Re: concerning debian-reference and the necessity for the competitors
Hi,
(I CCed to Davor Ocelic <docelic@mail.inet.hr> this time. Because he may
help this situation.)
Thank you for your response, John. I have your Programming book too.
On Wed, Feb 26, 2003 at 01:38:05PM -0600, John Goerzen wrote:
> On Tue, Feb 25, 2003 at 06:09:39PM -0800, Osamu Aoki wrote:
> > > * debian-guide (package, not in CVS)
> > "Debian GNU/Linux: Guide to Installation and Usage"
> > > Unmaintained, is seems to overlap with debian-reference, does it have
> > > anything to offer not in that document?
> >
> > This was for potato and essentially alternative install-guide with some
> > user reference. Since John is active developer, I CC this message to
> > John.
>
> I'm not familiar with Debian-reference.
This was started as my personal install memo and saved messages from
the debian-user mailing lists. This was intended to be "quick"
reference but it grew too big :-)
Here is the description:
This Debian Reference (http://qref.sourceforge.net/) covers many
aspects of system administration through shell-command examples. Basic
tutorials, tips, and other information are provided for topics
including fundamental concepts of the Debian system, system installation
hints, Debian package management, the Linux kernel under Debian, system
tuning, building a gateway, text editors, CVS, programming, and GnuPG
for non-developers. For help with emergency system maintenance,
proceed to Section 6.2, `Debian survival commands', immediately. The
latest official version is http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/reference/
and the latest development version is
http://qref.sourceforge.net/quick/. The project is hosted at
http://qref.sourceforge.net/.
> However, I can say that debian-guide is not a reference work at all.
> It also is not limited to installation. You can find it online all
> over the 'net; one place is
>
> http://ceu.fi.udc.es/docs/debian-user-guide_1.0/
Oops. Sorry. I was commenting from my vague memory.
> We talk about things like logging in, setting up accounts, working with the
> shell, environment variables, man pages, processes, chmod/chown, etc. It's
> written in a more tutorial fashion, not an exhaustive reference. The
> section on X is very brief, and there is no discussion of apt.
Hmm, this description on directory permission was the one I was looking
for :-) I knew I read it sometime. Anyway, you have a nice and concise
contents.
> This is now being developed collaboratively on some website whose location I
> have forgotten.
Are you talking about "Project Gutenberg"
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=6527
I do not think it is new content. Anyone?
Anyway, the style and focus audience seems very similar to Progeny
User's Guide. But quite different from mine. Other than installation
part, I think it is quite useful contents addressing total newbie to
the GNU/Linux.
For active general guide/reference/..., we have
1. Installmanual: Adam and Chris has been main stay and active.
2. ??? (new/GNU system user guide)
3. Debian Reference: Assuming basic skills and only provides short
description to guide new _Debian_ uses (but not new GNU/Unix users).
4. Securing ... (harden-doc): Javi, aiming to document advanced security
conscious system admin.
I think next version of "Installmanual" has to limit itself to
"Install". This is release dependent
Then there should be a separate release independent newbie admin/user
guide. The task of creating this document shall be a HELP-NEEDED item
for DDP.
Currently the separation of focus and audience is very vague and there
are too many duplicate documents on the same subject.
Any volunteer to take care item 2 in the above list? John's document
(GPL, I think) together with "Progeny User's Guide" should give nice
baseline.
Davor Ocelic, your hands-on guide covers both 1 and 2 area. your
document style seems very in sync with John's and Progeny's and you are
doocbook writer. Do you want to take a lead on this area?
Osamu
--
~\^o^/~~~ ~\^.^/~~~ ~\^*^/~~~ ~\^_^/~~~ ~\^+^/~~~ ~\^:^/~~~ ~\^v^/~~~ +++++
Osamu Aoki <osamu@debian.org> Cupertino CA USA, GPG-key: A8061F32
.''`. Debian Reference: post-installation user's guide for non-developers
: :' : http://qref.sf.net and http://people.debian.org/~osamu
`. `' "Our Priorities are Our Users and Free Software" --- Social Contract
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