a general debian HOWTO. However, it
appears that such already exists. vis:
>> The packaging HOWTO is a part of the core Policy documents,
>> and is no longer orphaned.
I suspect that this HOWTO falls more into the category of documentation for
"geeks" (See Kathy's email below) which is what I am more interested in than
in documentation for "lusers" (sorry, I couldn't resist that).
At this point, I'm thoroughly confused. I intend to do some documentation
but it appears the most valuable thing I can work on is an index into what
already exists ... sigh ...
----
Guy W. Hulbert At Work:
guy@interlog.com T.B.D.
P.S. [ 3 excerpts from mail on these issues ].
======================================================================
Date: Mon, 7 Sep 1998 15:23:59 +0200 (METDST)
From: Lars Steinke <steinke@ciphp01.physik.uni-freiburg.de>
<snip>
Thus a Debian-Packaging-Tools-HOWTO should at least cover the following:
+ Which tools are available/needed ?
+ A short introduction to their basic usage.
+ What are the processing steps during package building ?
<snip>
======================================================================
From: Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@datasync.com>
Date: 07 Sep 1998 10:55:33 -0500
<snip>
Stephane> On Friday 4 September 1998, at 14 h 8, the keyboard of Manoj Srivastava
>> srivasta@datasync.com> wrote:
>> The packaging HOWTO is a part of the core Policy documents,
>> and is no longer orphaned.
<snip>
======================================================================
On Wed, 2 Sep 1998, Kathy Miles wrote:
<snip>
>
> Hi Folks
> Let me elaborate a bit on what Chuck and I are attempting to do.
> We are working under a self-imposed narrow timeline, hoping to have the
> initial version of the book done in one month. We want to cover debian
> installation, setup and the basics of using a linux machine. The difficult
> challenge is that we are targeting people who are completely unfamilar
> with linux or unix: you know those folks who use that "other" operating
> system.
>
> Chuck comes from a unix/linux background, I come from the other
> side, having been using unix off and on for a year or so and linux more
> and more frequently the past 6 months. I am an astronomer by trade (I
> write a weekly earth/space newspaper column for the general public and
> have volunteered at the local planetarium writing shows) and can
> sympathize with people who are intimidated by the thought of using a new
> operating system. Our goal is to interest (and educate) the general public
> and dissassociate the linux=geek mindset. We'll be putting the book
> on-line and will then hope for input and suggestions from folks like you.
>
> As far as making it a debian package goes, Chuck is all for the
> idea and I like the idea but have a few concerns. We want to contribute to
> debian (and I am also interested in providing some "general public" linux
> articles for debian publicity, but we also want to publish and sell the
> book, having that basic need of living expenses. We already volunteer a
> major amount of time to a local freenet. I would like to make this book
> available for anyone to read but don't like the idea that someone could
> rip it off and sell it themselves. Any suggestions or solutions to this
> concern would be appreciated.
>
If you are worried "that someone could rip it off" then don't put it on line
unless you are willing to go after them legally. If you are willing to go
after them, then you should talk to a lawyer first.
> Kathy
>
> For an out of this world experience, visit earthspace.net!
>
>
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