[Erp5-dev] ERP5 Handbook announcement and cooperation invitation

[Jean-Paul Smets]

Hi,

Nice initiative.

I remember I tried to do the same about 5 years ago and it failed because 
writing doc is one thing, maintaining it accuraltely is another. This is 
why we ended up with a large collection of Howto in erp5.org. Developers 
who are focused on their customer projects sometimes read and update 
Howtos. They seldom read and update introductory handbooks. This is why 
Howtos are easier to get maintained than handbooks.

Here are my recommendation if you plan to make this more official.

1- turn every chapter into a HOWTO and publish it at in the appropriate page 
of erp5.org. I think for example that the page about ERP5 user interface is 
a good user HOWTO about erp5 UI. By doing this, you will get developer 
collaboration.

2- replace the hacker guide in erp5.org by a new ERP5 Guide which provides a 
short introduction about different parts of ERP5 and then brings the user 
to the appropriate Howto page. This is the guide which beginners will start 
from. It should be as compact as possible because this is not  a document a 
developer is likely to maintain.

3- create a moin moin extension which compiles pages of the Wiki into an 
Openoffice or docboook document. This will be the official handbook.

By following this approach, I believe it is possible to progress towards a 
document which is as accurate and useful as, for example, the SAMBA Howto 
and Reference Guide.

http://us1.samba.org/samba/docs/man/Samba-HOWTO-Collection/

JPS.


Le vendredi 16 mars 2007 18:47, Łukasz Nowak a écrit :
> Hello,
>
> We are proud to announce recently started project:
>
>                   "ERP5 Handbook"
>
>     http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/ERP5_Handbook
>
> Our goal is to create a "real book" about ERP5 which would be used by
> beginners and semi-advanced users as a guide.
>
> Idea of creating ERP5 Handbook has its roots on polish ERP5 conference.
> Attenders wanted to have access to comprehensive ERP5 guide, and after
> looking for one without success, a decision of creating ERP5 Handbook
> had been made.
>
> We invite you to cooperate on ERP5 Handbook to make it default, official
> and publicly available ERP5 guide. Some of ERP5 wiki pages could be
> extended and added to ERP5 Handbook. On the other hand, it is possible,
> that some sections of the book wont't be "book adaptable", so shall go
> into wiki.  We hope, that wiki and book will provide good enough set of
> information about ERP5 system to developers (core and external), users
> and contributors.
>
> Any suggestions about ERP5 Handbook are welcome - from direct
> contributions on wikipages, discussions about Handbook (which might be
> hosted on erp5-dev mailing list), proof-reading and checking if guide
> corresponds with reality.
>
> On behalf of the founding body,
> Luke Nowak
> _______________________________________________
> Erp5-dev mailing list
> Erp5-dev at erp5.org
> http://erp5.org/mailman/listinfo/erp5-dev

-- 
Jean-Paul Smets-Solanes, Nexedi CEO - Tel. +33(0)6 62 05 76 14
Nexedi: Consulting and Development of Libre / Open Source Software
http://www.nexedi.com
ERP5: Libre/ Open Source ERP Software for small and medium companies
http://www.erp5.org
Rentalinux: Desktop Linux Server
http://www.rentalinux.com