Re: [gentoo-project] Call for Agenda Items -- Council Meeting 2015-10-11

[Rich Freeman]

On Wed, Sep 30, 2015 at 4:36 PM, Andreas K. Huettel
<dilfridge@g.o> wrote:
>
>> > e) Since per GLEP 39 only developers can be project members, let's
>> > introduce "contributors" which are listed on the wiki project page
>> > together with the members.
>>
>> This doesn't solve the problem with developers who don't want to use
>> SMW.
>
> I just plainly dont care beyond a certain level of obstructiveness.
>

So, I'm still not a huge fan of using the wiki as the source of this
info, but frankly I could care less whether a few devs don't want to
use it.  I fully support the Social Contract and FOSS-tools only, but
if you're going to start getting picky beyond that then you're on your
own.

Not using the wiki because it as a PITA to utilize in this manner is a
great argument.  Not using the wiki because I can't be bothered to
sign up for an account is not.  As far as I'm concerned, let's stick
to the former line.

Along this line, here are some pros/cons I can see:
XML file (or other popular markup format)
- Can be stored in vcs
- No inherent mechanism to prevent invalid files from being stored,
distributed, etc, but files can be validated easily.
- Can be synced and parsed offline
- Libraries to parse xml have probably been ported to the PDP11, your
microwave, your car's ECU, the lunar lander, and more exotic cases
like C, python, Java, etc.
- Doesn't tie identity/authentication to specification
- Never "goes down"
- Still readable in 100 years
- Requires a separate distribution mechanism, but not necessarily
limited to a particular mechanism
Wiki
- Easier for non-devs to edit should this become desirable at some point
- Nice presentation comes along for free
- Editor that enforces correct syntax comes along for free.
- Ties identity/authentication to specification (maybe you could argue
this is a pro and a con)
- Distribution is part of the solution

-- 
Rich