[yocto] <rant>the current yocto FAQ is pretty much valueless</rant>

[Koen Kooi]

Op 26 jun. 2012, om 11:09 heeft Robert P. J. Day het volgende geschreven:

> 
>  i mentioned this to scott rifenbark privately a few days ago, but i
> figured i might as well antagonize a few people on the list by saying
> it publicly -- the yocto FAQ as it stands is pretty much worthless.
> 
>  https://wiki.yoctoproject.org/wiki/FAQ
> 
>  by way of explanation, i'll reproduce the first part of the superb
> foreword in the subversion red book:
> 
> ===== start =====
> 
> A bad Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) sheet is one that is composed
> not of the questions people actually ask, but of the questions the
> FAQ's author wishes people would ask. Perhaps you've seen the type
> before:
> 
> Q: How can I use Glorbosoft XYZ to maximize team productivity?
> 
> A: Many of our customers want to know how they can maximize
> productivity through our patented office groupware innovations. The
> answer is simple. First, click on the File menu, scroll down to
> Increase Productivity, then…
> 
> The problem with such FAQs is that they are not, in a literal sense,
> FAQs at all. No one ever called the tech support line and asked, “How
> can we maximize productivity?” Rather, people asked highly specific
> questions, such as “How can we change the calendaring system to send
> reminders two days in advance instead of one?” and so on. But it's a
> lot easier to make up imaginary Frequently Asked Questions than it is
> to discover the real ones.
> 
> ===== end =====
> 
>  in other words, a *good* FAQ might be:
> 
> "how can i use the yocto prebuilt toolchains to save build time?"
> 
>  a *bad* FAQ would be:
> 
> "Does the Yocto Project have a special governance model, or is it
> managed as an open source project?"
> 
>  the kicker is that that last question is, in fact, in the yocto FAQ,
> along with a number of other questions that have never been asked by
> anyone in the history of the planet.  i chat about yocto with people
> on a regular basis, and i can assure you, not a single one of them has
> ever asked, "hey, rob, can you explain yocto's governance model?"
> 
>  no, what they ask is, "hey, rob, how can i add a single package to
> an existing target?"  a question that, i should point out, is not
> answered definitively in the existing docs *anywhere*.

I'm afraid you have fallen into the yocto trap of confusing the umbrella project with the buildsystem project under that umbrella. There's an easy way to find out, everytime you hear someone state 'yocto' you just ask:

	 'Do you mean "yocto" or do you mean "poky"?'. 

The reaction to that can go a few ways and the follow up actions I recommend:

1) People don't get the question and/or don't know the difference between 'yocto' and 'poky'. Pretend you have a nosebleed and walk away, fast
2) People say "Right, I meant the buildsystem, not the umbrella project" or "No, I really meant 'yocto' as the umbrella project". Continue the conversation.
3) People say "Koen put you up to this, didn't he?". You're most likely talking to Dave or Saul, buy them lunch :)

regards,

Koen