Re: [libreplanet-discuss] RFC: GNU Developer Network on libreplanet.org

[David Gumberg]

My original intention when coming up with this idea, was something similar to Mozilla's Developer's Network. Mozilla does have pages with tutorials like: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Guide/HTML/Introduction, but the biggest part of it is reference. Say you type in the search bar an html tag such as, "<a>". It will take you to this page that acts as like a much more friendly specification, telling you what the tag does, properties you can use with it, code samples, output examples, browser support, etc. I envision a GDN where you type in a function in the GNU C Library like say, printf, and it will tell you what the function does, what kind of values you can pass to it, code samples, and output examples, and how the function has changed in the various C standards. (ANSI, C99, C11, etc.) But, obviously we would have a friendlier homepage linking you to tutorials like https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/.

On Fri, Jul 5, 2013 at 8:42 AM, Rudolf <omouse@gmail.com> wrote:

The content of developer network would have some pages something similar to what appears on the Fedora, Ubuntu and ArchLinux wikis to some extent?

I would recommend a wholesale import of any relevant pages from those wikis or linking out to them because I'm sure there are things related to GNU projects there. For example, the page on working with BugZilla would seem to fit: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Bugs_and_feature_requests and so would some of the links on this page: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BeginnersTeam/FocusGroups/Development

The benefits of a developer network wiki have to be outlined clearly. With github for example, the benefits are very clear: it's easy to put your code there and to contribute to other people's code *and* to their documentation. With the Mozilla Dev Network the benefits are also clear; more docs on common web stuff leads to quicker/easier development with all the gotchas and hacks and workarounds documented.

There are other projects like OpenHatch that have tried to encourage involvement in the development of free/open source software and they haven't gotten much uptake. They just didn't provide enough useful resources though some of their tutorials were great: https://openhatch.org/missions/

-Rudolf O.

On 5 July 2013 02:49, Brandon Invergo <brandon@gnu.org> wrote:

Hi Rudolf,

Rudolf <omouse@gmail.com> writes:

> This definitely sounds doable and might revitalize the GNU standards.

Interesting point on revitalizing the standards.  If you have any
specific comments on that, such as sections that need revising or new
information to add, I would recommend bringing them up directly with the
Advisory board (gnu-advisory@gnu.org) so they can be discussed.  Of
course, discussion on the GDN could lead to a community recommendation.

> The key thing is convincing other GNU developers to contribute if
> possible. It would be nice to see more developers referring to the
> coding standards of the gnu project and striving to become part of the
> umbrella.

Yes, this will be critical and, I'm afraid, difficult.  I'll be going to
the GNU Hacker's Meeting [1] in Paris in August.  If we have something
up and running by then, I'll make a strong push to get people to
contribute.  There's a GNU Assembly on the last day, which would be a
good time to mention it.  However, it would also be a good opportunity
to introduce non-GNU-hackers to it since the general public is invited
to the rest of the meeting.

Brandon


Footnotes:
[1]  http://www.gnu.org/ghm

--
Brandon Invergo
http://brandon.invergo.net