On 06/24/2010 01:04 PM, Eric "Sparks" Christensen wrote:
>
> So your release is based on localization.
Pragmatically, yes.
But it's really more that the change of state from "draft" to "we assure
you readers out there that this works for F14" coincides with the change
of state from "not ready for translation" to "ready for translation".
However, because "ready for translation" is a harder, more visible
change of state (and one that impacts directly on our colleagues),
"ready for translation" is a really good indicator that the other change
of state ("this works for F14") has taken place.
> So if something changes in
> the release after Fedora is released we really can't update the guides
> because it would break translations.
>
Correct. Any string change, no matter how minor, breaks every single
translation of that document. We just don't have the bandwidth to
accommodate that.
Obviously, if we discover a severe problem in a F13 doc (for example
something that tells users to do something really harmful) then we
actually *want* to break any translations of that; but this is where we
have to work closely with L10N.
This all means that anyone can check out the source for themselves at
any time and build the doc in any language on which translators have
finished their work.
> So does this mean we should release the F14 versions immediately
> following the F13 release and update the F14 regularly throughout
> development?
>
Exactly the opposite.
All development work should always take place in the "master" (Git) or
"trunk" (SVN) of the document and we shouldn't publish anything for F14
until we've had a chance to test it against the alpha.
> How do you handle bugs in the F13 versions?
>
If it's a particularly severe bug, we fix it in the F13 branch, notify
Localization, and republish; breaking all translations in the process.
If it's not severe, we fix it in "master" or "trunk". The fix will never
be published for F13, but will appear in the F14 guide (assuming that
the surrounding content is still relevant).
>> If the guide is verified against F13 to a point where we can take the
>> "Draft" watermarks off it and hand it over to translators, then we can
>> release for F13.
>>
> Okay, but what if everything is good for F13 but the guide is incomplete?
>
If we're happy to freeze development at a particular point for F13,
there should be no reason why we couldn't branch a mostly complete
document for F13, hand it over for translation, take the "draft"
watermark off it, and release it mid-cycle. Development then continues
in the "master" or "trunk" as usual. The same is true for guides not
completed in time for GA.
If you don't feel that a guide is at a point where it makes sense to
freeze it, or where you wouldn't be happy to ask translators to put
their time and effort into it, this is a symptom that it's not ready for
release as anything but "Draft Documentation" yet.
Cheers
Rudi
PS -- one small correction; last time, I suggested that a guide
shouldn't be branched until Beta. While this is true in a perfect world,
we probably really do need to branch during Alpha so that we give
translators enough time to do their work. Changes in the F14 branch
between alpha and beta will sometimes be necessary, but as always, we
would try to avoid changing existing strings wherever possible. Note
that we need to make changes during alpha and beta in two places:
"master" and F14. This is where "git cherry-pick" comes in very handy.
--
docs mailing list
docs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To unsubscribe:
https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/docs
