How and why to start hacking Ubuntu Help

[Matt Galvin]

On 8/2/05, Matthew Thomas <mpt at myrealbox.com> wrote:
> I don't think you can say "I agree to my contributions being licensed
> under the GPL except in any work called Ubuntu Help", because that
> would  violate section 6 of the GPL. If you completely rescind your
> relicensing (or delay it until after 5.10) I'll certainly respect that,
> though it would be a shame since it would mean a lot of rewriting.

I am not saying that. Moving to GPL is fine. But as the others have
also suggested in the other thread we should probably hold off lic
changes until after breezy. Sean, Jerome, Rob, and myself at least
think this is best at this stage in the game. Thats all.

> > I did NOT agree so that you guys could take the work I did and use it
> > in a fork of the FAQ. And yes it is a fork of the FAQ.
> 
> A fork is something that starts with an existing base and diverges.
> Ubuntu Help started with an empty text file on my laptop. It still
> contains only text that was written by me, though naturally I hope that
> will change soon.
> 
> > Corey started all this by forking the FAQ
> 
> I'm sorry if you got that impression. It's my understanding that Corey
> Burger pushed very hard for a respecification of the FAQ Guide, but I
> didn't know about that until after it had happened. I mentioned to
> Corey that his proposed specification looked quite similar to my
> existing help proposal, and suggested we collaborate on it. He seemed
> to like the idea, but he has yet to contribute.

The original idea of the fork came from this:

http://people.ubuntu.com/~fabbione/irclogs/ubuntu-doc-2005-07-22.html
09:10	Burgundavia	I am going to fork the faqguide

> First, there is not, and never has been, any project called LocalHelp.
> I giggle every time I see someone decreeing what should or not be done
> with this non-existent project. I have to giggle, because otherwise I
> would cry.

A misunderstanding. I thought I saw this called LocalHelp at some
point. My mistake then.

> I don't understand. What do any of Corey Burger's actions have to do
> with the status of Ubuntu Help? He hasn't even contributed to it. I
> hope he will soon, just as I hope you will retain the relicensing of
> your work, but I'm not responsible for all the actions of all Ubuntu
> Help contributors past and future. I can't even control the weather.

I thought these ideas were one in them same (or were merged together),
maybe I missed something somewhere.

Either way, you guys are of course free to work on your ideas, no harm
no foul. I personally will continue to help on the FAQ guide when I
can since this is what I said I would do. I just don't want to see the
FAQ Guide eclipsed by Ubuntu Help and I don't want to see duplication
of work b/c that is just counter productive.

Since Ubuntu Help apparently has nothing to do with Corey's fork idea
then that is a separate issue (if its even an issue at all anymore).

One thing I think we should also keep in mind is that Breezy+1 will be
the version that gets supported for 3 years. I think that we should
get done what we can now, then use these great new ideas for Breezy+1
which will give us plenty of time to discuss content, plan, spec,
write, etc... and have some rockin' docs for the big breezy+1 release.

My 2 cents...

But again Ubuntu Help is free to move forward if you so choose. I just
think that it may be better to go with Robs idea of incorporating the
more beginner stuff into the FAQ Guide (for now) and then make a true
Ubuntu Help for breezy+1.

Later,

Matt G

> Cheers
> --
> Matthew Thomas
> http://mpt.net.nz/
> 
> 
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