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This appendix describes the goals and current status of the Linux Documentation Project, including names of projects, volunteers, FTP sites, and so on.
The Linux Documentation Project (LDP) 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; for example, two people writing two books on the same aspect of Linux wastes someone's time along the way.
The LDP has 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 the "Copyright License" section in Appendix C, "The Linux Documentation Project Copyright License") 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. We're also talking with a few companies about possibly publishing the LDP manuals after more of them become available. (A few smaller companies are printing and distributing LDP manuals even now; more on that later.) If you're interested in publishing any of the LDP works, see the section "Publishing LDP Manuals" in Appendix C.
To get involved with the LDP, join the linux-doc activists mailing list. To do so, send mail to [email protected]. with the line subscribe linux-doc in the message body (not the subject). This will add you to the mailing list.
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.
For a list of current projects, see the http://www.linux.org Web site. The best way to get involved with one of these projects is to pick up the current version of the manual and send revisions, editions, or suggestions to the coordinator.
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A glossary of terms and an index for the entire set of LDP manuals is planned. I don't remember who's putting this together; please remind me. :) This should be comprehensive as well as a reference. FTP sites for LDP works can be found at sunsite.unc.edu in the directory /pub/Linux/docs. LDP manuals are found in /pub/Linux/docs/LDP, HOWTOs, and other documentation found in /pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO. Various ALPHA docs can be found at tsx-11.mit.edu:/pub/linux/ALPHA/LDP.
This section outlines the conventions that are currently used by LDP manuals. If you are interested in writing another manual using different conventions, please let us know of your plans first. We'd like the LDP manuals to have a common look and feel, and this is implemented with a LaTeX style file.
The set of printed manuals (that is, everything but the man pages) are formatted using LaTeX. The primary objective is to have PRINTED, not online, manuals. The LaTeX tool (currently under development by Olaf Kirch) can be used to generate plain ASCII (and later, texinfo) from the LaTeX source.
Please don't mail me saying that I shouldn't be using LaTeX for the LDP manuals; well over 500 pages of material have already been written in LaTeX, and we're not about to convert. Many a flame war has been sparked over this issue, but it's a done deal. New manuals don't necessarily need to be written using LaTeX, but you should use the same conventions and look as we have implemented with the current manuals.
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, for the sake of both consistency and portability (in this way, we can easily change the look and feel of the manuals by changing linuxdoc.sty), 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 printed in Appendix C.
The copyright for each manual should be in the name of the head writer or coordinator for the project. The Linux Documentation Project isn't a formal entity and shouldn't be used to copyright the docs.
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