[mythtv-users] Mailing list and a Wiki... and a dessert topping

[Peter Valdemar Morch]

Both David and Henk have replied with suggestions that both concern the 
Wiki -> LinuxDoc transformation.

LinuxDoc is more structurally and semantically rich than wiki markup, so 
my personal opinion is that this really is impossible even in principle 
- regardless of tools. There simply isn't enough information in the wiki 
markup to begin with. So any LinuxDoc -> Wiki -> LinuxDoc transformation 
would loose information, and nobody wants that, least of all Isaac.

Isaac wrote:
 > If you would like to submit an update or contribution,
 > please send it as either SGML or as plain text.

I suggest that modifications that originate from wiki users are 
submitted in plain text. That works for everybody, right?

David myth-at-dgreaves.com |Lists| wrote:

Peter Valdemar Morch wrote:
>> LinuxDoc/SGML can generate output in a variety of formats, and surely 
>> WikiMarkup could be one of these formats. As a starting point for the 
>> docs.

David myth-at-dgreaves.com |Lists| wrote:
> This won't be a one-off will it. (see later)

If it were, it would be hopeless. I have hope!

Peter Valdemar Morch wrote:
>> diff -ur previousOfficialWikiMarkup/ currentWiki/ > userContribs.diffs
>> mv currentWiki/ currentWiki.old
>> mv officialWikiMarkup currentWiki
>> cd currentWiki
>> patch -p1 ../userContribs.diff
>>
>> At any point,
>>
>> diff -ur officialWikiMarkup currentWiki
>>
>> is the user contribution to the documentation...

Notice how the official documentation is the original? All the user 
contribution in the wiki is contained in the userContribs.diff?

(I don't mean *all* the wiki, just the modifications to the official 
documentation. E.g. import official docs into Wiki docs under "OfficialDoc")

> Are you suggesting a process like:
> * change  to official docs (be that a release or a CVS commit)
> * convert previous and current to WikiFormat to get patch
> * apply patch to affected wiki page

No - the patching process is reversed - the official docs are the 
original "tarball". The modifications made by wiki suers additions are 
the patches.

> I was thinking of making the generated WikiPage immutable.

In my opinion, this kindof defeats the wiki purpose. I personally want 
to be able to edit the official documentation in-line and freely. It 
also helps the maintainer of the official documentation to keep the 
context in which the wiki user applied any modifications, and it is 
easier to read.

I suspect it is better to send the contributions as plain text than as 
SGML with poor and undetailed markup.

All this being said, there is some work involved here.

Isaac, if you haven't ignored this thread already, I'm seriously and 
honestly trying to meet you halfway here. I understand and respect your 
objection to duplication of documentation. What this would do is to 
allow a path for modifications and enhancements to be extracted from the 
wiki and submitted back to the official docs. If this is useful, we'll 
do it. (Its also an interesting task.) But is this something that would 
work for you? Or is it really the "rkulagow" we see in the cvs log that 
I should ask?

Peter

Peter Valdemar Mørch
http://www.XXXXXXXXX