Re: [libreplanet-discuss] RFC: GNU Developer Network on libreplanet.org

[Usrnix]

Hi, I think David's idea for a Mozilla Dev Network-like format is great,
I've use the MDN a lot in the past for HTML and CSS and each page
presents its content in a really understandable way with a brief
description followed by an example and explanation of the example
followed by explanations for the given attributes options.

I could see this working well for GNU, using GCC as a example following
the Mozilla networks template we'd have a brief description of what GCC
is and what it does, followed by an example command for compiling
something and explanation of what happened, then going on to introduce
the different options/flags available and such. Each article like this
providing links throughout to articles within the GNU Dev Network
similar to Wikipedia citing.

I look forward to seeing how this works out as I think this is something
that would really be of use to existing veteran developers and people
newly interested in GNU. I will say though that I think the project
would benefit from being run on its own website although I'm not sure
what it could run right now, perhaps a custom system will be needed.
Maybe running on its own mediawiki instance one day so it can be heavily
altered to fit around the Dev network instead of looking like a generic
wiki, but maybe this is possible with libreplanet.

I'll keep up and try help anyway I can; just putting it out there that
I'm good with HTML/CSS. :)


On Fri, 2013-07-05 at 19:52 -0700, David Gumberg wrote:
> My original intention when coming up with this idea, was something
> similar to Mozilla's Developer's Network. Mozilla does have pages with
> tutorials
> like: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Guide/HTML/Introduction, 
> but the biggest part of it is reference. Say you type in the search bar an 
> html tag such as, "<a>". It will take you to this page that acts as like a 
> much more friendly specification, telling you what the tag does, properties 
> you can use with it, code samples, output examples, browser support, etc. I 
> envision a GDN where you type in a function in the GNU C Library like say, 
> printf, and it will tell you what the function does, what kind of values you 
> can pass to it, code samples, and output examples, and how the function has 
> changed in the various C standards. (ANSI, C99, C11, etc.) But, obviously we 
> would have a friendlier homepage linking you to tutorials like 
> https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/.
> 
> 
> On Fri, Jul 5, 2013 at 8:42 AM, Rudolf <omouse@gmail.com> wrote:
>         The content of developer network would have some pages
>         something similar to what appears on the Fedora, Ubuntu and
>         ArchLinux wikis to some extent?
>         
>         
>         I would recommend a wholesale import of any relevant pages
>         from those wikis or linking out to them because I'm sure there
>         are things related to GNU projects there. For example, the
>         page on working with BugZilla would seem to
>         fit: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Bugs_and_feature_requests and so 
> would some of the links on this page: 
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BeginnersTeam/FocusGroups/Development
>         
>         
>         The benefits of a developer network wiki have to be outlined
>         clearly. With github for example, the benefits are very clear:
>         it's easy to put your code there and to contribute to other
>         people's code *and* to their documentation. With the Mozilla
>         Dev Network the benefits are also clear; more docs on common
>         web stuff leads to quicker/easier development with all the
>         gotchas and hacks and workarounds documented.
>         
>         
>         There are other projects like OpenHatch that have tried to
>         encourage involvement in the development of free/open source
>         software and they haven't gotten much uptake. They just didn't
>         provide enough useful resources though some of their tutorials
>         were great: https://openhatch.org/missions/
>         
>         -Rudolf O.
>         
>         
>         On 5 July 2013 02:49, Brandon Invergo <brandon@gnu.org> wrote:
>                 Hi Rudolf,
>                 
>                 Rudolf <omouse@gmail.com> writes:
>                 
>                 > This definitely sounds doable and might revitalize
>                 the GNU standards.
>                 
>                 
>                 Interesting point on revitalizing the standards.  If
>                 you have any
>                 specific comments on that, such as sections that need
>                 revising or new
>                 information to add, I would recommend bringing them up
>                 directly with the
>                 Advisory board (gnu-advisory@gnu.org) so they can be
>                 discussed.  Of
>                 course, discussion on the GDN could lead to a
>                 community recommendation.
>                 
>                 > The key thing is convincing other GNU developers to
>                 contribute if
>                 > possible. It would be nice to see more developers
>                 referring to the
>                 > coding standards of the gnu project and striving to
>                 become part of the
>                 > umbrella.
>                 
>                 
>                 Yes, this will be critical and, I'm afraid,
>                 difficult.  I'll be going to
>                 the GNU Hacker's Meeting [1] in Paris in August.  If
>                 we have something
>                 up and running by then, I'll make a strong push to get
>                 people to
>                 contribute.  There's a GNU Assembly on the last day,
>                 which would be a
>                 good time to mention it.  However, it would also be a
>                 good opportunity
>                 to introduce non-GNU-hackers to it since the general
>                 public is invited
>                 to the rest of the meeting.
>                 
>                 Brandon
>                 
>                 
>                 Footnotes:
>                 [1]  http://www.gnu.org/ghm
>                 
>                 --
>                 Brandon Invergo
>                 http://brandon.invergo.net
>                 
>         
>         
> 
>