[xml/sgml] Helping the XML/SGML group

[Mark Johnson]

Hi Alejandro,

Yes, as the maintainer of the docbook-xsl (and other docbook-*) package, 
I confess to falling a bit behind. Your offer to help is much appreciated.

I haven't yet upgraded docbook-xsl to version 1.69.1, though I seem to 
recall a bug report against this version - which would mean that someone 
did an nmu. (I've had the flu for the last week, so I'm still playing 
catch-up.)

I can't easily check right now b/c packages.debian.org is down, but if 
we now need to split docbook-xsl and docbook-xsl-doc into two distinct 
packages, as that's how they're distributed upstream.

Gimme a few days and hopefully  we can get you on board to help maintain 
some of these packages, if you're interested.

FWIW, there are a number of docbook-* packages that seriously need to be 
upgraded (e.g. docbook-simple, docbook-mathml, ....), but that require 
significant testing, as well as some xml catalog judo that'll require 
some familiarity with xml catalogs. These things need to happen asap, 
and we could use some help.

Gimme a few days to catch up on the state of things. If you're serious 
about getting involved, it'd be a good idea for you to get comfortable 
with the XML Catalogs Standard, as well as the Debian implementation of 
XML catalogs[2].

Thanks!

Mark

[1] 
http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/download.php/14809/xml-catalogs.html

[2] http://debian-xml-sgml.alioth.debian.org/xml-policy/



Alejandro Exojo wrote:
> Hi.
> 
> I noticed a great lack of activity in the maintainership of some docbook/xml 
> debian packages.
> 
> The repositories are pretty steady, and the mailinglists contain more or 
> less nothing but spam in the recent months. I'm really surprised by this, and 
> more, I want to help.
> 
> I don't have any experience with XML catalogs, but I know some XML, and I know 
> the basics of debian packaging (I'm not a DD, but I maintain two packages), 
> and I would like to learn more.
> 
> I'm interested in mainly in prepare a package with the latest version of 
> docbook-xsl, but I can focus in whatever you think it's more important.
> 
> Best regards.
> 


-- 
___________________________________________________________
Mark Johnson     <mrj at debian.org>
Debian XML/SGML: <http://debian-xml-sgml.alioth.debian.org>
Home Page:       <http://linux.duke.edu/~mark/>
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