Gnome documentation used in Ubuntu distributions

[Jim Kissel]

Duncan Lithgow wrote:
> On Thu, 2007-06-14 at 23:33 +0100, Matthew East wrote:
>> =1=
>>
>> We could modify the package which the relevant file is in:
>> gnome-user-guide. This is not something that the docteam has ever tried
>> before. You can get started by doing "apt-get source gnome-user-guide"
>> (which gets you the gnome-user-docs source package) and then you'll need
>> to create an Ubuntu-specific patch which is applied to the text.
>>
>> I don't know how difficult this will be, because I've never investigated
>> whether it is possible to maintain patches on text in packages. We
>> should ask one of the Ubuntu developers, or specifically the Ubuntu
>> Gnome maintainers, for some guidance, I think.
> Although this may sound troublesome, I think there is value in keeping
> the two sets of documents as separate as possible. So I would advocate
> some kind of 'Dist specific note' which can easily be placed into the
> Gnome docs. To clarify, it might read:
> "This page describes the default behaviour of the gnome desktop. Ubuntu
> has made changes to this default behavior which you can read about on
> the <url>Ubuntu's Gnome customisation</>" page.
> One reason for me prefering this approach is that I really want Ubuntu
> and Gnome to continue reaching agreement instead of diverging.

I see little advantage in using this method. It would require the same 
effort  to maintain as the previous purposed methods but with results 
that would, to my point of view, be less satisfactory than maintaining a 
distro specific gnome documentation tree.

>> =2=
>>
>> Instead of directly linking to the Gnome documents as we currently do,
>> we could copy them, import them into *our* repository/package, and make
>> amendments there. This would require a fair amount of care about keeping
>> them up to date, and importing translations, but might be possible.
> I would be concerned that this would lead to Ubuntu docs diverging from
> Gnome Docs more and more over time. If we have the resources to make
> changes we should try and argue for them to be implemented upstream
> instead.

My concern is the Ubuntu specific gnome desktop is diverging from the 
"Gnome Desktop" and the documentation isn't keeping pace.  I already 
have a number of changes I need/want to make.  These are minor changes, 
but will trip up the novice.

The question that needs to be answered is, "Will the Ubuntu gnome 
desktop continue to diverge from the "Gnome desktop"?

If the answer is YES it will continue to diverge, then IMOSHO the 
documentation team needs to maintain a separate tree.

If the answer is NO, except for minor changes, stick with the status quo 
and I will forget about the gnome documentation problems, and try to 
find some other area of documentation to work on.


> 
> Who do we have in Ubuntu who can raise this with the gnome-docs people?
> 
> Duncan
> 
> 

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