FWD: XML doc/howto?

[Roger Dingledine <arma@mit.edu>]

Figured I'd keep people informed of ideas that I'm spouting. :)
--Roger

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From: Roger Dingledine <arma@mit.edu>
To: freehive-list@lists.styx.net
Subject: [Freehive-list] XML doc/howto?
Date: Sat, 05 Dec 1998 18:22:42 EST

I've finally caught up reading this list, and I'd like to say that you
guys are coming up with some really excellent ideas, and I hope even a
tenth of what you're discussing gets implemented. I wish I had more time
to help out.

With that said, I'm going to throw out yet another project idea, and then
run away claiming both that I don't have time to work on it and that I'm
not the right person to work on it: I think the world needs a good doc on
using XML in Linux (or at least free software) projects. In the vast
majority of the information-oriented projects I've seen lately, people
discuss things for a while, somebody says "Hey, why don't we just use XML?
It's a standard, and it's actually pretty good too." A discussion generally
follows wherein people ask how it really works, and then proceed to spout a
lot of misinformation. There are too few people with enough XML clue right
now.

There are a great many faq's out there already, but I haven't found an
obvious starting point or a simple description of how to just 'make it
happen'. Perhaps the solution to this would come in the form of a howto,
which would walk somebody through integrating xml into their current
project, from designing the DTD or picking somebody else's, to making hooks
work with apache/etc, to getting and configuring a parser that does the
right thing. Also useful would be a "current status of the free software
that does cool XML stuff for you, what it runs on, and how to choose what
you need" section.

There are many docs that address some of these points already:
http://www.xml.com/axml/testaxml.htm
http://www.ntlug.org/~kclark/roadmap/index.html
http://www.oasis-open.org/cover/xml.html
http://www.ucc.ie/xml/
http://www.cs.caltech.edu/~adam/local/xml.html

Maybe the solution isn't to form yet another one, but to try to integrate
the current ones into a simpler and more thorough (heh) description. Maybe
the solution is simply to find the simple ones and advertise them more
thoroughly. (Turn one of them into an XML Minihowto for the LDP?) Maybe
somebody has already asked and answered this question elsewhere (in which
case more people should be told).

Some examples of projects I've been working with/watching that have recently
gone through or are currently going through the "XML confusion syndrome":

This one (with the xml vs rdbms discussion)
The Yoga (Gnu Notes) project: http://samba.anu.edu.au/gnuotes/
Linux News Project: http://linuxunited.org/projects/news/
Seul-edu project: http://www.seul.org/edu/
Linux Knowledge Base Project: http://linuxkb.seul.org/

Anyway, for a project whose goal is to organize information and present
it well (HiveMind, that is), this might be a good concrete first step. :) It
would also be one from which the Linux community could benefit directly
right now -- might be good for increasing your base of workers and/or
morale.

Thanks for your time,
--Roger


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