[db-wg] Proposal to re-structure the RIPE DB Software Documentation

["Wilfried Woeber, UniVie/ACOnet" Woeber@localhost]

Following up on discussions in eMail and personally with folks at the
NCC who are responsible for maintaining and developing the DB Software,

Jos and I would like to come forward with the following proposal, in order
to
- ease the burden and formal overhead of keeping the DB-SW Documentation
  up-to-date and in synch with the software development, to

- remove the formal RIPE Document status from ripe-401, ripe-252, "ripe-draft"
  and ripe-402, and to

- create a *new* "formal" RIPE Document which acts as an anchor for the (new
  or updated) set of documentation and as a cross reference to the relevant
  operational manuals. This new RIPE Document may also include procedure-
  related topics that might be of special interst regarding implementation
  of the software at the NCC.

The big advantage of this approach is to help with keeping the software
and the documentation in synch and up-to-date, even for non-fundamental
changes, instead of having formal and stable "baseline documents" and -
over time - a set of change notices. Or, worse, outdated documentation :-)


I hope this approach does not raise any fundamental concerns with the
community and I will put that topic onto the DB-WG's draft agenda for
RIPE55, for feedback and an update on where we are.

If you do see major problems or have objections, please let us know as
soon as possible on the mailing list!

Thanks,
Wilfried.