www/server/standards README.html README.webmast...

[Karl Berry]

CVSROOT:        /web/www
Module name:    www
Changes by:     Karl Berry <karl>       09/11/10 18:55:45

Modified files:
        server/standards: README.html README.webmastering.html 

Log message:
        continue merge of README.html and README.webmastering.html

CVSWeb URLs:
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/server/standards/README.html?cvsroot=www&r1=1.55&r2=1.56
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/server/standards/README.webmastering.html?cvsroot=www&r1=1.88&r2=1.89

Patches:
Index: README.html
===================================================================
RCS file: /web/www/www/server/standards/README.html,v
retrieving revision 1.55
retrieving revision 1.56
diff -u -b -r1.55 -r1.56
--- README.html 9 Nov 2009 17:11:49 -0000       1.55
+++ README.html 10 Nov 2009 18:55:39 -0000      1.56
@@ -27,8 +27,6 @@
   <a id="TOC00" href="README.html#SEC00">How to edit
   www.gnu.org/... ?</a>
 </li>
-<li><a id="TOC01" href="README.html#SEC01">Symbolic Links</a></li>
-<li><a id="TOC1" href="README.html#SEC1">Style guidelines</a></li>
 <li><a id="TOC2" href="README.html#SEC2">Webmasters</a></li>
 <li><a id="TOC3" href="README.html#SEC31">CVS and timestamps</a></li>
 <li><a id="TOC3" href="README.html#SEC3">.emacs and timestamps</a></li>
@@ -176,113 +174,6 @@
 the Savannah <a href="README.savannah.html">Administration Guide</a>.
 </p>
 
-<h4><a id="SEC01" href="README.html#TOC01">Symbolic Links</a></h4>
-
-<p>Since CVS is not able to handle symbolic links, a simple mechanism has
-been implemented on the machine hosting the www.gnu.org to allow
-webmasters to control symbolic links from the CVS tree.
-(Actual symbolic links are no longer created on <tt>www.gnu.org</tt>;
-mod_rewrite rules are used instead.  But we'll keep this discussion
-talking about symlinks since it is easier to understand that way.)</p>
-
-<p>
-By adding special files (named ".symlinks") into the CVS tree that are
-interpreted as specifications to build symbolic links.  The
-"symlinks" script can be run immediately after a "cvs update"
-to fix the symbolic links according to the specifications
-included in the ".symlinks" files.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The current directory is searched recursively for ".symlinks" files.
-Symbolic links that exist in directory where there is no
-.symlinks files will be ignored. Only directories containing a
-.symlinks file are handled.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Each symbolic link specification from the ".symlinks" file is honored,
-i.e. the symbolic link is created if it does not exist yet. If a
-symbolic link is found in the directory and is not listed in the
-".symlinks" file, it is removed.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Special handling to comply to the GNU webmaster standard
-is also applied.  If a subdirectory "foo/bar" has no
-"foo/bar/index.html" file and a file "foo/bar/bar.html"
-exists, then a symbolic link from "index.html" to
-"bar.html" is created even if it is not listed in the
-.symlinks file.  In short, an implicit
-<br />
-<pre>
-               cd foo/bar ; ln -s bar.html index.html
-</pre>
-is done.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Symbolic links that point outside the web site
-document root are ignored.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The ".symlinks" files obey the following format.
-</p>
-<p>
-Each line starting with a sharp sign ("#") is treated as a
-comment and ignored.
-</p>
-<p>
-Lines that do not contain two strings separated by white
-space are silently ignored.
-</p>
-<p>
-Here is an example of .symlinks file content:
-</p>
-<pre>
-               #
-               # Link foo.html to bar.html.
-               # Stricly equivalent to ln -s foo.html bar.html
-               #
-               foo.html bar.html
-</pre>
-
-<p>
-On each line the first file name must be a relative path
-name to an existing file. The file designated by this path
-must not be outside the document root. The second file
-name may not contain any slash, it is the name of the 
-symbolic link to be created.
-</p>
-
-<p>The actual command that used to implement this feature is
-web-symlinks, a Perl script, and <a
-href="http://cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/www/symlinks/?root=www";>it can
-be found in www's sources CVS</a>.  It is completely different
-from the <a href="http://ibiblio.org/pub/linux/utils/file/";>symlinks
-utility</a> for verifying a system's symbolic links.</p>
-
-
-<h4><a id="SEC1" href="README.html#TOC1">Style guidelines</a></h4>
-
-<p>
-Please read
-<a 
href="/server/fsf-html-style-sheet.html">http://www.gnu.org/server/fsf-html-style-sheet.html</a>
-before writing any HTML for www.gnu.org
-</p>
-
-<h4><a id="SEC2" href="README.html#TOC2">Webmasters</a></h4>
-
-<p>
-New webmasters should read 
-<a href="/server/standards/README.webmastering.html">Information
-on how to be a webmaster on www.gnu.org</a>
-and review the
-<a href="/server/standards/readme_index.html#readme">various
-Readme's</a>.
-</p>
-
 <h4>
   <a id="SEC31" href="README.html#TOC31">CVS and timestamps</a>
 </h4>
@@ -338,33 +229,6 @@
 (load-file www-emacs-file)))
 </pre>
 
-<h4><a id="SEC4" href="README.html#TOC4">umask</a></h4>
-
-<p>
-Your umask on www.gnu.org is set to 000 as default, please don't
-change this.
-</p>
-
-<h4>
-<a id="SEC5" href="README.html#TOC5">Using the <code>TAGS</code>
-file</a>
-</h4>
-
-<p>
-A file <code>TAGS</code> in directory <code>~www/html/</code> lists
-all the HTML files on this site.  This files allow one to search
-or query replace all of the HTML files.
-See <a href="/TAGS.readme.html">these instructions</a>
-for more information.
-</p>
-
-<h4><a id="SEC6" href="README.html#TOC6">Groups on files</a></h4>
-
-<p>
-All files in the html tree should have the group www, if a file does
-not (and is not writable by world), please ask someone to change it.
-</p>
-
 <h4>
   <a id="SEC7" href="README.html#TOC7">Update the What's New page!</a>
 </h4>
@@ -691,7 +555,7 @@
 <p>
 Updated:
 <!-- timestamp start -->
-$Date: 2009/11/09 17:11:49 $
+$Date: 2009/11/10 18:55:39 $
 <!-- timestamp end -->
 </p>
 </div>

Index: README.webmastering.html
===================================================================
RCS file: /web/www/www/server/standards/README.webmastering.html,v
retrieving revision 1.88
retrieving revision 1.89
diff -u -b -r1.88 -r1.89
--- README.webmastering.html    9 Nov 2009 17:11:49 -0000       1.88
+++ README.webmastering.html    10 Nov 2009 18:55:41 -0000      1.89
@@ -52,9 +52,9 @@
 effort.  Please join that too.</p>
 
 <p>There are <a href="readme_index.html">several guides</a> for
-webmasters, one of the most important ones is the <a
+webmasters.  Please read them.  One of the most important ones is the <a
 href="/server/fsf-html-style-sheet.html">FSF HTML Style Sheet
-Guidelines</a>.</p>
+Guidelines</a>.  Please read it.</p>
 
 <p>If you find a message to address@hidden that you don't know how
 to handle, it's probably best to ignore the message for a while.
@@ -81,15 +81,13 @@
        you take a task.</li>
 </ul>
 
-<p>
-Sometimes people send us pages about software that they want us to
-install.  Before doing so, you should make sure that the page doesn't make
-any references to non-free software and is consistent with our
-<a href="/server/fsf-html-style-sheet.html">HTML style sheet</a>.  If you
-find discrepancies, please politely point the maintainer to our policies and
-ask them to make the changes.  When making such a request, do so in private
-email, not on the webmasters list.
-</p>
+<p>Sometimes people send us pages about software that they want us to
+install.  Before doing so, you should make sure that the page doesn't
+make any references to non-free software and is consistent with our <a
+href="/server/fsf-html-style-sheet.html">HTML style sheet</a>.  If you
+find discrepancies, please politely point the maintainer to our policies
+and ask them to make the changes.  When making such a request, do so in
+private email, not on the webmasters list.</p>
 
 <p>
 Sometimes people send mails asking us to make links to different software
@@ -755,21 +753,18 @@
 
 <p>Since CVS is not able to handle symbolic links directly, a separate
 mechanism has been implemented to allow webmasters to maintain symbolic
-links, as follows.</p>
-
-<p>Special files, named .symlinks, can be committed to the CVS tree
-that are interpreted as specficiations to build symbolic links. The
-"symlinks" script can be run immediately after a "cvs update" to fix the
-symbolic links according to the specifications included in the .symlinks
-files.</p>
-
-<p>The current directory is searched recursively for .symlinks
-files. Symbolic links that exist in directory where there is no
-.symlinks files will be ignored. Only directories containing a .symlinks
-file are handled.</p>
+links, as follows.  (Actual symbolic links are no longer created on
+<tt>www.gnu.org</tt>; mod_rewrite rules are used instead.  But we'll
+keep this discussion talking about symlinks since it is easier to
+understand that way.)</p>
+
+<p>Special files, named .symlinks, can be committed to the CVS tree that
+are interpreted as specificiations to build symbolic links.  On commit,
+the current directory is searched recursively for .symlinks files.  Only
+directories containing a .symlinks file are handled.</p>
 
 <p>Each symbolic link specification from the .symlinks file is honored,
-i.e. the symbolic link is created if it does not exist yet. If a
+i.e., the symbolic link is created if it does not exist yet. If a
 symbolic link is found in the directory and is not listed in the
 .symlinks file, it is removed.</p>
 
@@ -787,6 +782,9 @@
 <p>Lines that do not contain two strings separated by white space are silently
 ignored.</p>
 
+<p>Symbolic links that point outside the web site document root are
+ignored.</p>
+
 <p>Here is an example of a .symlinks file:</p>
 
 <pre>
@@ -795,17 +793,19 @@
 t.html l.html
 </pre>
 
-<p>
-On each line the first file name must be a relative path name to an
+<p>On each line the first file name must be a relative path name to an
 existing file. The file designated by this path must not be outside the
 document root. The second file name may not contain any slash; it is the
-name of the symbolic link to be created in the present directory.
-</p>
+name of the symbolic link to be created in the present directory.</p>
 
-<p>The actual command used to implement this feature is named
-&lsquo;symlinks&rsquo;.  It runs from cron every half hour, so changes
-to .symlinks files (unlike the rest of the tree), are not instantly
-reflected in the live site.</p>
+<p>At one time, the command used to implement this feature was
+web-symlinks, a Perl script; <a
+href="http://cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/www/symlinks/?root=www";>it can
+be found in www's sources CVS</a>.  It is completely different from the
+<a href="http://ibiblio.org/pub/linux/utils/file/";>symlinks utility</a>
+for verifying a system's symbolic links.  These days, the .symlinks
+handling happens on <tt>www.gnu.org</tt> itself and webmasters do not
+have access to it.</p>
 
 
 <h4 id="pollinking">Linking Policies</h4>
@@ -1232,7 +1232,7 @@
 
 <p>Updated:
 <!-- timestamp start -->
-$Date: 2009/11/09 17:11:49 $
+$Date: 2009/11/10 18:55:41 $
 <!-- timestamp end -->
 </p>
 </div>