documenting how to get source code in ubuntu-doc

Kyle Nitzsche kyle.nitzsche at canonical.com
Tue Feb 23 16:19:07 UTC 2010


Kyle Nitzsche wrote:
> Matthew East wrote:
>   
>> Hi,
>>
>> On Thu, Jan 7, 2010 at 7:36 PM, Kyle Nitzsche
>> <kyle.nitzsche at canonical.com> wrote:
>>   
>>     
>>> Matthew East wrote:
>>>     
>>>       
>>>> On Wed, Dec 16, 2009 at 8:29 PM, Kyle Nitzsche
>>>> <kyle.nitzsche at canonical.com> wrote:
>>>>       
>>>>         
>>>>> I am putting together a modification of ubuntu-docs that will explain a
>>>>> bit
>>>>> more about how to get source code.  While not applicable to some/most
>>>>> users,
>>>>> it is probably important to include it as an aspect of Ubuntu's
>>>>> commitment
>>>>> to open source. (At any rate, we in the OEM group would very much like to
>>>>> add it.)
>>>>>
>>>>>         
>>>>>           
>>>> Sorry for the slow response and thanks for reminding me about the
>>>> thread. I don't have a strong view on this but my instinctive reaction
>>>> is that this information should probably be on the Ubuntu website,
>>>> with a link to it inserted in the About Ubuntu document, rather than
>>>> the material being included in the ubuntu-docs package.
>>>>
>>>> How do you feel about that? Do you have strong reasons to include the
>>>> information on-disk?
>>>>
>>>>       
>>>>         
>>> The open-source, community-developed nature of ubuntu is supported and even
>>> proved by providing simple instructions within ubuntu for getting source for
>>> particular packages and for the whole image.
>>>
>>> Whereas pointing users to an external website is a level of indirection that
>>> seems inappropriate (to me) for such a core aspect of the project and its
>>> culture.
>>>
>>> So why not, as long as it is 1) brief and 2) unobtrusive?
>>>     
>>>       
>> Sorry for the delay in responding and thanks for reminding me about this thread.
>>
>> I don't really agree with you. I think the website is the perfect
>> place for this type of information. 
>>     
> Is the website localized? 
Hello Matthew. Can you please address the question ^^^?

thanks,
Kyle

> If not, I'd like to continue with the plan for 
> inclusion in on-disk docs under advanced topics in order to be certain 
> we provide accessible information to all users about the basics of 
> getting source code.
>   
>> It's the place where we currentl 
>> provide information about Ubuntu's philosophy, community and features.
>> The free nature of Ubuntu software is explored in detail there. It's
>> also the place where people find the information on how and where to
>> download Ubuntu. By contrast in the desktop help system we provide
>> help on how to use the software that comes with Ubuntu and I don't
>> think that downloading the source code is something that Ubuntu users
>> will usually want to do. It's more something that developers will want
>> to do, and we don't cover that aspect in the help system.
>>
>> Having said that I don't really want to make a big discussion out of
>> this item. If having considered the above you are still keen to
>> include this somewhere, let's include it. However, I'd like to find a
>> better way to do it than the one currently used because, as you noted
>> yourself, it looks odd to have a list of links in the advanced-topics
>> document and then a section underneath. The obvious solution is to
>> create a whole new document for this subject, but that seems to me to
>> be overkill. The best solution for me would be to include this
>> material as a subsection somewhere in about-ubuntu, which is the only
>> document which isn't actually about desktop help (indeed that's why in
>> the past there has been discussion about the fact that about-ubuntu
>> should really be removed in favour of the website).
>>
>> Let me know your thoughts.
>>
>>   
>>     
>
>
>   





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