I'd add one more. Make sure all the tutorials work. Hand them to a random sysadmin and have him do them verbatim. Last I checked (about a year ago) I could not find a single tutorial on the cfengine site that would work as written on a generic install.
The new bootstrap code is a nice start, but could be fleshed out. Perhaps with a cfengine-<program>-example package. On Wed, 14 Dec 2011, Marco Marongiu wrote: > On 14/12/11 11:30, Mark Burgess wrote: >> Thanks for good feedback. Can you elaborate at all on what topics you >> would like to see in a better tutorial? > > I can try. > > The current tutorial talks a lot about a lot of things, but concrete > examples don't have even a single, full section. A few trivial examples, > one can find them in chapter 4, and that's all. > > > My ideal structure for a tutorial would be: > > - very short intro about the principles that are the basis of the tool > > - mention the standard library > > - short introduction about the syntax > > - a set of pre-canned configuration files one can use for the first tests > > - simple problem, code for the solution, detailed explanation > > - repeat the step above many times, increasing the complexity of the > problem each time; remember to mention the standard library each time a > component from it is used; possibly, mention other related > bundles/bodies from the standard library which could be used to address > similar problems > > - in conclusion, point to specific documents for more advanced topics > (simply pointing to the web site leaves you in the "mare magnum" I > mentioned in my previous email). > > > Topics I would avoid in a tutorial: > > - don't spend a full chapter talking about system automation in general > > - don't talk about the update process, that can come later. Right now, > one wants only to try things out. You can point to something on that > specifically at the end of the tutorial; > > - don't talk me about replacing cron: see above > > - don't talk me about remote access control, see above > > - don't talk me about knowledge management, see above. Plus, it's just > in Nova: one is supposedly trying things out for the first time in the > community edition, a very few will start in Nova directly. > > > Is this enough? > > Ciao > -- bronto > _______________________________________________ > Help-cfengine mailing list > Help-cfengine@cfengine.org > https://cfengine.org/mailman/listinfo/help-cfengine > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Jim Wildman, CISSP, RHCE j...@rossberry.com http://www.rossberry.net "Society in every state is a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one." Thomas Paine _______________________________________________ Help-cfengine mailing list Help-cfengine@cfengine.org https://cfengine.org/mailman/listinfo/help-cfengine
