On 7/24/2010 10:04 AM, Daniel Carrera wrote:
> On Sat, Jul 24, 2010 at 2:42 PM, Chris Marshall wrote:
>> PDL-2.4.7 will be the first stable release with all
>> these new features.  I'm not sure when that will be.
>> The task list for the release is now in the PDL/TODO
>> file and was recently posted to perldl list:
>>
>>   http://mailman.jach.hawaii.edu/pipermail/perldl/2010-July/006076.html
>>
>> where it promptly disappeared beneath the ocean waves
>> of logo discussion.  The information is there but it
>> is not very accessible as far as seeing what is to
>> be done, who is doing what, and how's progress.  I was
>> thinking something on the web site might be useful
>> here but in the meantime, I plan to follow up a bit
>> this weekend to look for volunteers...
>>
>> For example, you would seem to be a natural candidate
>> for the documentation/web tasks for the release.  :-)
>
>
> If you can help me write useful install instructions for PDL, I will
> be happy to help with any documentation / we tasks related to the
> release.

See PDL/TODO from the sf.net PDL git or the post to pdl-porters:
http://mailman.jach.hawaii.edu/pipermail/perldl/2010-July/006076.html
which give the list of tasks.  As for install instructions, that
will need to be based on the PDL-2.4.7 release and not on the
PDL-2.4.6 release since things have changed a bit already and
will continue to do so to meet the release goals.

> My website proposal is currently stuck because I have an Install icon
> and I don't have any decent install page to point it to. The
> instructions don't have to be exhaustive, they just have to be
> *updated* and *correct*. Above all, what I need most is:
>
> (1) Confirmation that the information on this page is updated and correct:
>
> http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/pdl/index.php?title=Installing_PDL_on_Windows

The best way to see if things work is to get someone with
a given platform XX to try to install PDL with the directions
from the site.  That will immediately show where things aren't
working.

And yes---this is *hard* since getting people with the right
platforms willing to test to this level is a pain.  Given
that the primary goal for PDL-2.4.7 is to be able to be
built, installed, and used on all the major PDL/perl platforms:
win32, macosx, and *ix/*bsd, this may end up being the main
sticking point for the release once the coding is done...

> (2) Updated and correct instructions for Mac OS X. The instructions on
> Karl's website are 4 years old.

The first thing would be to determine what versions of Mac OS X
that the current SciKarl will build on.  The second would be to
determine if CPAN can be used to update that release in-place.

> For Linux I just plan to tell people to use their package manager or
> go to the manual install page. Trying to write distribution-specific
> information is a hopeless task. You just end up with outdated pages,
> duplication, and inconsistent content. Bad bad bad.

This sort of documentation is intimately connected with
the process of testing the new release---which doesn't
exist yet.  If you look at the first two items in the
critical path list you'll see build (a.k.a. install) from
scratch and dependencies (which is needed for the various
optional modules to install).

Even setting up an Install page with stub data to be filled
in as development and testing proceeds helps.  Also, I think
you could probably check off or make a final check list for
many of the general doc issues that have been addresses as
well as web site improvements.

Cheers,
Chris

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