On 11/21/22 2:58 PM, Jonathan Corbet wrote:

Carlos Bilbao [off-list ref] writes:

quoted

This cover letter is also a call for anyone interested in adding new, more
up to date references to kernel-docs.rst. The document has been abandoned
for a while but its original goal is still important.

FWIW, I made an attempt to update this document a few years back and
concluded that it was pretty much hopeless.  What is there is
ancient...what do you replace it with?  There is a vast amount of
content out there that will go obsolete just as quickly.

I'm certainly not going to stand in the way of anybody who wants to
update and maintain this document, though; I'd love to be proven wrong
on its value.

I gather there's two issues with this document:

1. The resources listed become obsolete, or dangerously outdated.

2. It requires periodic updates. Relying on some maintainer to keep updates
of new kernel material is a bad long-term strategy.

so perhaps we could try the following...

Regarding (1), old resources should be removed. We could set the retirement
age of a resource to 3 years, except for foundational books or active
websites. As maintainer, I would have to group old stuff once or twice per 
year, and send a patch to get them removed. We could use this patch set to
perform a first purge.

For (2), I think that a good way to make this document stay relevant is by
making it appealing to content creators. So _they_ want to be added here,
and ask us for it.

For example, Lorenzo Stoakes (CCed) is writing a book on the Linux memory
management subsystem. If Lorenzo reaches out to me when he is finished,
I could add his work to this document, and also send a note informing
subscribers of linux-docs about this new resource. I imagine that would be
appealing to Lorenzo.

So basically, if content creators reach out, they get free publicity and
a spot in kernel-docs.rst. I imagine there's only a few publishers of
books related to the Linux kernel, and that they might be interested.

As maintainer I would still have to update the document. But the hope is
that, with time, this document is better known and book writers reach out.

I don't know if that would have any success. Worst-case scenario, we end up
with an equally outdated list of resources in a few years. But maybe it's
worth a try?

Cheers,
Carlos

quoted

By the way, Jon, I read in kernel-docs.rst, regarding LWN.net:

":Description: The title says it all. There's a fixed kernel section
  summarizing developers' work, bug fixes, new features and versions
  produced during the week. Published every Thursday."

but I don't think LWN.net is published every Thursday anymore. Let me know
if you want a third patch updating this as well.

Well, we do still put out an edition every Thursday, so it's not
entirely wrong...

Thanks,

jon