[mythtv] MythTV Manual

[Dean Harding]

Mitch Gore wrote:
> I guess i still dont see how the Wiki would not be better.   Creating 
> tickets just to change a few things seems to envolved.  Wiki changes are 
> simple and documentation could be updated faster.  My though on the 
> manual is not to describe how to install Mythtv on X distro.  But an 
> explanation for each settings/how to use it.

I think the problem with the Wiki, where it can be edited by *anyone* 
(or virtually anyone), is that in the past people have written 
"installation instructions" for the specific distribution they use -- 
typically the specific *version* of the specific distribution they use. 
So you end up with pages like:

http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Installing_MythTV_SVN_on_Debian_Sid
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Installing_MythTV_SVN_on_Fedora_Core
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Installing_MythTV_SVN_on_Ubuntu_Breezy
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Installing_MythTV_on_Debian_Etch
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Installing_MythTV_on_Fedora_7
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Installing_MythTV_on_Fedora_Core_VGA%26composite
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Installing_MythTV_on_an_Athlon64_using_Fedora_Core
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Ubuntu_Edgy_Installation
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Ubuntu_Feisty_Installation
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Ubuntu_Hoary_Installation

And so on, and so on...

Now, it's probably good that we have specific instructions for each 
distribution that people may want to use, but there's also a few problems:

1. The instructions generally lack coherance. What I mean is, they 
should be used to *compliment* the "main" installation instructions at 
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/User_Manual:Index. Often, though, 
the distro-specific instructions attempt to fill in *all* the details so 
you get lots of duplication.
2. Once people finish writing the instructions, they generally never go 
back to it again. So they'll include instructions for 0.20 (some are 
even stuck at 0.19 still).
3. Who the hell is installing Ubuntu Hoary or Edgy? Nobody deletes 
out-of-date pages.

These problems could be solved with some dedicated editors for the wiki, 
obviously, but I don't think the wiki has any of those, does it? I agree 
that with proper maintenance, the wiki is probably the more flexible 
solution, though. It just needs more work initially (and someone to keep 
an eye on it). The benefit of having the "official" documentation under 
source control is that you're basically forcing an "editor" to look at 
it before checking it in.

Dean.