[Doc-SIG] Forthcoming doc release; request for help

[Fred L. Drake, Jr.]

  Yes, the rumors are true:  I'm planning to release the documentation 
for Python 1.5.2 one more time.  The current target date is 17 March.
  Here's my planned schedule for short-term activity:

  Feb 29:  Release documentation packages to Doc-SIG for review
  Mar 17:  Release documentation version 1.5.2p2 (last 1.5.2 release) 
  Apr 17:  Finish merging 1.5.2p2 into documentation for 1.6

  There are a couple of things I'd like help with.  ;)
  First, I try to go throught the HTML version every so often using
major browsers on major platforms.  I *don't* have access to all
platforms, though, and just don't have time to test for each major
browser for each platform, and that's only gotten worse the last
couple of releases.
  Second, I haven't been able to "close-read" the documentation for a
long time; this is valuable to catch confusing passages, the random 
typo, and effects of whitespace-gobbling nanoviruses.  Catching
statements that are just plain wrong is also an important goal.
  Clearly, the second goal can be met while meeting the first goal; if 
you shoot for the second, the first falls out, at least for one
browser/platform combination, but it requires a more substantial time
commitment than browser-testing the HTML.  I've often used a printed
version for the close-reading instead of using the HTML.
  What I'm doing is asking for volunteers to help; with enough eyes,
the work is highly partionable.  If each of us picks one or more
documents (the library reference can be partitioned by chapter) and a
particular browser/platform combo, this shouldn't be too hard.
  I'd like to hit at least the following browser/platform
combinations:

        MSIE 5.0        Windows, MacOS(?)
        Navigator 4.x   Windows, MacOS, Unix
        Opera           Windows, MacOS(?), Linux
        Mozilla M13     Windows, MacOS, Unix

  (I haven't been able to run the M13 binary for Solaris 2.6 on my 2.7 
box; has anyone succeeded at this?  The M12 runs OK... for a little
while.  I've not yet checked M13 for other platforms.)
  Could someone with a MacOS box please check that all the filenames,
at least for the generated HTML, aren't too long or otherwise cause
problems with HFS?  Thanks!
  I can coordinate as well as do a portion of the work; who'll
volunteer?


  -Fred

--
Fred L. Drake, Jr.	  <fdrake at acm.org>
Corporation for National Research Initiatives