a proposal for the FAQ

[Chris Rees]

On 1 Apr 2013 05:25, "Eitan Adler" <lists at eitanadler.com> wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> Over the past several months I have been working on a project called
> ThwackAFAQ.  For those who don't know this project has been to review,
> edit, and rewrite the FAQ to be relevant to the modern day.
> I've removed references to hardware that hasn't been sold in over 10
> years or to software features that reached their EoL in FreeBSD 2.x.
> At this date I feel the project has reached a level of maturity such
> that it makes sense to write this email:
>
> I propose that we merge the handbook into the FAQ.
>
> While they both cover the same material the handbook source is over
> 83892 lines of XML while the FAQ is now at a measly 8242 lines.
> Further the FAQ is in bite sized chunks while the FAQ requires lots of
> tedious reading.  Translators currently have issues keeping up with
> the pace of changes in both books, and must translate the same basic
> content twice.  If only we could have one clear and canonical source
> for translators to work with.
>
> Sure there are some topics not covered in the same depth in the FAQ
> but many Linux distributions solve this in a very nice way: distribute
> the details and extraneous items to bloggers and tip writers.  This
> releases us, the doc team, from all the extra work of writing and fact
> checking things that will no longer be true in the next version of
> FreeBSD.  Not only that but it even generates more content for the
> front page where we publish articles written about the operating
> system.
>
> Over the next few weeks (as soon as the doc slush ends) I intend to
> move the last few remaining portions of the handbook into the FAQ and
> commit the removal of the handbook once and for all.

I'm going to ruin the April Fool here because I'm worried you'll get
lynched.

Nice one :)

Chris