Gnus FAQ maintainership

Gnus FAQ maintainership

[Justin Sheehy]

I have decided that I should probably abdicate the maintainership of
the Gnus FAQ.

This is for several reasons, it mainly comes down to that fact that
after my fairly high-stress job and grad school, there's not much time
left for other projects, so I have to pick and choose very carefully
where my time goes.  

For the past several months, this has meant that I haven't given the
Gnus FAQ the time that it deserves.  Someone who is currently more
active in the Gnus community and that wants to improve it should be
able to do so.

Preferably, the new maintainer would:

  - Be able to provide a canonical and reliable web location for the FAQ.
    (though perhaps the my.gnus.org folks could help with this)
    I will happily set up a mirror at the current location so that old
    URLs do not become invalid.

  - Be able to post the FAQ monthly to the required Usenet groups.

  - Maintain the FAQ such that it can be published to the following
    three formats easily:

       - a useful format for Usenet, preferable the existing minidigest
       - TexInfo
       - a single HTML page

  - Be reasonably responsive and objective in handling FAQ updates.

  - Be able to work with the Gnus developers to handle issues related
    to the FAQ.

It's been good handling the FAQ for the past 5 or 6 years, but it's time
to pass along the reins.  I'll continue to manage it until a new
maintainer has been chosen.

Please send mail to me at justin@iago.org with any comments and
questions or if you want to volunteer.  I may not respond immediately
but I'll definitely deal with all mail sent directly to me in response
to this message.

-Justin

 

Re: Gnus FAQ maintainership

[Robin S. Socha]

* Justin Sheehy <justin@iago.org> writes:

> I have decided that I should probably abdicate the maintainership of
> the Gnus FAQ.

I think I speak for many people if I take this opportunity to express my
heartfelt gratitude for the wonderful job you've been doing. The FAQ has
made working with Gnus considerably easier for me and, I presume, many
other people.

[...]
> For the past several months, this has meant that I haven't given the
> Gnus FAQ the time that it deserves.  Someone who is currently more
> active in the Gnus community and that wants to improve it should be
> able to do so.
> 
> Preferably, the new maintainer would:
> 
>   - Be able to provide a canonical and reliable web location for the
>     FAQ.  (though perhaps the my.gnus.org folks could help with this)

We can an will.

>   - Be able to post the FAQ monthly to the required Usenet groups.

We've got our own newsserver and we're going to use it.

>   - Maintain the FAQ such that it can be published to the following
>     three formats easily:
> 
>        - a useful format for Usenet, preferable the existing minidigest
>        - TexInfo
>        - a single HTML page

I presume this is subject to negotiation?  If so, we've got a comple of
ideas that might make handling the FAQ a little easier (not too many
people speak texi, including myself).

>   - Be reasonably responsive and objective in handling FAQ updates.

Since we've got 5 people looking after MGO and willing to handle the
FAQ, that won't be a problem. We've already got our documentation under
CVS and have set up a group of editors.

>   - Be able to work with the Gnus developers to handle issues related
>     to the FAQ.

We'll add faq@my.gnus.org and we're in business.

> Please send mail to me at justin@iago.org with any comments and questions
> or if you want to volunteer. 

I've taken the liberty to include the Ding list and the MGO staff to,
well, let you guys know that we're volunteering.

On behalf of the MGO team,
Robin
-- 
Robin S. Socha http://my.gnus.org/Members/robin/

Re: Gnus FAQ maintainership

[Justin Sheehy]

"Robin S. Socha" <robin-dated-1016459156.2abe03@socha.net> writes:
[regarding the my.gnus.org team taking over the FAQ]

>>   - Maintain the FAQ such that it can be published to the following
>>     three formats easily:
>> 
>>        - a useful format for Usenet, preferable the existing minidigest
>>        - TexInfo
>>        - a single HTML page
>
> I presume this is subject to negotiation?  If so, we've got a comple of
> ideas that might make handling the FAQ a little easier (not too many
> people speak texi, including myself).

I can't be too strict on this one, since the FAQ currently only exists
in the 1st and 3rd of those two formats.

Conversion to texi has been on my todo list for a very long time.
While it isn't required, it would have a huge benefit: the FAQ could
be checked in to the Gnus distribution.  The gnus-faq.texi currently
distributed is so out of date as to be worse than useless.  Having a
somewhat up-to-date FAQ in the distribution would be a significant
benefit to users.

While I would really like to see it happen, I will leave that matter
up to the new maintainers.

> I've taken the liberty to include the Ding list and the MGO staff to,
> well, let you guys know that we're volunteering.

This sounds like a nearly ideal situation to me: multiple maintainers
working together, using an already well-known site.

I will hand things off to MGO.  I will send a separate message to that
group with the necessary details.  Robin, does faq@my.gnus.org exist
yet, or should I just send it to webmasters for now?

-Justin

 

Re: Gnus FAQ maintainership

[Robin S. Socha]

* Justin Sheehy <justin@iago.org> writes:
> "Robin S. Socha" <robin-dated-1016459156.2abe03@socha.net> writes:

> [regarding the my.gnus.org team taking over the FAQ]
> 
>>>   - Maintain the FAQ such that it can be published to the following
>>>     three formats easily:
>>> 
>>>        - a useful format for Usenet, preferable the existing
>>>          minidigest
>>>        - TexInfo
>>>        - a single HTML page
>>
>> I presume this is subject to negotiation?  If so, we've got a comple
>> of ideas that might make handling the FAQ a little easier (not too
>> many people speak texi, including myself).
> 
> I can't be too strict on this one, since the FAQ currently only exists
> in the 1st and 3rd of those two formats.

Good.

> Conversion to texi has been on my todo list for a very long time.
> While it isn't required, it would have a huge benefit: the FAQ could
> be checked in to the Gnus distribution.  

I've thought about that, too. We'll discuss this in-depth, because
submissions are somewhat easier using makefaq. 

> The gnus-faq.texi currently distributed is so out of date as to be worse
> than useless.  Having a somewhat up-to-date FAQ in the distribution
> would be a significant benefit to users.

I wholeheartedly agree. But we'll have to see if we know enough texi for
this.

>> I've taken the liberty to include the Ding list and the MGO staff to,
>> well, let you guys know that we're volunteering.
> 
> This sounds like a nearly ideal situation to me: multiple maintainers
> working together, using an already well-known site.

We've also just recruited the maintainer of the German
de.comm.software.newsreaders FAQ, Christoph Garbers.

> I will hand things off to MGO.  I will send a separate message to that
> group with the necessary details. 

Thanks. We'll try to live up to the standards you've set over the past
years.

> Robin, does faq@my.gnus.org exist yet, or should I just send it to
> webmasters for now?

I just set it up:

ezmlm-showctl ~/domains/my.gnus.org/faq
.-== list config for my.gnus.org/faq ==----
|  [x] (a) webarchive
|  [x] (H) require confirmation on subscription
|  [x] (i) indexed for webaccess
|  [x] (m) moderated list
|  [x] (p) public list
|  [x] (s) subscription moderation
| - listname   'faq'
| - hostname   'my.gnus.org'
'-== list config for my.gnus.org/faq ==----

I suggest taking this off the Ding list now. You can sub to faq by
sending a blank mail to faq-subscribe@my.gnus.org.

There is a (moderately... .-)) unrestricted list
"faq-submissions@my.gnus.org" now, too.

Re: Gnus FAQ maintainership

[Kai Großjohann]

"Robin S. Socha" <robin-dated-1016459156.2abe03@socha.net> writes:

> I presume this is subject to negotiation?  If so, we've got a comple of
> ideas that might make handling the FAQ a little easier (not too many
> people speak texi, including myself).

I'm not doing any of the work, so I don't actually have a say in
this, but IMVHO the FAQ should be maintained in Texinfo format simply
so that it can be included in the Gnus manual.

And it is not difficult to speak Texinfo at all.  It is really really
easy to learn.  And Emacs has great support for editing it :-)

kai
-- 
Silence is foo!

Re: Gnus FAQ maintainership

[Per Abrahamsen]

Kai.Grossjohann@CS.Uni-Dortmund.DE (Kai Großjohann) writes:

> I'm not doing any of the work, so I don't actually have a say in
> this, but IMVHO the FAQ should be maintained in Texinfo format simply
> so that it can be included in the Gnus manual.

And makeinfo can generate plain text, html and info from a Texinfo
document.