Re: DOCBOOK: How are RFEs handled?

[Michael Smith <smith@xml-doc.org>]

Hi Jeff,

You wrote:

> Hello,
> 
> I have submitted an RFE (655526:  funcprototype enhancement) in 
> SourceForge but see no action, either pro or con on it. I am working 
> with the DocBook on an open source project's documentation effort and 
> need some enhancement to the existing DocBook to account for function 
> prototypes used in the OpenBeOS API.
> 
> How are RFEs handled? Is there something I need to do? I am far from an 
> XML expert but tried to be as thorough as I could.
> 
> I know everyone is busy and don't want to sound pushy but I would like 
> to tell my team what to expect of the process. There is no way to handle 
> my current situation, as I see it, at this time.

The DocBook Technical Committee has a teleconference once a month to
discuss open RFEs. Your RFE was submitted the after last month's
meeting, so it's on the agenda for the next meeting, which is tomorrow.

But the fact that it's on the agenda isn't a guarantee that it will be
resolved or even discussed at all during the call. The teleconference is
only 90 minutes long, and is never enough time to have discussion about
every open RFE listed in the agenda. I think it's likely that your RFE
will be discussed tomorrow, but there's no guarantee.

Even for RFEs that do get discussed during the meeting, the resolution
is often that we need to go back to the submittor for more information or
clarification about the request and/or send a message out to the DocBook
user community (via the docbook mailing list) to find out if others
have the same need discussed in the RFE, and if they think the proposed
change to meet that need is the best way to handle it or not.

One thing I noticed about your RFE that could slow the discussion down
is that you seem to be proposing a brand new 'keyword' element. But
DocBook already has a keyword element -- one that has a very different
purpose than the one you're proposing. So you need to update your RFE
with a different proposed name for the element.

  --Mike