DocBook Mailing List Guidelines
$Id: guidelines.xml,v 1.2 2001/08/10 16:12:08 ndw Exp $
03 Dec 2001
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Table of Contents
Posting
Before You Post
Replies Go to the Author
Use Short Quotes of Previous Messages in Replies
Do Not Post Attachments
Cross-Posting
Digests
Unsubscribing from Docbook List
Unsubscribing from Docbook-Apps List
Unsubscribing from the Docbook Digest
Unsubscribing from the Docbook-Apps Digest
If You Stop Getting Messages
Archive
Reporting Bugs in Software
Further Information on DocBook
Contact
This information[1] is posted to the DocBook and DocBook Applications
mailing lists (and their digests) at regular intervals under the
subject line "DocBook list guidelines".
Posting
Only subscribers can post to mailing list, and only from the address
they used when they subscribed.
There are two DocBook-related lists: docbook and docbook-apps. The
docbook list is for general questions about DocBook. The docbook-apps
list is for questions about applications (stylesheets, transformation
tools, publishing tools, processing requirements, etc.) that use or
work with DocBook.
Specifically:
* Questions about DocBook markup (How do I markup a Widget? What's
a FuncSynopsisInfo for?) should be sent to the docbook list.
* Questions about XSL or DSSSL stylesheets, publishing DocBook
documents on your platform of choice, support for PostScript,
PDF, or other types of output, questions about Windows or Unix
applications that can consume or produce DocBook should be sent
to the docbook-apps list.
Do not begin your subject line with "help" or "subscribe" since the
list software will bounce the message because it looks like is an
administrative request.
Do not use un-informative subject lines like "Urgent", "Easy
question", or "Problem". Instead, use a meaningful subject line that
will make sense to the people whose help you are trying to get.
Both subscribers to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> and <
[EMAIL PROTECTED]> should post their messages to <
[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. The messages will be received by both
subscribers to the list and subscribers to the digest.
Both subscribers to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> and <
[EMAIL PROTECTED]> should post their messages
to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. The messages will be received
by both subscribers to the list and subscribers to the digest.
Do not start a new thread by replying to an unrelated message and
just changing the subject line since the header of your message will
contain references to the previous message and your new message will
appear in the archive as one of the replies to the original message.
It is better to start a new message for a new thread.
Before You Post
1. Check that you are posting to the right list.
2. Make sure you are posting from the account that you used to
subscribe. If you post from another account, your message will be
delayed until it is approved by hand.
3. Check that your question isn't already answered in the mailing
list archives at http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/docbook/ or
http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/docbook-apps/.
4. If you are replying to a post, trim the quoted message to just
the parts to which you are replying.
Replies Go to the Author
The DocBook lists don't set the Reply-to: header on messages (see
"Reply-To" Munging Considered Harmful) so replies go to the author by
default. If you want to reply to the list, make sure you include the
list mailing address in your reply.
Most mail readers make this easy by offering two forms of reply:
reply/group-reply or reply/follow-up, for example. If you want to
post to the list, make sure you select group-reply or follow-up or
whatever your mail reader calls it.
Use Short Quotes of Previous Messages in Replies
Please do not quote entire messages just to add a few lines at the
beginning or end. Instead, quote the parts to which you are directly
replying or quote enough to establish the context.
Everybody on the list has already received the message that you are
quoting, and anyone searching the archive will find your message and
the previous message listed under the same thread.
Subscribers to the mailing list will just ignore most of the quoted
messages and move to the next post, but subscribers to the mailing
list Digest will mostly have to page past the quoted messages to
reach the next material in which they are interested in reading.
Do Not Post Attachments
Since mailing lists have in the past been unwittingly used for
spreading viruses in e-mail attachments, all e-mail attachments are
banned from the DocBook lists.
Most relevant documents (SGML and XML files, stylesheets, documents,
etc.) are text files, so this does not affect the majority of posts
to the list since you can include the files' text in the body of your
message. If you need to refer to a binary file such as a PDF
document, you should put the file on a Web site or FTP site and
include the file's URL in your post.
Cross-Posting
Cross-posting between the DocBook mailing lists or to other lists is
often counter-productive unless everybody who replies to the thread
is on both lists. Cross-posts from non-subscribers continuing the
thread will bounce, and mailing list subscribers who are not also on
the other list will only see half of the thread, as will those on the
other list who are not also on the mailing list. Subscribers to both
lists will see two copies of the message, annoying them as well.
Digests
Digests--copies of several days mailing list messages, a 100K chunk,
sent as one email message--are available. To subscribe to the
docbook-digest, send a subscription request to
[EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe to the
docbook-apps-digest, send a subscription request to
[EMAIL PROTECTED] Remember to
unsubscribe to the undigested list, unless you want both.
Unsubscribing from Docbook List
To unsubscribe from the DocBook mailing list, send mail to <
[EMAIL PROTECTED]> with "unsubscribe" as the body
of your message.
Unsubscribing from Docbook-Apps List
To unsubscribe from the DocBook Applications mailing list, send mail
to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> with "unsubscribe" as
the body of your message.
Unsubscribing from the Docbook Digest
To unsubscribe from the DocBook digest list, send mail to <
[EMAIL PROTECTED]> with "unsubscribe" as
the body of your message.
Unsubscribing from the Docbook-Apps Digest
To unsubscribe from the DocBook Applications digest list, send mail
to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> with
"unsubscribe" as the body of your message.
If You Stop Getting Messages
If you stop receiving mailing list message, you may have been removed
because mail to you was bouncing. You are not being picked on, and
you can just rejoin the list.
Archive
The DocBook mailing list messages are archived at http://
lists.oasis-open.org/archives/docbook/.
The DocBook Applications mailing list messages are archived at http:/
/lists.oasis-open.org/archives/docbook-apps/.
Reporting Bugs in Software
Confirmed bugs in software should be reported to its author rather
than to the mailing list, but it is appropriate to discuss suspected
bugs and workarounds on the docbook-apps list only.
See also: the DocBook Project at SourceForge.
The recommended way to report bugs in software maintined in the
DocBook Project at SourceForge is with the project "tracker"
mechanism. Please be sure to attach a test case that demonstrates the
bug.
Further Information on DocBook
+---------------------------------+-----------------------------+
|http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook|The DocBook Home Page |
+---------------------------------+-----------------------------+
|http://www.docbook.org/ |DocBook: The Definitive Guide|
+---------------------------------+-----------------------------+
|http://nwalsh.com/docbook/dsssl |DocBook DSSSL Stylesheets |
+---------------------------------+-----------------------------+
|http://nwalsh.com/docbook/xsl |DocBook XSL Stylesheets |
+---------------------------------+-----------------------------+
Contact
If you have any questions or problems, please contact Norman Walsh, <
[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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[1] Credit where credit is due: I stole the vast majority of this
document from Tony Graham's excellent posting on the DSSSL and XSL
lists. Thanks, Tony!
