The Linux Documentation Project Weekly News

Issue Number : 33 and 34
Publication Date : 2003-12-17

Table of Contents
1. New documents @ TLDP
2. New document proposals
3. Updated HOWTOs, FAQs and Guides
4. News in The LDP world
4.1. Linux Gazette and the LDP
4.2. HTML/PDF generation from CVS source
4.3. WHATIS wiki available
4.4. The LDP HOWTO Generator
5. Discussions on TLDP lists
5.1. Sponsorship for The LDP
5.2. Right to new maintainer
5.3. DocBook created html may break links but LinuxDoc OK
5.4. Copyright Infringement of Linux Dictionary
6. HOWTO contribute to TLDP

1. New documents @ TLDP

Lars Strand is the author of the Mobile IPv6 HOWTO. He describes how to configure mobile computers, such as laptops and PDAs, for actual mobile use with IPv6. You need a fully functional IPv6 network; how to set up one is discussed in the IPv6 HOWTO. You'll need to patch kernels. We know the Kernel HOWTO is in review, but! 1. Lars gives a step-by-step explanation and 2. you may find the same information in the ACPI HOWTO. Our reviewers are working on the Kernel HOWTO as fast as they can, there's already a draft for the new Kernel HOWTO.


2. New document proposals


3. Updated HOWTOs, FAQs and Guides


4. News in The LDP world

4.1. Linux Gazette and the LDP

Guylhem Aznar wrote to the editors of Linux Gazette asking if it would be possible for LG.net to submit documents to TLDP in a format that the TLDP could use to redistribute on its website under a free license. He indicated that a clear source format with semantic tags (such as docbook or linuxdoc) is preferable and that mirroring the documents would be a better opportunity to support LG.net than simply mirroring the website.


4.2. HTML/PDF generation from CVS source

Saqib Ali created a website that can convert the XML Documents stored in the CVS to HTML/PDF on-the-fly. The idea is to to let the HOWTO authors to view the HTML/PDF output of their XML source once they commit the source to the CVS. Using the converter is as simple as going to something like http://www.xml-dev.com:8080/tldp/http://cvsview.tldp.org/index.cgi/*checkout*/LDP/howto/docbook/DocBook-OpenJade-SGML-XML-HOWTO.xml.


4.3. WHATIS wiki available

Even thought David Lawyer's concerns regarding the volume of work associated with a WHATIS series were valid, John R. Daily was reluctant to forestall a possibly valuable change for years without at least conducting an experiment. He set up a WHATIS wiki at http://geekhavoc.com/whatis/. Feel free to contribute. The WHATIS wiki would be a valuable resource for reference of certain often used terms within the LDP HOWTOs.


4.4. The LDP HOWTO Generator

Stein Gjoen announced that the LDP HOWTO Generator was ready for use. The current version is 0.40 at http://www.nyx.net/~sgjoen/The_LDP_HOWTO_Generator.html. A link to this resource has been added to the revised LDP author guide.


5. Discussions on TLDP lists

5.1. Sponsorship for The LDP

Rahul Sundaram initiated a thread for discussing getting sponsorship for the LDP and a reward program like that of Gnome and Mozilla. During the thread, Saqib Ali said that a HOWTO about the product of a company could be reviewed by them and the LDP could place an ad acknowledging the same. David Lawyer however, was in disagreement with him.


5.2. Right to new maintainer

During the discussion on The LDP document licenses, Guylhem Aznar suggested that we should require authors to automatically grant the right to TLDP to appoint a new maintainer for their documents when they can no longer be reached for some time.


5.3. DocBook created html may break links but LinuxDoc OK

In his continued advocacy for LinuxDoc because of its ease of use, David Lawyer discovered that the conversion of LinuxDoc to HTML and of DocBook to HTML result in a different naming scheme for chunks. For DocBook, the chunk names are the same as the label name. For LinuxDoc, the chunk names are the same as the title of the doc with a numeric prefix. However, Mark Komarinski said that, reformatting the document will lead to incorrect links even though the links themselves exist and that the solution (for both formats) is to make sure your section names make sense and there will be little reason to rename them.


5.4. Copyright Infringement of Linux Dictionary

Binh Nguyen complained that a certain PearL Linux Limited created a database based entirely on the definitions from the Linux Dictionary and did not acknowledge the original source.


6. HOWTO contribute to TLDP

The Linux Documentation Project (TLDP) is working on developing free, high quality documentation for the GNU/Linux operating system. If you want to help TLDP, consider joining .

Help us create this newsletter. We need volunteers who follow the community (mailing lists, newsgroups, web channels) and report events related to free software documentation. Write to us at .

LDP Weekly News is compiled and edited by Machtelt Garrels and Y Giridhar Appaji Nag with help from several other people.