[gedit-list] Keeping the user manual up to date

[Joachim Noreiko <jnoreiko yahoo com>]

Hi gedit team :)

Now that you've branched for 2.18, I'd like to raise
the subject of the gedit user manual. 
During the last cycle, a lot of work was done on the
gedit manual, and so gedit 2.16 came with up-to-date
user documentation.

I'd like to make sure this carries on for the next
version of gedit, and beyond.

To do this, I need a little bit of help from the gedit
team.

You might be aware that the gnome documentation team
is quite short-staffed, and that getting everything
done in the weeks after feature freeze is very hard.
We often don't have access to the latest versions of
software because documentation writers don't always
have the skills needed to compile applications. (For
example, for 2.16 we had a virtual image system that
ran on VMWARE, but it every gnome application crashed
after about a minute. Trying new features was more
like playing a video game.)

There have been a number of proposals on d-d-l about
ways to make it easier to the documentation team.
[1,2,3] So far, I don't think any have been agreed on
or tested.

So, because the gedit manual is pretty much up to
date, and because I use gedit and I like it, I've
decided to make you guys my guinea pigs ;)

I want to try a new way of doing things, which I hope
won't add much work for you, and will make my work a
lot easier.
This is what I suggest:

When you commit a change to CVS that affects gedit's
user interface, file a bug on the gedit component for
the user guide ('docs').
You can keep it short and simple. If the commit closes
a bug, then you can mention that bug number. If I need
more information about how something works, I can mark
the bug as NEEDINFO.

I'm hoping that in a lot of cases, I can update the
manual right away, without waiting for feature freeze.
This means I get more work done now, rather than in
the crazy final weeks of a release.
If not, then it gives me a good list of what I need to
do when I start wrestling with a 2.17 VM. That in
itself is a very good thing to have. 

Does this sound like something the gedit team can try
this cycle?


[1] Radical plan to change the cycle:
http://mail.gnome.org/archives/desktop-devel-list/2006-September/msg00122.html
[2] Less radical User Documentation Requirements
http://mail.gnome.org/archives/desktop-devel-list/2006-October/msg00232.html
[3] More or less what I've said here:
http://mail.gnome.org/archives/gnome-doc-list/2006-October/msg00051.html
 

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