Jonathan makes a lot of sense.

Art Hunkins

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jonathan Murphy" 
To: "Developer discussions" 
Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2007 8:40 AM
Subject: Re: [Cs-dev] alsa & dmix on OLPC -- help needed.


>
> Hi Steven,
>
> Thanks for your patience and forbearance.
>
> > BTW: Should I write something about this in the manual?
>
> I've been thinking about this kind of thing a lot lately. When I first
> started to use Csound, sometime late 2005, there was little online
> information regarding installation of Csound5 on Linux. There was a
> great article by Dave Phillips, but the focus was primarily on new
> features, rather than on how to get things working. If nothing else, I'm
> stubborn, so I googled for a week or so and managed to compile from
> CVS, and promptly wrote a brief howto on the Csound5 forums page. For
> a while, it was quite popular, and people wrote in regarding
> problems/complications. I was watching the post, and so was Istvan, so
> by and large readers got informed (Istvan) and simple (self)
> explanations. The major problem was that it was geared towards
> then current versions of software such as alsa, jack, python,
> fluidsynth, and also particular distributions (at the time I was using
> Ubuntu, Istvan was using Planet CCRMA). Eventually it disappeared
> (which is good). The thing is, although I no longer use Ubuntu, nor
> (for that matter) any of the mainstream Linux distributions, I still
> use csound5 CVS, and install it in much the same manner described, and
> the bare bones of the installation method still apply. The core of
> that experience could have been retained, and would still prove useful
> to others.
>
> It seems to me that the Canonical Csound Reference Manual should deal
> primarily with the aspects of Csound that change relatively rarely. It
> should be as Canonical as possible. Installation and configuration
> instructions for the various platforms will change rapidly, and are
> only ever going to be a major PITA for developers in general and
> Andres in particular, if they are to be constantly updated in the
> manual. Every couple of days someone is going to write to the user
> list saying "I followed the instructions to the letter but blah isn't
> working." The rate of change of the manual is not such that it can
> keep pace with the change in development of every strand of every
> platform that Csound can be compiled upon, and it should not be
> expected to be able to do so.
>
> On the other hand, the wiki can, and is in fact specifically designed
> to be able to do this sort of thing. If someone finds that information
> is outdated, they can simply change it, or add a note to the effect
> that "I tried this but foobar.deb is no longer available. I had to do
> this to get things working." If a developer or experienced Csounder
> was the original author of the page in question, this would improve
> things hundredfold. They could subscribe to the page (all you need to
> do is click on a button), then when any changes to the page are made,
> they will be notified via email, and they can check the veracity of
> the information, add notes as required and so on, all this without the
> requirement of any party having CVS write access. The wiki has the
> potential to harness all of the energy of all of the people who use
> Csound, not just the developers, who (I imagine) are already
> overextended by their jobs, musical output, relationships and so
> forth. If it reaches a certain critical mass, then it will become
> almost self-maintaining. As an example of this possibility, although
> not a Csound developer, nor associated with the OLPC project, I have
> just added a link to the Csound page on the OLPC Wiki on the
> CsoundWiki.
>
>
http://tobiah.org/csoundwiki/ExternalLinks#head-b232301da10556a7340c794705628f4139a59aec
>
> Anyone with an interest in these projects could have done so, provided
> that they have internet access and a browser. On the other hand, if
> someone had wanted to add similar information to the manual (from the
> above it should be apparent that I don't think it would necessarily be
> a good idea), they would have either had to have had CVS write access,
> or written persuasively to one of the lists. The wiki is a fluid
> informatic zone, with enormous potential. The manual is by comparison
> static, but this is precisely the task of a manual, except when new
> circumstances arise, or it is generally recognised that an
> improvement be made.
>
> When Mike posted to the user list saying that he was going to write up
> his experiences and suggestions regarding compiling Csound on Ubuntu,
> and add them to the manual, my feelings were mixed, as follows:
>
> 1. Fantastic. I admire, respect, and seek to emulate the dedication
>    of (all) developers, (but) particularly when they take the time to
>    provide documentation for newcomers.
>
> 2. That's exactly what I did a year and a half ago, and I found that
>    it needed to be updated every couple of weeks, as the distribution
>    packages changed. I tried to do this, but found that other tasks
>    were more pressing, and that I was unable to do so.
>
> 3. I really hope that he puts it up on the wiki instead.
>
> The wiki really needs the support of Csound developers. The wiki
> format is particularly good for some kinds of information, such as
> that which you have provided regarding dmix. I know that you will do
> as you think best, and that is one of the reasons that you have my
> utmost respect. The foregoing is merely my opinion regarding desirable
> methods for propagating differing types of information.
>
> Sincerely,
> Jonathan.
>
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