Re: I'm trying to set up docbook-tools...

["David C. Mason" <dcm at redhat dot com>]

"Eric S. Raymond" <esr@thyrsus.com> writes:

> Oh, no.  That wasn't my only problem by a long shot.  I actually went
> through three different attempts to get three different sets of tools
> running -- Jade, OpenJade, and the DocBook tools.  Not one of them had
> adequate documentation for beginners, even technically sophisticated
> beginners like me with considerable prior knowledge of SGML (I did a
> lot of of extension work on SGML-Tools for the LDP).  All three have
> web pages that are remarkable for the amount of detail they convey
> without actually saying anything useful.


Then I still don't understand the problems you are having... or at
least, I still haven't seen a detail of what you would like to see. I
think the ' Practical Guide...' is a very good intro to the scripts
and creating a DB document - its short, to the point, and includes,
what I think, you need to get started. But again, I can't figure out
except the mirror stuff, what is wrong...I'd like to help



> Do you mean like the user's guide I once wrote for SGML-Tools to
> address exactly this problem? :-)
> 
> Sorry, David.  You don't get to accuse *me* of carping without
> contributing.  I happen to be the person who made SGML-Tools 1.1
> usable for fast-turnaround book publishing, proved it by producing
> "Linux Undercover" for Red Hat, and then documented what I did.  But
> don't take my word for any of that -- go ask Ed Bailey about it.  You'd
> probably find the story both entertaining and instructive.

I had no idea you did the first SGML-Tools and I apologize, you are a
single entity in that case. Otherwise, I find that most hackers ignore
these tools altogether. My apologies.

Still, my problem is this thread has been about the lack of
documentation for DocBook - but I still don't understand what the
problem you are having is. I feel there is quite a bit of
documentation out there, and if I knew the problem I could point you
to it... if not, I could write it (especially since I am going to do a
DocBook talk at OLS, this info would help me). Otherwise complaining
about one or two particular documents doesn't do any good. You have
stated why you didn't like Norm's book, you stated you didn't like the
installation section in the 'Practical Guide...' HOWTO... so what do
you want? Need? Is it *really* helpful to point out flaws in those
particular documents when there might be one that answers your
question?


Dave

-- 


David Mason
Red Hat Advanced Development Labs
dcm@redhat.com (919)547-0012 x248