[Scummvm-devel] ScummVM manual

[Max Horn]

Am 12.12.2004 um 13:26 schrieb Pete Spicer:

> Hi there,

Hi Pete!

> I'm new to ScummVM, I picked it up when I bought SuSE Pro 9.2 about 6 
> weeks ago (it's on the DVD) and have been playing 0.6.1b quite a bit, 
> as I collected pretty much all of the LucasArts adventures and Steel 
> Sky when rereleased a few years under the "White Label" and "Sold Out 
> Software".
>
> And I'd like to help write a manual... I've used it enough to become 
> very familiar with it and I'd like to offer my services to produce a 
> manual in pretty much whatever format you guys would like.

Help with the documentation would be very much welcome! I am not sure 
if you are aware of it, but we have an undergoing project to write new 
user & developer docs for ScummVM, although it's a bit stalled right 
now. You can find it in our CVS, in the "docs" module.

> I'm most familiar with HTML/CSS and plain text, but if anyone wants me 
> to produce it in anything different, that's no problem (please just 
> give me a couple of weeks to learn whatever system you'd like me to 
> use!)

The stuff is done in DocBook. It's a big beast, but the basics are not 
that hard to grasp, I think, at least if you are a bit familiar with 
XML. But even if not, that doesn't matter much: we mostly need help 
producing, improving and correcting the content. I.e. it would also be 
possible for you to write stuff in plain text or HTML and then somebody 
else (e.g. me) could assist with integrating it into DocBook.


> I already note there is a large README and man page, and the README is 
> pretty good as far as being a manual, but a full-blown indexed HTML 
> production would be very handy as well.

The README suffers from having to serve two purposes: a README; and a 
manual replacement... :-).

>
> In the last month, using the source code provided with my SuSE DVD, I 
> have also set up my dad's Linux PC with ScummVM, building that from 
> source rather than using a prebuilt RPM, so I'm familiar with that 
> aspect as well.
>
> I've only just joined SourceForge as a user - username: arantor - but 
> I'd like to help with writing a manual. Unfortunately I'm only online 
> once a week (at the weekend) and even more unfortunately, the only 
> machine I have the capability to upload from is a Windows machine, so 
> I don't know if that'll be a problem with uploading to CVS and things 
> like that (having a friend who knows lots about SourceForge is quite 
> handy!)

Before we add people to the project, we usually require them to 
demonstrate that they actually contribute; so it might be best if you 
could produce some stuff, we can integrate it, and then can decide to 
add you to the project.

If you need assistance with using SF.net, CVS, or whatever, we'll be 
happy to help out. Either via mail, or join us on IRC (server 
irc.freenode.net, channel #scummvm).

>

Cheers,

Max