Re: [RFC] Org version of the Org manual

[Carsten Dominik <carsten.dominik@gmail.com>]

Hi Tom,

wow, a daring project.  This would indeed be a testimony to the quality of the exporter if this works and gives proper output!  I am curious and looking forward to seeing the results.

- Carsten

On 25.2.2013, at 21:21, Thomas S. Dye <tsd@tsdye.com> wrote:

> Aloha all,
> 
> An experiment to see if it is possible to convert the Org manual to Org
> is now (hopefully) at the "proof of concept" stage and I would like to
> determine whether or not the approach is viable. The experiment is here:
> 
> https://github.com/tsdye/orgmanual.git
> 
> The file orgmanual.org has a heading, * Instructions for use, that
> explains how to set up asynchronous export with the new exporter. The
> repo also contains orgmanual.info in case you don't want to hassle with
> exporting the org file and just want to see what it looks like in info.
> I'm able to generate an info file without makeinfo raising any errors or
> warnings. 
> 
> There is also a heading, * Improvements and fixes, that includes a list
> of problems that either need to be fixed or are in the process of being
> fixed. Obviously, the file is not perfect, but I do believe it is good
> enough to judge whether success will be possible. At any rate, I need to
> pull myself away from this project for a week or so to do other things
> and can't get caught up making editorial changes or working on the (to
> me) thorny issues that remain.
> 
> Sections with problems have been given FIXME keywords. In some cases,
> problem text (especially in macros) has been replaced with `XXX'.
> Proposed fixes for these nagging issues will be greatly appreciated.
> 
> By way of background, my initial goal was to replicate the Org manual
> precisely. This goal was abandoned when I realized that the various
> contributors to the manual (including me a few years ago) had different
> ideas about what a .texi file should look like and had created a somewhat
> eclectic product.  The goal now is to have a "functional equivalent" of
> the manual.
> 
> The ultimate goal is to maintain the Org manual in Org, rather than
> .texi, and to have the infrastructure in place in time to support the
> major revisions required by the forthcoming release of version 8.0.
> 
> Many thanks to Nicolas Goaziou and to Jonathan Leech-Pepin for their
> excellent work on the new exporter framework and the texinfo exporter,
> and for their patience with my sometimes exasperated (and exasperating)
> queries.  Jonathan showed me the way forward at an early stage and
> devised most of the macros.
> 
> I look forward to picking this project up again in a week or so, or
> learning from my Org colleagues that the project ought to be scuttled.
> 
> All the best,
> Tom
> 
> -- 
> T.S. Dye & Colleagues, Archaeologists
> 735 Bishop St, Suite 315, Honolulu, HI 96813
> Tel: 808-529-0866, Fax: 808-529-0884
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>