We currently have three forms of documentation, with the following advantages
and disadvantages:
|| Docs || Pro || Con ||
| CWiki |
Easy to edit, no special tools required, don't have to be a developer to
contribute, google and wiki search |
Not versioned, no review process, distant from the code, obsolete content tends
to accumulate |
| Site |
Versioned and reviewed, only committers can edit, google search |
Yet another arcane toolset must be learned, only web programmers feel
comfortable contributing, "asf-site" branch not related to code versions,
distant from the code, tends to go obsolete due to non-maintenance |
| README.md |
Versioned and reviewed, only committers can edit, tied to code versions,
highly local to the code being documented |
Non-developers don't know about them, may be scared by github, poor
scoring in google search, no high-level presentation |
Various discussion threads indicate the developer community likes README-based
docs, and it's easy to see why from the above. I propose this extension to the
README-based documentation, to address their disadvantages:
1. Produce a script that gathers the README.md files from all code
subdirectories into a hierarchical list. The script would have an exclusion
list for non-user-content, which at this point would consist of [site/*,
build_utils/*]. The hierarchy would be sorted depth-first. The resulting
hierarchical list at this time (with six added README files to complete the
hierarchy) would be:
./README.md
./metron-analytics/README.md <== (need file here)
./metron-analytics/metron-maas-service/README.md
./metron-analytics/metron-profiler/README.md
./metron-analytics/metron-profiler-client/README.md
./metron-analytics/metron-statistics/README.md
./metron-deployment/README.md
./metron-deployment/amazon-ec2/README.md
./metron-deployment/packaging/README.md <== (need file here)
./metron-deployment/packaging/ambari/README.md <== (need file here)
./metron-deployment/packaging/docker/ansible-docker/README.md
./metron-deployment/packaging/docker/rpm-docker/README.md
./metron-deployment/packer-build/README.md
./metron-deployment/roles/ <== (need file here)
./metron-deployment/roles/kibana/README.md
./metron-deployment/roles/monit/README.md
./metron-deployment/roles/opentaxii/README.md
./metron-deployment/roles/pcap_replay/README.md
./metron-deployment/roles/sensor-test-mode/README.md
./metron-deployment/vagrant/README.md <== (need file here)
./metron-deployment/vagrant/codelab-platform/README.md
./metron-deployment/vagrant/fastcapa-test-platform/README.md
./metron-deployment/vagrant/full-dev-platform/README.md
./metron-deployment/vagrant/quick-dev-platform/README.md
./metron-platform/README.md
./metron-platform/metron-api/README.md
./metron-platform/metron-common/README.md
./metron-platform/metron-data-management/README.md
./metron-platform/metron-enrichment/README.md
./metron-platform/metron-indexing/README.md
./metron-platform/metron-management/README.md
./metron-platform/metron-parsers/README.md
./metron-platform/metron-pcap-backend/README.md
./metron-sensors/README.md <== (need file here)
./metron-sensors/fastcapa/README.md
./metron-sensors/pycapa/README.md
2. Arrange to run this script as part of the build process, and commit the
resulting hierarchy list to someplace in the versioned and branched ./site/
subdirectory.
3. Produce a "doc reader" web page that takes in this hierarchy of .md pages,
and presents a LHS doc tree of links, and a main display area for a currently
selected file. If we want to get fancy, this page would also provide: (a)
telescoping (collapse/expand) of the doc tree; (b) floating next/prev/up/home
buttons in the display area.
#4. Add to this web page a pull-down menu that selects among all the release
versions of Metron, and (if not running in the Apache site) a SNAPSHOT version
for the current filesystem version (for developer preview). Let it re-write
the file paths per release version to the proper release tag in github. This
web page will therefore be version-independent. Put it in the asf-site branch
of the Apache site, as the new "docs" sub-site from the home web page. Update
the list of releases at each release, or if we want to get fancy, teach it to
read the release tags from github.
5. As part of the release process, the release manager (a) assures the release
is tagged in github with a consistent naming convention, and (b) submits the
new hierarchy of links to google search (there's an api for that).
6. Deprecate the use of cwiki for anything but long-lived
demonstrations/tutorials that are unlikely to go obsolete.
Do folks feel this would be a good contribution to the visibility, timeliness,
and usability of our docs?
Is this an adequate solution for the current problems?
Thanks,
--Matt
