This is the Linux Documentation Project ``Manifesto'' -*- Outline -*- Last Revision 19 April 1993 -- Matt Welsh (mdw@tc.cornell.edu) This file describes the current plans and goals of the Linux Doc Project, including a listing of ongoing projects, volunteers, FTP sites, and so on. It should work okay with Emacs outline format. * Overview The Linux Documentation Project is working on developing good, reliable docs for the Linux operating system. The overall goal of the LDP is to collaborate in taking care of all of the issues of Linux documentation, ranging from online docs (man pages, texinfo docs, and so on) to printed manuals covering topics such as installing, using, and running Linux. The LDP is essentially a loose team of volunteers with no real central organization; anyone who is interested in helping is welcome to join in the effort. We feel that working together and agreeing on the direction and scope of Linux documentation is the best way to go, to reduce problems with conflicting efforts--- e.g. two people writing two books on the same aspect of Linux wastes someone's time along the way. The LDP is set out to produce the canonical set of Linux online and printed documentation. Because our docs will be freely available (as per the GNU GPL; see below) and distributed on the net, we are able to easily update the documentation to stay on top of the many changes in the Linux world. There are also plans to pursue publication of the LDP manuals; of course, since ``treeware'' is more difficult to upgrade this probably won't happen until these technical issues stabilize. * Getting Involved The canonical way to get involved with the LDP is to join the DOC channel of the Linux-activists mailing list. To do so, send mail to: linux-activists-request@niksula.hut.fi with the line X-Mn-Admin: join DOC at the top of the body (not the subject). This will add you to the mailing list; send empty mail to the same address for instructions on using it. Of course, you'll also need to get in touch with the coordinator of whatever LDP projects you're interested in working on; see the next section. * Current Projects Here is a list of ongoing LDP projects, along with their individual coordinators. Basically, the coordination of any of these projects is very open-ended; just pick up the alpha version of the doc and suggest to the coordinator changes, or ideas for something to work on. Or, just contact the coordinator of the project and see if there's anything that needs to be worked on. There's no "official" LDP in that sense; if you have something to contribute, feel free. ** Linux Installation and Getting Started Matt Welsh (mdw@tc.cornell.edu) This is the first in a set of Linux printed manuals which will deal with all of the issues of getting started with Linux: what Linux is, how and where to get the software, installation, system configuration, and introductory chapters on using Linux (and UNIX in general). This is the one book anyone needs to read to dive into Linux, even with no previous UNIX experience. This manual also serves as the introduction to the other LDP manuals: chapters on introductory system administration, introduction to using Linux, etc. v1.0 of this manual is on sunsite.unc.edu in /pub/Linux/docs/LDP. ** Linux User's Guide Larry Greenfield (greenfie@gauss.rutgers.edu) This book will over all of the user-end aspects of Linux, from sitting down at the first login session to using complex tools such as gcc, emacs, and so on. It assumes no previous UNIX experience, so not only will it serve as an introduction to Linux, but to UNIX in general as well. This manual won't cover system administrator tasks (i.e. anything that needs to be done as root)--- it's for the J. Random User who has a working Linux system sitting in front of them. Larry says that he'll have more time to work on this during the summer, so we should see an alpha version sometime then. ** Linux System Administrator's Guide Lars Wirzenius (wirzeniu@cc.helsinki.fi) This is the third book in the main LDP series, and assumes knowledge of everything in the Installation and User's Guides. It will cover all of the aspects of keeping the system running, handling user accounts, backups, configuration of the system, installing and upgrading software, and more. Whereas some of this information is in the Installation Guide (just to get the system off the ground) this book should be much more complete. Lars has (temporarily) had to work on other projects; there is a pre-alpha version of this manual available (for anyone who wants to start working on parts). ** Linux Kernel Hacker's Guide Michael K. Johnson (johnsonm@stolaf.edu) and Dan Miner (dminer@cs.umr.edu) This manual covers all of the details of the Linux kernel architecture, for any UNIX developers who want to be up-to-speed for helping out with the development of the Linux kernel. For example, if you want to write a device driver for some type of hardware, this is a great place to start. There is an alpha version of this doc available, 16 April 1993. ** Linux Man Pages/Online Documentation Rik Faith (faith@cs.unc.edu) Development of man pages for Linux. A release is expected soon. ** Linux Networking Guide Olaf Kirch (okir@mathematik.th-darmstadt.de) This guide will suppliment the System Admin's Guide and cover all of the diverse issues of networking under Linux, from uucp to serial connections to TCP/IP. Many Linux users won't have access to such a network, so this information is in a seperate manual. It will contain an intro to TCP/IP and UUCP (for those who have never used such networks before, lots of background information), TCP/IP, UUCP, and DNS configuration, configuration of mail systems such as sendmail and Smail, setting up NNTP and news, and NFS. Much of this guide is already completed, and there should be an alpha version soon (sometime in April?). ** Other Projects There are a number of various projects that are in various stages of planning and completion. These include: *** Linux META-FAQ Michael K. Johnson (johnsonm@stolaf.edu) The Linux META-FAQ is a short compilation of the various sources of Linux information. Uploaded to the FTP sites and posted to c.o.l, c.o.l.a, news.answers, and comp.answers every few weeks. *** Linux INFO-SHEET Michael K. Johnson (johnsonm@stolaf.edu) The Linux INFO-SHEET is another periodic archived posting which gives a technical introduction to Linux itself, what's going on in the Linux community, and how to get started with the operating system. *** Glossary and Global Index A glossary of terms and an index for the entire set of LDP manuals. I don't remember who's putting this together; please remind me. :) This should be comprehensive as well as a reference. * FTP site for LDP works The site for LDP alpha docs (i.e. those that aren't released to the public yet) is "hidden"---that is, only known to the developers. However, you can find ALPHA docs on tsx-11.mit.edu:/pub/linux/ALPHA/LDP. The BETA and offical releases of LDP books are on tsx-11.mit.edu in /pub/linux/docs/linux-doc-project. * Conventions and Copyright The set of printed manuals (i.e. everything but the man pages) will all be formatted under LaTeX. Because these manuals are more comprehensive, they won't serve well as online documents. Therefore, we all agreed to use LaTeX to format them--- if an ASCII copy is desired, dvitty can be used. Also, there is a LaTeX -> texinfo filter being written, which should (hopefully) provide texinfo for those who want it. Because we're more interested in producing nice printed work, not online docs, we decided not to write in texinfo initially. The printed manuals should use Michael K. Johnson's "linuxdoc.sty" style sheet and documentation conventions, found in the file "linuxdoc.tar.z" under the alpha directory. We're trying to achieve a unified look in the manuals, both for sake of consistency and portability (in this way, we can easily change the look and feel of the manuals by changing linuxdoc.sty), and so that all of the authors/editors are on common ground using the same style sheet. The LDP license/copyright should be used to copyright all works. It's a liberal copyleft like the GPL, but applies to printed documents and protects the LDP manuals from publication without our permission. The license is available with "linuxdoc.tar.z" (see above). There is also a source license to be used for the LaTeX source of the LDP documents. The copyright should be under the name of the head coordinator of the doc, as an editorial copyright where several people have actually written material for the doc. In the case that only 2 or 3 people wrote a given doc, the copyright can be in both of their names. * Slaves (Volunteers) Here's a brief list of the folks actively working on the LDP (to the best of my knowledge). There are over 400 people on the DOC channel, so I won't list them all here :), however, if you are actively working on a project and your name isn't on this list please let me know (this is mostly for my sake; if something comes up that you may be interested in, I'd like to get in touch with you). Once an alpha version of a manual is ready, anyone on the LDP is free to pick it up for proofreading and editing. You can send comments, diffs, suggestions, etc. to the author of the manual in question. The editing process is very distributed to let everyone in on the act. Most of the people who have expressed interest in the LDP have offered help as an editor/proofreader--- now that some of the alpha docs are out, here's your chance. I won't list all of those proofreading on this list. ** Lars Wirzenius (lars.wirzenius@helsinki.fi) Intro to sysadmin in Getting Started [outlining]. Administrator's Guide [outlining]. ** Matt Welsh (mdw@tc.cornell.edu) Coordinator of the LDP as a whole, basically just keeps the ball rolling and writes silly outlines such as this. Coordinator of Getting Started Manual [v1.0 available on sunsite] ** Larry Greenfield (greenfie@gauss.rutgers.edu) Coordinator of User's Guide [outlining/writing]. Intro on using Linux in Getting Started [writing]. ** Karl Fogel (kfogel@occs.cs.oberlin.edu) Help with User's Guide and Getting Started. Intro on using Linux in Getting Started [writing with Larry]. ** Michael K. Johnson (johnsonm@stolaf.edu) Editor and co-author of the Kernel Hackers' Guide [writing; alpha version is out now]. Style guide and LaTeX linuxdoc.sty file for typesetting the docs [alpha version available now]. Posts/maintains the Linux INFO-SHEET and META-FAQ. ** Dan Miner (dminer@cs.umr.edu) Co-ordinator of the Kernel Hackers' Guide [writing; alpha version is out now]. ** Olaf Kirch (okir@mathematik.th-darmstadt.de) Coordinator of Networking Guide [writing; alpha available soon]. ** Rik Faith (faith@cs.unc.edu) Coordinator of man page project [working on it; man pages are available for edition now]. ** Michael Haart (u31b3hs@pool.informatik.rwth-aachen.de) Writes man pages; helped to adapt many of the man pages currently available. ** Gavin Thomas Nicol (nick@nsis.cl.nec.co.jp) Coordinator of the Reference Manual. Man page to Texinfo conversion program. ** Owen LeBlanc (leblanc@mcc.ac.uk) Proofreading (spelling and grammar checking). [offering services] ** Piers Cawley (pdcawley@cix.compulink.co.uk Proof reader [offering services]. ** Howlin' Bob (gt8134b@prism.gatech.edu) Proof reader, editor, spell-checker, grammatist, etc [offering services]. ** Dmitri Golding (g0dgold@cdf.toronto.edu) Proof reader [offering services].