Hello,
the initial reason I'm posting this is, because I see some problems with the
current style of how content on freedesktop is presented.
(best read in markdown style)
## Problem
- Specs are presented on [1], but their discussions are stored
"randomly" in mail archives from 2003 to 2021.
- This leads to: Status of drafts is difficult to grasp
(you have to fish through the archives)
- Dead links are possible. E.g. the draft for XSettings [2]
is filled with dead links; Repo of "Free-Media-Player
Spec" [3] is unreachable.
- Apparently, organising the source structure of specs does
not follow a standard. While the `basedir` spec [4] works
with only a makefile, the `autostart` spec [5] requires
autogen.sh,configure.in,Makefile.am (wt* btw :D).
- Specs are very verbose due to their xml syntax
- Drafts for new specs are not easy to post and
handle (discuss & work on). The result: drafts are
hidden somewhere on the internet, where you can
only accidentally stumble across (see draft for
dark themes [6],[7])
[1] https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications/
[2] https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications/xsettings-spec/
[3] https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications/free-media-player-specs/
[4] https://cgit.freedesktop.org/xdg/xdg-specs/tree/basedir
[5] https://cgit.freedesktop.org/xdg/xdg-specs/tree/autostart
[6] https://blog.elementary.io/the-need-for-a-freedesktop-dark-style-preference/
[7] https://github.com/elementary/os/wiki/Dark-Style-Preference
## Suggestions
The following list presents abstract improvement
suggestions to solve the *Problems* stated above.
For concrete implementation ideas, see the next
chapter.
1. Provide a platform, where specs and their
discussions are grouped together in one place.
Like in a bulletin board, it should be easy
to see the latest discussions on a topic. Some-
thing like one forum per spec.
2. Provide a platform, where dead links are not
possible; No external links.
3. Define a standardized, low-hurdle way for writing
and organizing specs. E.g. Markdown, editable from
the browser looks promising to me, here.
4. Provide a platform that makes it easy to write,
discuss and develop drafts.
## Implementation Idea
Some customized solution might be best, but difficult
to implement.
Therefore my first idea would be something like gitlab
with a separate repository for each spec* (i.e. posting
a new draft would mean creating a new repo). The
README.MD would be the spec itself.
* I'm not too familiar with gitlab, but this might be
doable through their sub-repository function.
With this solution
- Specs and their discussions (issue tracker) are tightly
coupled.
- Specs could be easily written through gitlabs web interface
using Markdown.
- Specs could be easily worked on through merge requests.
## RFC
I'd like to hear what other people think of my proposal
to revise freedesktop.org.
Regards
Chris / DarkTrick