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LDP Weekly News
2001-02-22

About the LDP

The Linux Documentation Project is developing free, high quality documentation for the GNU/Linux operating system. This includes the creation of HOWTOs and Guides, and collaboration with other documentation groups.

If you've always wanted to help Linux reach Total World Domination(tm), but you're not a programmer, there's still something you can do. Help the LDP!

The LDP keeps a page of resources for authors at http://www.linuxdoc.org/authors/. Contributions are always welcome.

For more LDP Weekly News, go to http://www.linuxdoc.org/ldpwn/

New Documents

Updated Documents

Document Review Effort Underway

In an attempt to improve the overall quality of our documentation, we are initiating an effort to review the entire collection of over 350 documents. We're going to check each document for accuracy, use of language, formats and languages that are available, and various other metrics.

This is obviously a very big job, and it will require expertise in many different disciplines. If you've ever complained that Linux documentation isn't up to the same quality standards as commercial products, then this is your chance to change that situation. Write to David Merrill at david -AT- lupercalia.net for more information about how you can help.

Out Of Date Publication Warning

It has come to our attention recently that at least one publisher, who shall remain nameless, is currently selling out of date documentation from the LDP collection. In this instance, the HOWTOs in question are over two years old, and updated versions have been available on our site for some time, so we believe the company is acting irresponsibly and "burning" the unwitting purchasers of its book.

Our goal is to produce free documentation that can be freely redistributed both commercially and noncommercially. Unfortunately, this policy does have a downside. The downside is that we cannot prevent others from misusing the HOWTOs in this way. Our only recourse is to attempt to educate the GNU/Linux community. Caveat emptor!

We encourage you to buy printed volumes of LDP documents where available. Sometimes there is no substitute for a hard copy, and many HOWTOs have a long "shelf life" due to the nature of their subject matter. However, before you purchase hard copy, you are well advised to check our site and make sure you are getting an up to date version.

We maintain a list of LDP printed volumes at http://www.linuxdoc.org/links/p_books.html, which includes publications from:

We recommend you purchase printed LDP documents from these or other reputable publishers.