From owner-freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Apr 1 04:25:50 2013 Return-Path: Delivered-To: docs@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.FreeBSD.org [8.8.178.115]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8F263D3E for ; Mon, 1 Apr 2013 04:25:50 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from lists@eitanadler.com) Received: from mail-pd0-f175.google.com (mail-pd0-f175.google.com [209.85.192.175]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6E71E678 for ; Mon, 1 Apr 2013 04:25:47 +0000 (UTC) Received: by mail-pd0-f175.google.com with SMTP id t10so1024033pdi.6 for ; Sun, 31 Mar 2013 21:25:41 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=eitanadler.com; s=0xdeadbeef; h=x-received:mime-version:from:date:message-id:subject:to :content-type; bh=v02Ka+68TRpdHOE8o7N6hpSSEeHaAL9l6LmLf3C0Om8=; b=RF32CAjWR3Z2+tApb0jkxCDTMrnhFEgMb1OlZb3h5x3t68gKFQ8IyrcDPvKq13yrXW XZqht0VP6Tsj5o/mb/chuGU8FtbpfZQMuhz6SrGSxCyo5fhMraRHncGNDhtFqtOroERI H94LWP1NlWxk1zj5SGpES+m7/zPKQfK3JFj70= X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=google.com; s=20120113; h=x-received:mime-version:from:date:message-id:subject:to :content-type:x-gm-message-state; bh=v02Ka+68TRpdHOE8o7N6hpSSEeHaAL9l6LmLf3C0Om8=; b=SvKQFbnaBnYqrxsQTD5B2K4oNdwdzVbWCQ6dJ3+l9LiSJaGcMxo21BYCRiXcCRzk1f S7HEqNOzZ0tiOR8Fjt0LlKusfObywvL4V86pPw824gwJ9qew1KyOoxVT5QQhpc7rUK8I HqtoUjiuddtv7PD6NFnY6QxQxPeCJPAIDe7NGsks3NDwelDms9L1af+aS8Okzw+pHK09 geHQO4/DNsYG1zgDzyWQk5Sbz+/aHvsFmE4eJB/dp9sSETH4SnSpXKne1H8UaEUn01j5 hBGY5r7WOlcRuIzbrHhpSk+A28MEey9lLTinAyn8QbMCHc6ygbC3LQeDGcsRsjOTEr2v t/jg== X-Received: by 10.66.151.2 with SMTP id um2mr16847782pab.42.1364790341670; Sun, 31 Mar 2013 21:25:41 -0700 (PDT) MIME-Version: 1.0 Received: by 10.66.86.34 with HTTP; Sun, 31 Mar 2013 21:25:11 -0700 (PDT) From: Eitan Adler Date: Mon, 1 Apr 2013 00:25:11 -0400 Message-ID: Subject: a proposal for the FAQ To: docs@freebsd.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 X-Gm-Message-State: ALoCoQndWTGUaqEYznSisqFw5nQbba2kWtU3vTefB/Ebc9rxx3Ax1z+FRewPHC2FVuMte8SRvMM6 X-BeenThere: freebsd-doc@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list List-Id: Documentation project List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 01 Apr 2013 04:25:50 -0000 Hi all, Over the past several months I have been working on a project called ThwackAFAQ. For those who don't know this project has been to review, edit, and rewrite the FAQ to be relevant to the modern day. I've removed references to hardware that hasn't been sold in over 10 years or to software features that reached their EoL in FreeBSD 2.x. At this date I feel the project has reached a level of maturity such that it makes sense to write this email: I propose that we merge the handbook into the FAQ. While they both cover the same material the handbook source is over 83892 lines of XML while the FAQ is now at a measly 8242 lines. Further the FAQ is in bite sized chunks while the FAQ requires lots of tedious reading. Translators currently have issues keeping up with the pace of changes in both books, and must translate the same basic content twice. If only we could have one clear and canonical source for translators to work with. Sure there are some topics not covered in the same depth in the FAQ but many Linux distributions solve this in a very nice way: distribute the details and extraneous items to bloggers and tip writers. This releases us, the doc team, from all the extra work of writing and fact checking things that will no longer be true in the next version of FreeBSD. Not only that but it even generates more content for the front page where we publish articles written about the operating system. Over the next few weeks (as soon as the doc slush ends) I intend to move the last few remaining portions of the handbook into the FAQ and commit the removal of the handbook once and for all. -- Eitan Adler