Re: static developer docs

Bruce Momjian wrote:
> Stefan Kaltenbrunner wrote:
>> Bruce Momjian wrote:
>>> Magnus Hagander wrote:
>>>> On 4 jun 2009, at 03.21, Bruce Momjian <bruce(at)momjian(dot)us> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Dave Page wrote:
>>>>>> We don't enable the dynamic docs until we go GA.
>>>>> I think we should have a link to the dynamic URL even during beta so
>>>>> people patching the docs can see their changes rendered. The dynamic
>>>>> build still happens but there is no link to it.
>>>> That's no what the interactive vs static difference is.
>>>>
>>>> Interactive = with user comments.
>>>>
>>>> The static docs update every day from cvs for 8.4. So people with doc
>>>> patches can certainly see their changes included.
>>> OK, I understand the distinction in terms now but there used to be a doc
>>> build that built every 5 minutes or so, if needed. It is here:
>>>
>>> http://developer.postgresql.org/pgdocs/postgres/index.html
>>>
>>> and it used to be listed here:
>>>
>>> http://www.postgresql.org/developer/testing
>>>
>>> plus there was a link that showed what changes had been made to CVS
>>> during the last doc build. I think those links should be restored to
>>> that page.
>> well not sure I see the point here, for the kind of people we want
>> getting BETA feedback on a latency of 24h for doc-changes seems well
>> within reasonable limits. And for developers who are interested in the
>> actual build process we could easily add the developer.postgresql.org
>> URL to say the developer FAQ on the wiki.
>> The main point for adding the docs on the main site is to make them look
>> like the docs for released versions and to benefit from the fast mirror
>> network.
>
> I do see the link listed on the Developer Resource wiki:
>
> http://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/Development_information

good!

>
> I think the thing that is bothering me is that this link was removed
> from the Developer's tab of the main web site without discussion. We
> talked about adding the beta docs to the Documentation tab but I don't
> remember any discussion about changing the Developer tab link.

hmm there have been multiple requests in the past to get developer docs
more integrated with the main website (and I think the current version
is a noticable improvement). Pointing the link to that version too just
seems natural.

>
> And what will be confusing is that during non-beta time, the link will
> be udpated every 5 minutes (or used to be) while during beta it is only
> every day.

I don't think we are going to do that, I guess we will just keep it like
it is now even after beta. While we could easily build the docs on
wwwmaster more often but that just seems like a waste of resources on
wwwmaster and the mirrors for no real gain.
The docs don't really change that often even during normal development
that anybody should be affected by a few hours latency(and yet gain from
the better look as well as the search functionality on wwwmaster). And
for developers interested in the build output there is also the other
service still available too.

Stefan