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On Sat, Aug 15, 2015 at 1:24 PM, hasufell <hasufell@g.o> wrote: |
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> That also means that we would have to integrate these alternatives in |
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> our documentation, hopefully the official one. Because I think our |
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> official documentation should discuss package managers in the same way |
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> it discusses file systems. So, it is fine to recommend e.g. Portage and |
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> ext4 as the main examples, but we should also mention zfs, btrfs, |
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> Paludis, Pkgcore (when it catches up) and so on. |
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> In the case of Paludis, the upstream documentation[4] is quite technical |
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> and doesn't give a concise enough introduction for Gentoo beginners, who |
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> want to follow a step-by-step guide. Because of that, I have written up |
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> such a guide and proposed it to be included in the official Gentoo |
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> handbook[5][6]. |
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> |
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|
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++ |
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|
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Alternatives like btrfs/paludis/systemd often start off with separate |
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standalone documentation. This is actually a pretty good way to do |
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things early-on but it is a bit like trying to follow the handbook |
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with a separate errata page on the side. |
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|
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The goal should be to integrate alternatives into the main handbook |
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when reasonable, unless it really is something that can just stand |
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alone. If it is just an extra step run at a certain point and it is |
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lengthy it might make sense to just have a link to a separate guide. |
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However, if the instructions require performing steps at multiple |
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points along the way it is better to present them as they happen. |
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|
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Along similar lines I plan to spend a bit of time integrating the |
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systemd and dracut instructions into the handbook. It isn't all that |
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intrusive at this point and just requires one or two steps along the |
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way, and a find/replace for rc-update. |
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|
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The only thing that concerns me is keeping it reasonably simple to |
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follow and not turning it into a "Choose Your Own Adventure" novel. |
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That might involve splitting up the handbook a bit. Right now it |
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includes not only installation, but also info on administration, and |
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the further you go past installation the more things will tend to |
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diverge. |
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|
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-- |
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Rich |
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