Re: <OK> [Groff] Simplifying groff documentation

[Eric S. Raymond]

M Bianchi <address@hidden>:
> I'm beginning to think that maybe a wiki front end that yielded
> XML-DocBook of the RefEntry document type could encourage keeping
> lots of documentation current.  The Linux Documentation Project
> might find that appealing also.

Perhaps that should be a project for you!  The model for it might be
"How To of the Day" <http://www.wikihow.com/Main-Page> which uses an
interesting combination of wiki markup and forms.

(I wrote the entry on "How To Break Boards With Your Bare Hands".)

> If editting XML-DocBook directly is unappealing, we need something that is.

Editing XML-DocBook isn't bad at all.  Its drawback is that it's not a
good presentation format.  The markup is too verbose and obtrusive for
that.
 
> I encourage the flat text format because sometimes things like X
> fail and you want access to the documents without requiring the
> fancy programs work and a flat-file editor is all you have.

Agreed.  Fortunately, generating flat-text from HTML-DocBook is easy.
You lose a lot of structural information, but that's life...

> And if noone has said it, THANK YOU for tackling the problem of adding
> appropriate structure to the document base.  It _has_ needed attention.

You're welcome.
-- 
                <a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/";>Eric S. Raymond</a>