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Re: Answering frequently asked questions



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Hi All,

>
> Thanks for the compliments (I'm taking your comments as such)

P., of course these are compliments - your explanation about 'entry' a few 
days ago, was a very welcome enlightment. Although I have to re-read that a 
couple of times before I understand. 
>
> I regret to admit that if I had the time to keep docs and releases
> up to date and aligned, I would rather spend it for my employer's
> projects, to reduce the number of complains I get from that side.
> I'm afraid this is intrinsic in Open Source, and won't be eliminated
> easily.

Here is some interesting point. The point being, why not have a 'developer' 
just maintaining docs. I know you 'true' developers would like to have more C 
coders... but that is out of reach for many of 'us'. But, not all of 'us' are 
'users' ! As for myself, I do - too much - developping in PHP and MySQL 
and/or OpenLDAP. Trying to grab the concepts of ACL's has been a pain i.t.a. 
as you can see from the accumulated postings on this list. It took me less 
time to understand Sendmail's Rules (but this is years back before I started 
using qmail-ldap), and Apache Rewriting Rules are a breeze compared to ACL's.

But then, both Sendsnail and Apache Rewriting are documented VERY WELL. As is 
MySQL, and even djbdns, proftpd, what have you more.

One exception is OpenLDAP, in my (humble) opinion. The administrators guide, 
the man pages and the FAQ are just too.... well, they are not 'complete'.
They offer 'the wrong' examples. And the FAQ... well, we talked about that.

So, what would be a good thing to happen to OpenLDAP ? A Couple of People that 
agree on some documentation standard, and the willingness to keep updating 
the manuals and faqs. I offered doing that before but got... ehhh.... 
klonked. (I was redirected to the interactive FAQ)

I was thinking of writing a manual for ACL's. A real one, that would be as 
good as an O'Reilly on that subject. With plain language, plain examples, 
working combinations of ldif and acl files. Something any newbie can learn 
from.

But now I see that there are more issues to be addressed. The endless 
questions about SASL/Kerberos/PAM, the stream of confusion about BDB, 'How to 
set up a directory', Interacting with Active Directory, Outlook and other 
hmmmm.... products... the list (this list) is endless.

I would still be willing to try and make better documentation. And be willing 
to put time (= money unfortunately) into it. For one, because I myself would 
better understand what's going on. For two: fame ;-) For three: Getting more 
and more people to use OpenLDAP since it *is* very powerfull in situations 
where you need a directory.

One question for developers: Would you acknowledge and ratify such an effort 
(and not Klonk it, please !)

One question for non-developers : who's out there with time on her hands and 
wants to help ?

I am not envisioning a tomorrow-ready-one-for-all solution. I am not 
envisioning a steering comittee either. But, in half a year, maybe 8 months, 
it should be possible to have some online documentation ready that not only 
reflects the current state of OpenLDAP, but also explains in Jip 'n Janneke 
language (i.e. plain language, for everyone to understand) how to configure 
and use various aspects of OpenLDAP.

I am awaiting your comments.

Ace

PS Tony, if you agree more with me than before, the only logical conclusion 
would be that you have changed - to the better :-P

website: http://www.suares.nl * http://www.qwikzite.nl
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