From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Eli Zaretskii Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Updating manuals Date: Sat, 18 Oct 2008 22:12:58 +0200 Message-ID: Reply-To: Eli Zaretskii NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1224360822 32329 80.91.229.12 (18 Oct 2008 20:13:42 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 18 Oct 2008 20:13:42 +0000 (UTC) To: emacs-devel@gnu.org Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sat Oct 18 22:14:43 2008 connect(): Connection refused Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1KrICA-00007A-Ms for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Sat, 18 Oct 2008 22:14:42 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:49274 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1KrIB5-0003Mf-DY for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Sat, 18 Oct 2008 16:13:35 -0400 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1KrIB0-0003M7-TG for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 18 Oct 2008 16:13:30 -0400 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1KrIAz-0003Lv-CI for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 18 Oct 2008 16:13:29 -0400 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (port=48220 helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1KrIAz-0003Ls-6H for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 18 Oct 2008 16:13:29 -0400 Original-Received: from mtaout4.012.net.il ([84.95.2.10]:62205) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1KrIAy-0002Qu-W7 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 18 Oct 2008 16:13:29 -0400 Original-Received: from HOME-C4E4A596F7 ([77.126.98.197]) by i_mtaout4.012.net.il (HyperSendmail v2004.12) with ESMTPA id <0K8Y001PEAVYTE51@i_mtaout4.012.net.il> for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 18 Oct 2008 22:14:23 +0200 (IST) X-012-Sender: halo1@inter.net.il X-detected-operating-system: by monty-python.gnu.org: Solaris 9.1 X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:104609 Archived-At: Having invested now 5 days in updating the ELisp manual, I'm quite sure we should request that each code contribution be accompanied with some meaningful documentation, even if it's not valid Texinfo. The amount of research that is needed to convert a short and at times cryptic NEWS entry into a decent manual style description, and while at that find and fix all the inaccuracies in the related doc strings, is simply overwhelming. The person who writes the code in the first place is in a much better position to describe that, especially around the time the code is written. By contrast, fixing English and the Texinfo markup is a rather mechanical job that takes much less effort. Therefore not being a native English speaker should not be an excuse for not writing documentation to go with the code. Judging by the rather small progress I made during these 5 days (30 NEWS entries, with about 120 entries more remaining, including those describing internationalization and multi-tty, which will require a _really_ serious effort), I am now quite sure we are in trouble with the prospective schedule of the pretest and release, unless much more people will come on board to work on updating the manuals. (I could only invest this many hours because it's a public holiday down here, and it's almost over.)