Direction of the Ubuntu system docs

[Matthew East]

Hi Phil,

On 19 December 2010 22:06, Phil Bull <philbull at gmail.com> wrote:
> In light of this, I think it's time we discussed the direction of the
> Ubuntu system docs. The package is becoming outdated - we've mostly been
> in maintenance mode for the last few release cycles, and even that's
> only due to the hard work and dedication of a couple of people. There
> are a number of changes in Ubuntu and related projects that we're going
> to have to adapt to and make some decisions about if we're to stay
> relevant:

I have to say that I can't really think of a good solution in order to
make ubuntu-docs relevant again. The options seem to be:

1. continue with the ubuntu-docs package, but rewrite the documents so
that they match Ubuntu's default desktop setup, with Unity.
2. seek to come closer to Gnome by shipping a modified gnome-user-docs
package with documents added and amendments to the default documents
to reflect maintained by us in Mallard.
3. work on documentation to be shipped directly in the unity packages.

I agree with you on copyright assignment and am not prepared,
certainly without better justification, to sign the contributor
agreement. I've expressed my thoughts on it [1] and didn't get a
satisfactory answer. However Mark has said that he will blog about
this and maybe we will get some clarity from him in due course.

[1] https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel/2010-January/029987.html
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel/2010-January/030004.html

For me that rules out solution 3. I have to say that while solution 2
has been the one which we've been looking towards over the past few
cycles and it definitely would have been my preferred option before
this cycle, Ubuntu's adoption of Unity seems to me to have thrown that
into difficulty, because the work required to customise
gnome-user-docs to reflect an entirely different desktop seems to me
to be very substantial. The adoption of Unity seems to signify a move
away from Gnome by Ubuntu, and that seems to clash with a move towards
Gnome by the ubuntu-docs team. If that's right, then solution 1 is
more or less the only option left that I can think of. I'd be very
interested to hear your thoughts.

-- 
Matthew East
http://www.mdke.org
gnupg pub 1024D/0E6B06FF