[mythtv-users] Myth Documentation, was: Please shut up!

Jay R. Ashworth jra at baylink.com
Mon Jan 29 16:27:03 UTC 2007


On Mon, Jan 29, 2007 at 10:39:16AM -0500, Steven Adeff wrote:
> On 1/29/07, Brian Wood <beww at beww.org> wrote:
> > On Jan 29, 2007, at 7:34 AM, Steven Adeff wrote:
> > > As for version'ing the wiki, and a note about this *should* exist on
> > > the home page, it is assumed on the wiki that unless the text says
> > > otherwise the information pertains to the currently released version.
> > > If upon the release of a new version the information becomes outdated
> > > it should be changed as soon as it is noticed, with the old
> > > information being dated to the previous release (so when 0.21 comes
> > > out, the information would say it pertains to 0.20).
> >
> > So one problem is that, as Myth advances, it takes a large effort
> > just to keep the WiKi up to date. What you are saying is that a lot
> > of entries need to be edited every time a new version comes out,
> > "treading water" just to stay afloat.
> >
> > And Myth is not the only moving target.  The kernel, IVTV, LIRC,
> > OpenGL, nVidia drivers and a lot more all keep "improving".
> >
> > So rather that "assuming" that an entry refers to the current
> > release, which virtually guarantees it will go stale without
> > continuing effort, what about some way to say "the following versions
> > were current at the time of this entry". That way a reader would know
> > immediately if the entry was current or not, without further work on
> > the part of the original creator.
> 
> That should be part of the assumption, part of the front page note.

Well, the front page does list the current release, right up top.

> What we need is a note on the front page, something along the lines of
> "This is a wiki, not an official manual, as such, things tend to get
> dated. As new versions of MythTV and the required linux system and
> drivers advance information on these pages may become outdated. Unless
> otherwise noted, it should be assumed that the information on these
> pages pertains to the current version or has not been updated since it
> became outdated. If you encounter such a page please contact the user
> list."

http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/User_Manual:Index

But you're right, in that the note in the box could be expanded, and
whomever said that the site should point out the mailing lists and
archive, and that all of the "how to be a part of the MythTV community"
stuff should be more prominent therein, is, of course, also right.

The proper place to do that would be starting on the Community Portal
page, and providing a slightly more prominent pointer thereto in the
lede.

The thing that's actually consuming most of my Copious Free Time at the
moment is tech reviewing the upcoming Apress introductory book on Myth,
but if I can shake loose an hour or two in the next couple of days,
I'll try to slap something up.

Cheers,
-- jra
-- 
Jay R. Ashworth                                                jra at baylink.com
Designer                          Baylink                             RFC 2100
Ashworth & Associates        The Things I Think                        '87 e24
St Petersburg FL USA      http://baylink.pitas.com             +1 727 647 1274


More information about the mythtv-users mailing list