New developer documentation

[Matt Zimmerman]

On Fri, Jan 26, 2007 at 09:27:39AM -0800, Jordan Mantha wrote:
> On Jan 26, 2007, at 7:08 AM, Matt Zimmerman wrote:
> > I would appreciate feedback from developers about it, especially:
> >
> > - Existing resources which should be linked from it, or  
> > incorporated into it
> 
> Well, I don't really see any references to the Ubuntu Packaging Guide  
> [0] .

Indeed, I wasn't even aware of that document until recently.  Who wrote it,
and who has reviewed it for accuracy?

I've added it to a new section for resources which we haven't incorporated
or referenced properly yet.

> Also, would the Debian Python Policy be something to add?  
> Maybe it's better for farther down the food chain.

Likewise, I've added this to the todo list.

> One thing I see on the page is a real mixture of Main and Universe  
> and core dev and MOTU material. Here's an example:

Agreed, this is something which needs improvement.  In particular:

- The MOTU team has produced a substantial amount of documentation, much of
  which is not specific to MOTU, but useful for developers in general

- In some cases, there are both general developer and MOTU versions of the
  same information; usually, one or the other is more complete/accurate, and
  should supersede the other

- I don't think there is any such thing as documentation which is *only*
  useful to core developers, and not to MOTU as well.  However, we do have
  introductory material which is primarily useful for MOTU.

> "Starting points" starts out with a reference to MOTU and then in the  
> next section "Communication" it doesn't refer to #ubuntu-motu or  
> ubuntu-motu ML at all.

Those resources are prominent on the MOTU page, however.  I do not want to
give the impression that MOTU should limit their involvement to
MOTU-specific channels and lists, as was my worry when they were first
introduced.

It's useful to have separate discussion areas for MOTU so that they can be
used for intra-team coordination, Q&A, etc., but general developer talk
should be in one place for all developers.

i.e., MOTU should also participate in ubuntu-devel at lists and #ubuntu-devel!
I'm CCing ubuntu-motu at lists in case this is not quite how it works yet. ;-)

> Some of the links are to MOTU/ wiki pages but are referenced as being  
> general. I think we should either have a generic page (in perhaps a  
> generic namespace) or  1 page for Universe and 1 page for Main. I  
> think it would be nice to have 1 page and simply note where Main and  
> Universe workflows diverge. This page is certainly a step in that  
> direction and I'm glad to see it.

That is my intention, yes.  It doesn't yet index all of the MOTU resources
(and there's an XXX about that).  I'd appreciate some help from MOTU folks
who know what's there and can advise us about how to best incorporate them.

-- 
 - mdz