+
+ <para>
+ A huge number of otherwise fantastic free software applications
+ have withered because their author was the only person who knew
+ how to use them well. Even if your program is written primarily
+ for a techno-savvy group of users, documentation is helpful and
+ necessary for the survival of your project. You will learn later
+ in <xref linkend="releasing"> that you must always release
+ something that is usable. <emphasis>A piece of software without
+ documentation is not usuable.</emphasis>
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ There are lots of ways to document your project and lots of
+ different people to document for. The idea of documentation the
+ code itself to help facilitate development by a large community is
+ vital but is outside the scope of this HOWTO. This being the case,
+ this section deals mostly useful tactics for user-directed
+ documentation.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ A combination of tradition and necessity has resulted in a
+ semi-regular system method of documentation in most free software
+ projects that is worth following. Both users and developers expect
+ to be able to get documentation in several ways and its essential
+ that you provide the information they are seeking in a form they
+ can read if your project is ever going to get off the
+ ground. People have come to expect:
+ </para>
+
+ <sect3>
+ <title>Man pages</title>
+
+ <para>Your users will want to be able to type <quote>man
+ foo</quote> end up with a nicely formatted man page highlighting
+ the basic use of their application. Make sure that before you
+ release your program, you've planned for this.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ Man pages are not difficult to write. There is excellent
+ documentation on the man page process available through the
+ <quote>The Linux Man-Page-HOWTO</quote> available through the
+ Linux Documentation project <acronym>(LDP)</acronym> written by
+ Jens Schweikhardt. It is available <ulink
+ url="http://www.schweikhardt.net/man_page_howto.html">from
+ Schweikhardt's site</ulink> or <ulink
+ url="http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/mini/Man-Page.html">from the
+ <acronym>LDP</acronym></ulink>.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ It is also possible to write man pages using DocBook SGML and
+ convert them into man pages. Because manpages are so simple, I
+ have not been able to follow this up but would love help from
+ anyone who can give me more information on how exactly this is
+ done.
+ </para>
+ </sect3>
+
+ <sect3>
+ <title>Command line accessable documentation</title>
+
+ <para>
+ Most users will expect the most basic amount of documentation to
+ be easily availabe from the command line. For few programs should
+ then documentation extend for more than one screen (24 or 25
+ lines) but it should cover the basic usage, a brief (one or two
+ sentance) description of the program, a list of commands, all the
+ major options, and a pointer to more in-depth documentation for
+ those who need it. The command line documentation for Debian's
+ apt-get serves as an excellent example and a useful model:
+ </para>
+
+ <screen>
+apt 0.3.19 for i386 compiled on May 12 2000 21:17:27
+Usage: apt-get [options] command
+ apt-get [options] install pkg1 [pkg2 ...]
+
+apt-get is a simple command line interface for downloading and
+installing packages. The most frequently used commands are update
+and install.
+
+Commands:
+ update - Retrieve new lists of packages
+ upgrade - Perform an upgrade
+ install - Install new packages (pkg is libc6 not libc6.deb)
+ remove - Remove packages
+ source - Download source archives
+ dist-upgrade - Distribution upgrade, see apt-get(8)
+ dselect-upgrade - Follow dselect selections
+ clean - Erase downloaded archive files
+ autoclean - Erase old downloaded archive files
+ check - Verify that there are no broken dependencies
+
+Options:
+ -h This help text.
+ -q Loggable output - no progress indicator
+ -qq No output except for errors
+ -d Download only - do NOT install or unpack archives
+ -s No-act. Perform ordering simulation
+ -y Assume Yes to all queries and do not prompt
+ -f Attempt to continue if the integrity check fails
+ -m Attempt to continue if archives are unlocatable
+ -u Show a list of upgraded packages as well
+ -b Build the source package after fetching it
+ -c=? Read this configuration file
+ -o=? Set an arbitary configuration option, eg -o dir::cache=/tmp
+See the apt-get(8), sources.list(5) and apt.conf(5) manual
+pages for more information and options.
+ </screen>
+
+ <para>
+ It has become a GNU convention to make this information
+ accessable with the <quote>-h</quote> and the
+ <quote>--help</quote> options. Most GNU/Linux users will expect
+ to be able to retrieve basic documentation these ways so if you
+ choose to use different method, be prepared for the flames and
+ for the fallout that may result.
+ </para>
+ </sect3>
+ <sect3>
+ <title>Files users will expect</title>
+ <para>
+ In addition to man pages and online help, there are certain files
+ where people will look to documentation, especially in any
+ package containing source code. In a source distribution, most of
+ these files can be stored in a the root directery of the source
+ distribution or in a subdirectory of the root called
+ <quote>doc</quote> or <quote>Documentation</quote>. These files include:
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>README or Readme</term>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ A document containing all the basic installation,
+ compiliation, and even basic use instructions that make up
+ the bare minimum information needed to get the program up and
+ running. A README is not your chance to be verbose but needs
+ to be concise and effective. An ideal README is at least 30
+ lines long and more no more than 250.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ </varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>INSTALL or Install</term>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ The INSTALL file should be much shorter than the INSTALL file
+ and should quicly and concisely describe how to build and
+ install the program. Usually an install simply instructs the
+ user to run ./configure; make; make install and touches on
+ any unusual options that may be necessary. More advanced
+ users can usually avoid them but it's good practice to at
+ least glance at the file to understand what can be
+ expected. For most relatively standard install procedures and
+ for most programs, INSTALL files are as short as possible are
+ rarely over 100 lines.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ </varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Changelog, ChangeLog, CHANGELOG, or changelog</term>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ A changelog is a simple file that every well-managed free
+ software project should include. A changelog is simple the
+ file that, as its name would imply, logs or documents the
+ changes to a program. The most simple way to do a changelog
+ is to simply keep a file with teh source code for your
+ program and add a section to the top of the changelog with
+ each release describing what has been, changed, fixed, or
+ added to the program. It's a good idea to post the changelog
+ onto the website as well because it can help people decide
+ whether they want or need to upgrade to a newer version or
+ wait for a more signifigant upgrade.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ </varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><acronym>FAQ</acronym></term>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ For those of you that don't already
+ know. <acronym>FAQ</acronym> stands for Frequently Asked
+ Questions and the file is a collection of exactly that. FAQs
+ are not difficult to make. Simply make a policy that if you
+ are asked a question or see a question on a mailing list two
+ or more times, add it the question (and its answer) to your
+ FAQs. FAQs are more optional than the files listed above but
+ they can save your time, increase useability, and decrease
+ headaches on all sides.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ </varlistentry>
+ </variablelist>
+ </para>
+ </sect3>
+
+ <sect3>
+ <title>Website</title>
+ <para>
+ It's only a sort of an issue of documentation but a good website
+ is quickly becoming an essential part of any free software
+ project. Your website should provide access to documentation (in
+ <acronym>HTML</acronym> if possible). It should also include a
+ section for news and events around your program and a section
+ that details the process of getting involved with development or
+ testing and creates an open invitation. It should also supply
+ links to any mailing lists, similar websites, and directly to all
+ the available ways of downloading your software.
+ </para>
+ </sect3>
+
+ <sect3>
+ <title>Other documentation hints</title>
+
+ <para>
+ It doesn't hurt to distribute any documentation for your program
+ from your website or anywhere else (FAQs etc) with the
+ program. Make a FAQ by cutting and posting common questions and
+ answers from a mailing list or your own email. Then, don't
+ hesitate through this in the programs tarball. If people don't
+ need it, they will delete it. I can repeat it over and over:
+ <emphasis>Too much documentation is not a sin.</emphasis>
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ All your documentation should be in plaintext, or, in cases where
+ it is on your website primarily, in HTML. Everyone can cat a
+ file, everyone has a pager, (almost) everyone can render
+ HTML. <emphasis>You are welcome to distribute information in PDF,
+ PostScript, RTF, or any number of other widely used formats but
+ this information must also be available in plaintext or HTML or
+ people will be very angry at you.</emphasis>
+ </para>
+ </sect3>
projects / fspm_howto / commitdiff