Re: [PATCH,wwwdocs] redirect users to the gfortran wiki

[Steve Kargl <sgk at troutmask dot apl dot washington dot edu>]

(cc'd to fortran@)

On Thu, Dec 22, 2005 at 01:41:45AM +0100, Gerald Pfeifer wrote:
> 
> On Fri, 16 Dec 2005, Steve Kargl wrote:
> > The Fortran homepage, http://gcc.gnu.org/fortran/, is extremely
> > out-of-date.  To aid potential Fortran users in finding much
> > more recent info, I've added a paragraph that will redirect 
> > readers to the gfortran wiki.
> 
> I have to admit I've been pondering about this quite a bit, and here is 
> why (sorry for not raising this earlier): if you believe the Wiki will 
> allow the gfortran team to keep the web pages up-to-date more easily, for 
> example by means of help from additional volunteers, we should seriously 
> consider that as an option.

This is probably the biggest benefit.  I know that at least one
individual, who does not have an assignment, has made contributions
to the wiki.  A second benefit of the wiki is that one can read,
edit, and commit changes immediately without going through a review
step and cvs session.  Heck, the simple paragraph I wrote about the
wiki has not been committed, and the patch is now 5 days old.

> However, not requiring any form of copyright assignment/disclaimer/
> whatever means that we will not be able to take any of that and
> integrate it into our regular documentation or main web pages.  And
> this does concern me.

A large amount of info on the Fortran home page is out of date due
to its transient nature.  For example, we have a wish list of Language
Extensions.  Item 9 is completed, item 8 is on its way, and item 3
is being worked.  The hoops to jump through to change the status and
then delete the item in a few months is too much when I'd rather be
hunting gfortran bugs.  The TODO list is even in worse shape.  Many
items have been fixed or implemented.

> As far as I know, some started a discussion with the FSF on how to best 
> handle this, but I've not heard of any results yet, unfortunately.

I've already redirected people from the comp.lang.fortran newsgroup to
the wiki instead of the Fortran Homepage to find the binary packages.
We have also directed inquiries to fortran@gnu to the wiki.  With only
a small group of Fortran developers, the simple fact is that the wiki
simplifies our lives.

-- 
Steve