Re: why is the wiki page on building octave so lacking?

[Daniel J Sebald]

On 03/19/2012 03:13 PM, Luke M wrote:
> > "The Octave build and install process is most mature on Unix-like
> > systems, e.g. Debian, Ubuntu, etc. and is described in the sections
> > below.
>
> Nitpicking here, but "e.g." (for example) should not be used with "etc."
> (and so on).  The latter is redundant in this case because by saying "for
> example," you are already implying that you are not providing a complete
> list.  Instead, either drop the et cetera or use "i.e." (that is).  Or,
> perhaps better, simply avoid using the abbreviation.
>
> Anyway, making the wiki more directly useful is great, but on a related
> note, what is the general feeling on providing third party links from the
> wiki?

Things that Octave uses certainly can have links, e.g., Mercurial, 
libraries.

> I agree with Oz&  RC that users tend to appreciate more personalized
> instructions, especially because they often go beyond the official
> documentation in terms of troubleshooting.  My sites don't see a great deal
> of traffic, but I've also experienced that my blog posts on how to
> build/install/configure some piece of software, and how I solved some snag I
> hit in the process, have the most hits and feedback by far.

That's the kind of thing I'd like to see in a wiki.  I realize an 
encyclopedia type of wiki wouldn't have that sort of detail, but as you 
point out that sort of detail is what users are looking for.  If it were 
to evolve to the point where it looks too big, there could be subpages 
for the for the various operating systems and there could be a small 
group of individuals who oversee those subpages.


> So in my opinion third party links could be valuable as long as the links
> are shown under a prominent heading with the proper caveats (the official
> installation instructions are recommended, these links may be out of date,
> and so on), and are kept to a minimum standard.  For example any third party
> links displayed without the corresponding Octave version number and
> posted/updated date should be removed.  If you wanted to be fancy you could
> even collapse this section by default.

Sounds reasonable.


> Third party links aren't unprecedented, though they seem to be particularly
> warranted in the cases I've seen.  For example Tatsuro Matsuoka's personal
> site is linked directly in the text of the Octave for Windows page, but I
> know he's done a great deal of work on getting the Windows build up and
> running.  Most of the others are external references (a page on Ubuntu's
> wiki or an upstream dependency site).  I do recognize the potential for
> abuse, but I believe there would be a high signal-to-noise ratio.

I think one or more links to personally-maintained website would be 
fine.  At first there should be a lot of changes but after time that 
should slow.

Dan