Re: LTSP upstream docs: Scope question...

Scott, I completely agree. I think that, though useful for admins to 
have the information, LTSP documentation should *not* have sections 
relating to normal Linux system administration (adding users, killing 
misbehaving processes, etc.). The only exception I could see is if the 
task relates *directly* to LTSP, and is distro-independent.

I ran into this kind of thing while revamping the Ubuntu LTSP wiki, and 
I had made the decision to make different sections for things  1) System 
administration tasks directly related to LTSP administration under 
Ubuntu, and 2) System administration tasks related to multi-user servers 
(which technically falls in with LTSP, but isn't related to LTSP bits 
and is portable to different situations). Maybe there could be some 
secondary documentation for this and LTSP, but with whatever decision is 
made, I personally think it'd be better suited for a more generic 
"Multi-user server administration" type of doco.


Cheers,
Jordan/Lns


Scott Balneaves wrote:
> So, I've got a question for the rest of the developers, or anyone else who's
> interested.  I think this is a question we should probably answer soon, as it's
> going to crop up again and again, and I think it makes sense to have a
> discussion about it, so we're all on the same page.
>
> The documentation's really starting to take shape, and I'm very happy with the
> way things are progressing.  However, we need to talk about scope.   There's
> already some bits within the documentation about "adding users" and "killing
> processes" that, in my opinion, shouldn't be there, since they're general
> "sysadmin" type issues.  On the wiki, yeah, sure.  In the "official" docs, no.
> Here's my reasoning:
>
> The "official" XML docbook LTSP docs should be about... LTSP.  Not a general
> guide on how to run a server that HAPPENS to run LTSP as well as a bunch of
> other stuff.  Otherwise, we end up having to comment on everything to do with
> whatever can run on an LTSP server. Case in point: someone was on the channel
> the other day wanting to know about running a wine program on an LTSP server.
> I gave him some pointers, and he indicated that something like this should be
> in the docs.  But where does it end?  Wine under LTSP, Firefox under LTSP,
> OpenOffice.org under LTSP, gimp under LTSP, Battle for Wesnoth under LTSP....
> whoa.  We could have a VERY big manual.
>
> As well, even something simple like "adding users" becomes a muddy mess, as
> even within ONE distro, there's probably at least 2 ways to do it (gui and
> command line) and with all the different distros, there's a ton of different
> variations on the theme.  And, really, *all* that stuff's been documented
> elsewhere.  Why should we maintain a complete "how to be a sysadmin" document
> when others are doing it better?  More to the point, WE produce LTSP, and I
> want the LTSP part to be well maintained, and not spread ourselves thin having
> to maintain "adduser" sections in the docs.
>
> Here's what I'd suggest:
>
> I think Lns has done a bang-up job on fixing up the Ubuntu LTSP wiki, which has
> a lot of good stuff on the idiosyncracies of running LTSP under Ubuntu.  I
> think the model we should take would be:
>
> 1) Upstream documents LTSP and LTSP alone, to be used by the distros as either
> a standalone document package, or by inclusion into a larger "how to run
> SuSE/Fedora/Ubuntu/Debian" document, and we should make every effort to see
> that the docs' formatting supports both those roles.
> 2) Within the upstream docs, we have a "For More Information, See..." section,
> that points to wiki/web pages where users can get info about their distro.
> 3) We encourage distros to set up a LTSP wiki/web "portal" that we can point
> to, at a well known, well formatted address.  Something like "ltsp.distro.com"
> or "wiki.distro.com/ltsp" or the like.
>
> That satisfies the best of all worlds: people interested in the "How to set up
> Wine in Ubuntu LTSP" can trundle off and make a wiki page, and we limit the
> scope on the docs.
>
>
> That's my opinion.  What's yours?
>
> Cheers,
> Scott
>
>   


-- 
Jordan Erickson
Owner, Logical Networking Solutions
http://www.logicalnetworking.net
707-636-5678

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