From the Canyon Edge: Improving Manpage Content

Friday, February 27, 2009

Improving Manpage Content

For those looking to contribute to Ubuntu (and in general, to Linux)
documentation, I'm pleased to announce a new vector.

I have previously posted about the Ubuntu Manpage Repository:

http://manpages.ubuntu.com/

Earlier this week, I rolled out a new feature, whereby each page has a tiny "bug" icon

near the top. Such as:

h ttp://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/jaunty/en/man7/ecryptfs.7.html

Clicking on the bug icon will bring you to a Launchpad page where you can report a bug against the package providing incorrect manpage content. Please file these bugs with:

Importance: Wishlist
Tags: manpage

For example:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ecryptfs-utils/+bug/329491

Note also that you can download the source of any given manpage directly from the manpage-repository webpage. See the link to ecryptfs.7.gz:

http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages.gz/jaunty/man7/ecryptfs.7.gz

For information about generating a patch, see:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuDevelopment/Patches

From the manpage source, you can correct the manpage documentation, generate a patch, and attach it to the Launchpad bug. If you do this, make sure you:

flag the attachment as a patch
mark the bug as 'In Progress'
assign the bug to yourself
subscribe the appropriate team for uploading
- ubuntu-main-sponsors
- ubuntu-universe-sponsors

And in the interest of being a good Open Source Citizen, please also forward your patch to the appropriate upstream project (and/or Debian)!

:-Dustin

2 comments:

AnonymousMarch 1, 2009 at 9:26 AM
Thanks for that, Dustin :) I think it's a welcome addition, however I believe when clicking on the ladybug the link should not be directly landing in Launchpad, but instead somewhere with instructions and information you give in your blog post.

Or maybe provide the hints you blgged about before linking there and pre-fill fields or else... not sure.
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Replies
Dustin KirklandMarch 1, 2009 at 9:48 AM
Magicfab-

Can you or anyone else give me some information about pre-filling fields in Launchpad via the URL? I would *love* to do this. Believe me, I tried. But I didn't get much further than just getting the link to land on filebug page against the correct package...

:-Dustin
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Add comment

Please do not use blog comments for support requests! Blog comments do not scale well to this effect.

Instead, please use Launchpad for Bugs and StackExchange for Questions.
* bugs.launchpad.net
* stackexchange.com

Thanks,
:-Dustin

About the Author

Dustin Kirkland (Twitter, LinkedIn) is an engineer at heart, with a penchant for reducing complexity and solving problems at the cross-sections of technology, business, and people.

With a degree in computer engineering from Texas A&M University (2001), his full-time career began as a software engineer at IBM in the Linux Technology Center working on the Linux kernel and security certifications, including a one-year stint as an dedicated engineer-in-residence at Red Hat in Boston (2005). Dustin was awarded the title Master Inventor at IBM, in recognition of his prolific patent work as an inventor and reviewer with IBM's intellectual property attorneys.

Dustin then first joined Canonical (2008) as an engineer (eventually, engineering manager), helping create the Ubuntu Server distribution and establishing Ubuntu as the overwhelming favorite Linux distribution in Amazon, Google, and Microsoft's cloud platforms, as well as authoring and maintaining dozens of new open source packages.

Dustin joined Gazzang (2011), a venture-backed start-up built around an open source project that he co-authored (eCryptFS), as Chief Technology Officer, and helped dozens of enterprise customers encrypt their data at rest and securely manage their keys. Gazzang was acquired by Cloudera (2014).

Having effectively monetized eCryptFS as an open source project at Gazzang, Dustin returned to Canonical (2013) as the VP of Product for Ubuntu and spent the next several years launching a portfolio of products and services (Ubuntu Advantage, Extended Security Maintenance, Canonical Livepatch, MAAS, OpenStack, Kubernetes) that continues to deliver considerable annual recurring revenue. With Canonical based in London, an 800+ work-from-home employee roster and customers spread across 40+ countries, Dustin traveled the world over, connecting with clients and colleagues steeped in rich cultural experiences.

Google Cloud (2018) recruited Dustin from Canonical to product manage Google's entrance into on-premises data centers with its GKE On-Prem (now, Anthos) offering, with a specific focus on the underlying operating system, hypervisor, and container security. This work afforded Dustin a view deep into the back end data center of many financial services companies, where he still sees tremendous opportunities for improvements in security, efficiencies, cost-reduction, and disruptive new technology adoption.

Seeking a growth-mode opportunity in the fintech sector, Dustin joined Apex Clearing (now, Apex Fintech Solutions) as the Chief Product Officer (2019), where he led several organizations including product management, field engineering, data science, and business partnerships. He drastically revamped Apex's product portfolio and product management processes, retooling away from a legacy "clearing house and custodian", and into a "software-as-a-service fintech" offering instant brokerage account opening, real-time fractional stock trading, a secure closed-network crypto solution, and led the acquisition and integration of Silver's tax and cost basis solution.

Drawn back into a large cap, Dustin joined Goldman Sachs (2021) as a Managing Director and Head of Platform Product Management, within the Consumer banking division, which included Marcus, and the Apple and GM credit cards. He built a cross-functional product management community and established numerous documented product management best practices, processes, and anti-patterns.

Dustin lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife Kim and their wonderful two daughters.

Friday, February 27, 2009

Improving Manpage Content

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