Talk:Scribus on Linux and *NIX

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reading this section i had the feeling that there are very broad informations and that it's really trying to teach the user how the world of linux works.

what i was asking myself is: - who is going to read this page? - does this page give the (future) user to for using scribus (on linux)? - does this give a good answer for his needs?

Contents

who is going to read that page?

  • those who are curious how to install scribus on linux
  • those who are at the first arms with linux and who doesn't really know yet how to use a package manager
  • those who want to install scribus from sources and have never read a INSTALL file
  • those who want to install scribus from sources and just want to check if it's just a configure && make && make install

the current page contains most of the informations search by those four type of users, but i don't feel that this information is presented in a comfortable way.

goal of the document

i have the feeling that this article has been written, in order to teach the user how to "correctly" use linux to install a programm.

i agree that it's a good idea and an important task, tough i'm not sure that this is the right context for it. i prefere having it explained in the mailing list or in irc, being supported by a page in the wiki.

yes, i have to admit, that i generally hate books which have long chapters about installing the software and, then, fall short in describing the most peculiar facts about the software. yes, i am a bit allergic to it!

now: which goals would i like to set for this document?

  • get the user to install as fast as possible her copy of scribus
  • make the user aware of the problems between her distribution and scribus and let her solve them
  • help the user choose the right distribution for her way of using scribus
  • give the user the impression, that linux *is* the best environment to use and install scribus!

structure of the document

personally, i would propose to create three sections

how to install scribus in your distribution

also, i think that for the first two types of users, we should just write:

  • use your package manager (one time for each main stream distribution)
  • one screenshot with the package manager and scribus
  • a link to the two sections with our repositories if they want be up to date

i don't think, it's necessary to explain how to install for other distribution. on the other side it could be interensting to have a table with the current version supported by each distribution (it could just be a list of all distributions with a commentary how well up to date they are).

we could add short notices about known issues with specific distributions (and how to solve them?):

  • 1.3.4 in fedora
  • localised version in ubuntu

using the scribus own repositories

  • explain why to use them
  • explain which distributions are available
  • explain how to add them (graphically for the mainstream distribution; files and changes for all)

installing from sources

  • what is compilation (shorter than it's now... the rest could be in the wiki?)
  • compile the stable version
  • compile the development version
  • compile the svn version


finally, i think that the whole install chapter should be as short as possible!

comments

gregory pitmann

Some of the impetus comes from the many questions we see on Scribus list about these issues. Installing is sometimes more tricky than it seems. Many users may have just switched distros, and therefore, not completely familiar with them yet.

On Fedora 8, yum install scribus gets you version 1.3.4, an unfortunate choice by Fedora. As users become more familiar with Scribus, it's natural for them to get interested in more advanced versions.

As I read your expanded notes, I have a hard time seeing how your suggestions differ from what is there. I think the information on installing for various distros might be visually compressed, but it's hard to delete this.

The very idea of compiling software, for many, is daunting indeed. Yet, when they get to the point that it is desirable enough that users consider actually doing it, they need a lot of support, and need what the experienced will see as too much information. At the moment I can't see how to cut back on the length of this chapter and satisfy what you say is needed here.

a.l.e

i wrote all that text, beacause i'd like a different approach :-) let's try to summarize some differences:

  • no mention of the commandline applications but few screenshots of gui apps
  • no lengthy list of the apt-get/yum applications for every distribution but a tabble with the status and philosophy of their scribus inclusion
  • first explain how to install scribus in the simplest way, only in a second chapter introduce scribus own repositories
  • no explanation on what source and compiled code are. just a list of commands (and, if possible, a list of needed -dev packages)
  • much shorter section on the development versions.

i want don't say that those information aren't useful or are bad information. but i feel that they should be moved to the wiki and should not be part of the standard documentation for scribus.

finally, in my whishes, the whole chapter should be much shorter!

i hope i was a bit clearer now... english is really not my prefered language and installing/compilation is a difficult matter!

thanks for your precious feedback!

p.s.: i extended my comments above, just because they weren't finished yet...

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