Re: [Gnumed-devel] Re: Gnumed documentation

[Karsten Hilbert]

> >b) User Manual/Developer Manual: Keep the existing (SGML-based) 
> >documentation in CVS as long as no other way to produce an PDF/tree of 
> >static-html pages has been found.
> How has the SGML been produced to date? Built on "plain text" 
> contributions, which gets hand-coded into SGML by yourself, Hilmar, or 
> sometimes Ian or others, and then uploaded into CVS?
Yes.

> Has there been any 
> special significance or reason to put it in the CVS, or has it simply 
> been convenient to put the manuals on your own computer (in your local 
> CVS) and then to upload?
It's a text file and is being developed by several people over
time. Hence it lends itself to version management. Hence put
it in CVS. Seems entirely obvious to me.

> >If we find a wiki that really suits our needs, put a note in each of 
> >the manuals, that now the current version of documentation is to be 
> >found in www.ourwiki.org. Copy the content from SGML to the wiki. Let 
> >all documentation work be done there.
This meaning that we'll have our documentation online instead
of making it easily available offline. Maybe I'm retro.

The main problem I see with Wiki formats is that they don't
seem to allow for ready separation of tools from data. The
difference between docs in SGML and docs in Wiki-format is
about the same as between application data in a database and
application data in files (albeit the desired state is
reversed here). Files are easily moved to and reused at
another machine. DBs are not without special tools.

Karsten
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