Re: Distros project

[Munzir Taha <munzirtaha at newhorizons dot com dot sa>]

On Thursday 20 November 2003 10:04, Nadim Shaikli wrote:
> Mr. Munzir/Alkarouri, I am not sure what is the status of the distros
> project. 
> as it looks like that SAIS document was kinda used for Mandrake
> specific issues but the intended audience is the user and not the
> Mandrake distro developers.
No, SAIS doc is still being cooked as karouri pointed out and it's intended 
for the user. But MAPS is intended as a 'status' page (The s in MAPS) not a 
howto page

> The MAPS doc is more of a "howto" for
> users (which is fine and ought most likely to change name to
> 'mdk_arabichowto' or similar) - was that the purpose or was it
> part of the SAIS effort ?

Long answer:
The MAPS doc is _not_ meant to be a howto actually. This doc is born to die. 
It's sad for me to say this but it's the truth. MAPS, RAPS and xAPS 
(x=anything) is just to point explicitly to problems regarding Arabic in 
various distros. If you take a look at the purpose section it's stated 
clearly that:

<quote>
1.2.1. Purpose
This document is meant to serve as a one-stop location that provides all 
Arabic-related issues with Mandrake... This doc is something more than a 
HOWTO. It serves as a place of coordinating the Arabization efforts in 
Mandrake.
</quote>

Actually I have never intended to say how to setup an app but mainly to say 
the status and how to get around or ask for a vote. Example:
6.9.2. ArabTeX
Don't install tetex-latex-arab-3.09f-4mdk.noarch from CD3. This version is now 
old and contains some problems w.r.t. LyX. I have made a new package, 
tetex-latex-arab-3.11d-1mdk, install it.
---This is specific to Mandrake

The doc and hence the instructions included is just for the purpose of 
evaluation/certification for Mandrake. Once this happens and say we give 
Mandrake a platinum support (hope at April 2004 with version 10 release) all 
these nested groups should be removed.

Since Arabic support is a done-once-live-forever issue. Most of the sections 
will either vanish or merge into something else. e.g:

3. Setup Essentials->should be in the official Mandrake manuals.

7. Arabic Issues (Testing, and Quality Assurance)->Should be merged into 
section 8.

8. Known Bugs (with Fixes when available)->Should be fixed

10. Wishlist->Should be fulfilled and hence vanish

11.1. Arabic translation status for Mandrake Linux -> already have it's own 
page

11.2. QA the translation -> This is just a call to lend a hand and should 
vanish once we have people who care ;)

12. MkLiveCD - Mandrake LiveCD build scripts -> should have its own page 
within the distros project.

13. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)-> will be merged in the official 
Mandrake docs if worth it through their wiki system.

Within 2 months Inshallah things will be clearer and the doc will be more 
mature and confusion will be removed. Just be patient with me ;)


BTW: I expect to hear some encouragement regarding my rpm or at least testing 
and giving feedback but nothing besides asking for devoting more time ;)


-- 
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_/    \ /   _\ unzir    _/ aha	PGP Key available
gpg --recv-keys --keyserver www.mandrakesecure.net F0671821

Telecommunications and Electronics Engineer
Linux Registered User #279362 at http://counter.li.org
Mandrake Club member
Maintainer of Mandrake Arabization Project Status (MAPS)
http://www.arabeyes.org/download/documents/distro/mdkarabicsupport.html
CIW Designer, ICDL, MOUS
New Horizons CLC
Riyadh, SA