Open Writing! Collaborative Authoring for CloudStack Documentation by Jessica Tomechak

2. November 2012
Open Writing !
For Apache CloudStack
(Incubating)

3. We’ll Cover:
Where We Are
 Our doc website
 Our modular doc repo
 Community participation
How We Do That
 Wiki for doc process docs
 Docbook + Publican for authoring
 Reviewboard for reviews
 Jira for doc bugs
 Jenkins for continuous doc builds
 IRC and lists for discussions
 Transifex for localization
How We Got Here
 Joining Apache
 From unstructured to modular source
 Why Publican? And other design decisions
How You Can Do That
 Becoming a doc contributor

4. Where We Are:
Basically Where We Are
• Doc website:
incubator.apache.org/cloudstack/docs/
Old doc website: docs.cloudstack.org (soon to redirect)
• Doc source:
git-wip-us.apache.org/repos/asf/incubator-cloudstack.git
• Doc team:
cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/CLOUDSTACK/Documentation+Team
• Mailing list:
cloudstack-dev@incubator.apache.org

5. Where We Are:
Apache CloudStack Doc Website

6. Where We Are:
Pre-Apache CloudStack Doc Website

7. Where We Are:
Doc Source Code Repo

8. How We Got Here:
CloudStack is Donated to Apache
• In April 2012, Citrix Systems Inc. donated CloudStack code and
documentation to the Apache Software Foundation, and CloudStack entered
the Apache incubation process, the first step towards becoming a full-fledged
Apache project
• CloudStack already had lots of published technical documentation, mostly as
downloadable PDFs with source in Microsoft Word
• Citrix tech pubs team aimed to donate the documentation in a way that would
enable open-source contribution and align with open-source practices

9. How We Got Here:
From Unstructured to Modular Source
• Docbook XML: community preferred this 100%. Familiar to most members. Discussion brief!
• How to get from MS Word to Docbook XML? Given <400 pages of docs: by cut and paste.
• Advantages of non-automation:
– Leave cruft behind, update old sections, copyedit. Add only good stuff to your repo
– Improve doc design and modularity along the way
– Always have a buildable doc set: skip the intermediate stage of semi-converted output
that awaits tweaking
• Some tools we considered and rejected:
– ooo2sdbk, aka Bellot's Convertisseur: Seems to require a lot of customization; and is in French
– pcwTextExportr: Tried, didn’t work
– OpenOffice "save as Docbook XML" feature, requires you to download XSLT & find instructions for XML filter:
Download links = broken
– YAWC: “no longer provide support” = likely converts to an outdated Docbook format
– Hire a format conversion service
– Automate using OOo SDK

10. How We Got Here:
Setting Up the Doc Repo
• git
• No decision to make here, it’s the same as used for the project’s code
• Discussion was required: standalone doc repo, or directory within code repo?
• Project community decided to keep docs and code in one repo. Advantages cited:
– Easier to find the doc source
– More likely to remember to check in docs with code

11. How We Do That:
Documentation Process Docs
• We provide how-to’s and other process docs for documentation contributors at:
cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/CLOUDSTACK/Documentation+Team

12. How We Do That:
Modular Docbook XML Source Files
• We make each heading a separate XML file; about one “page” per file
• All files are in one directory; no subdirectories dividing the files into “books”
• 500 files total as of November 2012
Advantages of Modular Docbook Files:
• Reuse
• Small files = easier to distribute work
• Easier to pass review with smaller commits
• Dynamically modify text with conditionals and variables
• Source control

13. How We Do That:
Modular Docbook XML Source Files
Example file for a single section: whatis.xml
(Not shown: standard XML header, entity file declaration, and Apache license)
<section id="whatis">
<title>What Is &PRODUCT;?</title>
<para>&PRODUCT; is an open source software platform that pools computing resources to build public, private, and
hybrid Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) clouds. &PRODUCT; manages the network, storage, and compute nodes that make
up a cloud infrastructure. Use &PRODUCT; to deploy, manage, and configure cloud computing environments.</para>
<para>Typical users are service providers and enterprises. With &PRODUCT;, you can:</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>Set up an on-demand, elastic cloud computing service. Service providers can sell self service
virtual machine instances, storage volumes, and networking configurations over the Internet.</para></listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Set up an on-premise private cloud for use by employees. Rather than managing virtual machines in
the same way as physical machines, with &PRODUCT; an enterprise can offer self-service virtual machines to users
without involving IT departments.</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject>
<imagedata fileref="./images/1000-foot-view.png" />
</imageobject>
<textobject><phrase>1000-foot-view.png: Overview of &PRODUCT;</phrase></textobject>
</mediaobject>
</section>

14. How We Do That:
Modular Docbook XML Source Files
Example file: whatis.xml inside a larger section, aka chapter
(Not shown: standard XML header, entity file declaration, and Apache license)
<chapter id="concepts">
<title>Concepts</title>
<xi:include href="whatis.xml" xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" />
<xi:include href="feature-overview.xml" xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" />
<xi:include href="deployment-arch-overview.xml xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" />
...
</chapter>

15. How We Do That:
Modular Docbook XML Source Files
Example of reuse: concepts.xml included in two book files
Admin_Guide.xml:
<book>
<bookinfo id="cloudstack_admin">
<title>&PRODUCT; Administrator's Guide</title>
...
<xi:include href="concepts.xml" xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" />
<xi:include href="accounts.xml" xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" />
...
</book>
Installation_Guide.xml:
<book>
<bookinfo id="book-installation">
<title>&PRODUCT; Installation Guide</title>
...
<xi:include href="concepts.xml" xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" />
<xi:include href="installation.xml" xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" />
...
</book>

16. How We Do That:
Publican
What is Publican?
• An open-source tool hosted by Fedora: fedorahosted.org/publican/
• Easy to set up
• Applies brands to “skin" content
• Can use conditional tags
• Generates a variety of output formats, and we use quite a few of them
• Generates .po files for translators
• User guide:
jfearn.fedorapeople.org/en-US/Publican/2.7/html/Users_Guide/index.html

17. How We Do That:
Publican
How does it work?
• A required set of files in a directory structure
• Config file
• Command line
• Output
• Debugging
• jfearn.fedorapeople.org/en-US/Publican/2.7/html/Users_Guide/index.html

18. How We Do That:
Publican
Example Publican directories
cloudstack/docs
adminguide.cfg (Configuration file for building Admin_Guide.xml)
installation.cfg (Configuration file for building Installation_Guide.xml)
README.txt
/en-US (Input files in Docbook)
about-hosts.xml
accounts.xml
Admin_Guide.xml
concepts.xml
Installation_Guide.xml
whatis.xml
...
/tmp (Output files)
/en-US
/html
/pdf

19. How We Do That:
Publican
Install Publican on Ubuntu
> sudo apt-get update
> sudo apt-get install fop publican

20. How We Do That:
Publican
Example config file
xml_lang: en-US
type: Book
docname: Installation_Guide
brand: cloudstack
chunk_first: 1
chunk_section_depth: 1
condition: install
Output type. Publican can also do articles, etc.
Publican looks for an XML file with this name
and uses that as the main book file
The product logo, CSS styles, copyright text,
nav button images, etc. are set in the brand
Chunk settings control when Publican starts a
new HTML output file
Conditional text marked with any other label
will be excluded from the output

21. How We Do That:
Publican
Example command line and output
> Publican build --langs en-US --formats html,pdf --config installation.cfg
Setting up en-US
Processing file tmp/en-US/xml_tmp/about-hosts.xml -> tmp/en-US/xml/about-hosts.xml
...
*WARNING: Questionable tag found: inlinegraphic
This tag breaks section 508 accessibility standards and makes translation extremely
difficult.
...
Processing file tmp/en-US/xml_tmp/zone-add.xml -> tmp/en-US/xml/zone-add.xml
Beginning work on en-US
Starting html
Writing whatis.html for section(whatis)
...
Writing index.html for book
Finished html

22. How We Do That:
Publican
Example: Debugging an error
Publican gives useful debugging output. For example, if you try to include whatis.xml twice in the same book:
Installation_Guide.xml:6: validity error : ID whatis already defined
The ID “whatis” is defined in the <section> tag at the top of the file whatis.xml:
<section id="whatis">
Each ID must be unique, so Publican won’t build this book. If you look at Installation_Guide.xml, after some
investigation you will see how whatis.xml is included twice: once on its own, and once inside concepts.xml.
<book>
<bookinfo id="book-installation">
<title>&PRODUCT; Installation Guide</title>
...
<xi:include href="whatis.xml" xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" />
<xi:include href="concepts.xml" xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" />
...

23. How We Do That:
Documentation Reviews

24. How We Do That:
Jira for Doc Bugs
cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/CLOUDSTACK/How+to+File+a+Documentation+Bug

25. How We Do That:
Jenkins for Continuous Doc Builds
• jenkins.cloudstack.org
• Trigger a build whenever code changes or at another configurable interval
Advantages:
• Continuously test the doc build, find errors quickly
• Continuously update the published docs
• Receive notifications

26. How We Do That:
Jenkins for Continuous Doc Builds

27. How We Do That:
Jenkins for Continuous Doc Builds

28. How We Do That/How You Can Do It Too:
Open-source Documentation Community
• Publicizing the opportunity to contribute to documentation
• Communication channels
– Mailing lists:
cloudstack-dev@incubator.apache.org
cloudstack-users@incubator.apache.org
– IRC chat: #cloudstack on irc.freenode.net
– Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/cloudstack/
• Participating in discussions in a group known for frank opinions stated boldly

29. How You Can Do That:
Documentation Contributor’s How-To
• How-tos for contributors, status, plans, and other notes are all written down here:
cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/CLOUDSTACK/CloudStack+Documentation+Contributors+Overview
• Documentation needs and proposals are discussed on cloudstack-dev@incubator.apache.org
• Volunteer to write something by assigning a bug to yourself at
issues.apache.org/jira/browse/CLOUDSTACK
• Documentation reviews through Apache Review Board: reviews.apache.org/
– Submit new content as patches
– Get review comments and fix them, until a reviewer clicks Ship It!
– Apply the patch and update the review status to Submitted
• Style guide, required signoffs, or other formal process: Aside from the standard Apache CLA,
this is not in place yet, if ever. Just write!
• Another way to contribute: File doc bugs! Here’s how:
cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/CLOUDSTACK/How+to+File+a+Documentation+Bug

30. How You Can Do That:
Documentation Sprints
• Publicized on the mailing list
• Can be in-person gathering, IRC session, or distributed network of participants
• Limited time period to ensure focus
• Signup sheets and instructions for participants are in the project wiki at
cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/CLOUDSTACK/Doc+Sprints
• Any contributor can start a Sprint!

31. Join the community!
• Why?
ᵒ Learn the coolest technologies shaping the next decade
ᵒ Be part of a passionate community working at ground-breaking speed
ᵒ Solve cool real-world problems
ᵒ For the love of open source
ᵒ If you want to rise and shine
• Still don’t believe us – Let the numbers speak
ᵒ 30k active community members in 8 months, ~100 IRC users
ᵒ Exponentially growing dev/user community discussions
ᵒ Apache is the industry standard for 10+ years in OSS foundations, 100+ projects,
800 developers
ᵒ Well known projects: Apache webserver, Tomcat, Hadoop, Cassandra

32. Apache CloudStack Status
• In Incubation since April 2012
• PPMC and Mentors set up in April
• Code migrated to Apache git
• Migration underway from cloudstack.org:
– Website, now incubator.apache.org/cloudstack/
– Jira (bugs), now issues.apache.org/jira/browse/CLOUDSTACK
– Wiki (internal docs), now cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/CLOUDSTACK/
• New committers, partners, developers every week
• Apache CloudStack 4.0: First ASF community release, Nov 2012
• Active development community

33. More Resources
incubator.apache.org/cloudstack/
http://www.youtube.com/user/cloudstack

34. November 2012
Thank You