[reportlab-users] manual proposal

[Andy Robinson]

2008/10/20 adam hyde <adam at flossmanuals.net>:

> I have a great respect for Reportlab and I would prefer first to have

> the blessing of Reportlab insiders.

>

> Also, we have one form of PDF that is not output using reportlab. I will

> change this if it is a pre-requisite for reportlab to have the docs

> hosted on FLOSS Manuals. However before I do this it would be good to

> get a 'go ahead' from the reportlab team.


In principle it sounds great.  We'll review in a team meeting today.
First, some
questions for Adam and everybody else....

(1) To everyone: should it start with a "port" of the existing user
guide, with volunteers
copying and pasting?  Or would a completely fresh start be best?

(2) right now we have vector diagrams drawn with snippets of ReportLab code
within our PDF manuals.  In principle, with some reworking, these could
be generated both as bitmaps and as vectors within the PDF copies,
with a directory in SVN to contain the diagram scripts.

Adam, would you be OK with trying to extend your toolchain to use these,
with some help from us?   Or does every one of your manuals have to
share exactly the same toolchain?

(3) is there any mechanism to sync or export the flossmanuals source
into text that can be committed into SVN?  One of our biggest and best
"tests" is whether the manuals generate OK; and it would be a bit
weird trying to keep directories of examples and diagrams synced
with a web app in a remote repository, rather than just running
"genuserguide.py" every night as we do now.

(4) Adam, would you be willing to privately share some of your PDF-building
code with us so we can help make sure it has all the best features? This
would pay off for all of your manuals, of course.


- Andy