Transition to Mallard?

[Shane Fagan]

Hey Phil,
On Wed, 2010-01-20 at 16:04 +0000, Phil Bull wrote:
> Hi guys,
> 
> I think that now is a good time to talk about whether we should migrate
> over to Mallard this release cycle. Here's my appraisal:
> 
> ADVANTAGES
> 
>       * Simpler syntax than DocBook, easier for new contributors, nicer
>         for existing ones.
>       * Highly modular. Should be easier to maintain in a topic-based
>         manner.
>       * Novel linking model. Pages link themselves into the structure.
>         No need to maintain linking pages like the main page, or to
>         heavily patch new material into the structure (should be nice
>         for OEMs).
>       * Well-supported by upstream. GNOME docs will soon be in this
>         format and we can be involved in shaping its further
>         development.
>       * Better navigation. Links have captions. Breadcrumb bar. Easier
>         for users to find things.
>       * It's a new feature. People like new features :)
> 
> DISADVANTAGES
> 
>       * Requires modifications to the toolchain. I don't know how
>         smoothly we can do this. For example, can we get Mallard and
>         Rosetta working together nicely before release?
>       * The conversion would take quite a lot of work, distracting from
>         writing new documentation.
>       * People will need to learn how to write Mallard documents.
>       * Would be going into an LTS release so would require extra
>         testing.
>       * Support is still young. There could be serious bugs that we
>         haven't seen yet.
> 
> I think that the advantages, both to us and our users, significantly
> outweigh the disadvantages. The Mallard workflow, and the results that
> you get, are far superior to what we have now. It would solve a lot of
> problems. I'm confident that we can do the initial conversion in a
> couple of weeks. The toolchain issues would require further research,
> but I don't think that they're insurmountable.
> 
> What do you think?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Phil
> 
> -- 
> Phil Bull
> https://launchpad.net/~philbull
> 
> 
Id say we should start the migration now so it will be ready for lucid+1
because we need stability for the LTS. The other main reason is the rest
of Gnome will be on mallard for that release too. Could we just make a
branch to work on to make sure the migration is done for lucid+1? 

Shane Fagan