Documentation is out of date

[rvalle]

The documentation website, linking to this repository is completely out of date.

I believe the documentation belongs to previous armbian generation.

I appreciate that Armbian is opensource, and it is up to the community to update the documentaiton, but it would be a good idea to add an "out-of-date" information warning, so that we avoid wasting time.

[viraniac]

The documentation website, linking to this repository is completely out of date.

Completely out of date? As in not even a single thing given in documentation applies anymore? Could you be able to point some of those things?

I appreciate that Armbian is opensource, and it is up to the community to update the documentaiton, but it would be a good idea to add an "out-of-date" information warning, so that we avoid wasting time.

Well if you think an out of date warning needs to be added, you could have raised a PR adding the same

[rvalle]

@viraniac I am referring to the developer guide: https://docs.armbian.com/Developer-Guide_Building-with-Docker

./compile docker is no longer supported (docker is not required)
PACKAGE_LIST_ADDITIONAL is no longer supported
userpatches\config-docker.conf is no longer there, I believe no longer supported.

I can go on. It is not that there is a typo here or there, the developer documentation is simply out of date with the current code, belongs to a previous version.

If people come to put time and effort on Armbian is not smart to have them wondering around for hours until they realize that the documentation no longer applies.

I think it is reasonable to add a simple warning: development doc is out of date: contributors needed... or similar.

[viraniac]

I think it is reasonable to add a simple warning: development doc is out of date: contributors needed... or similar.

You still missed the point. You could have fixed those things based on your learning. Or simply you could have added that outdated warning yourself, yet you simply choose to only complain about it asking others to fix it. At the very least you can sponsor the project so that some hours can be set aside to fixing the documentation.

[igorpecovnik]

I think it is reasonable to add a simple warning

This was already added, but not in best way.
#360

I appreciate that Armbian is opensource, and it is up to the community to update the documentation

Technical documentation for the build framework of this size and complexity is IMO impossible to be get in order just by community. If this would be the case, we would already have pull requests and community around docs. Since Armbian project generates close to nothing by providing this tool, contrary, support expectations are sometimes just crazy / extreme / insane ... However, we are financing documentation refactoring / development - from 3rd party resources.

This upcoming meeting is one ongoing attempts to get documentation in order. You are welcome to step up and volunteer for a section of documentation you will work on. We are already doing what we can, even it looks like we don't do anything. We are throwing hundreds of dollars at problems which we should be throwing tens of thousands. We do what is possible with the support we have.

[rvalle]

thanks @igorpecovnik

@viraniac sorry but I respectfully think you are missing my point.

If potential developers feel that the core team has little respect for their time how likely are they to start contributing?

In my opinion, the lack of the clear warning in DEVELOPERS documentation, we are discussing, may trigger that situation.

The reason why I am putting more effort on this Issue/Communication than adding the warning myself is because I believe that engaging with the team about this issue is the best contribution I can offer right now.

[igorpecovnik]

with the team

Our team is extremely under-staff and we are already doing wonders. This is all there is:
https://github.com/armbian/build/graphs/contributors?from=2023-01-12&to=2024-01-21&type=c

Most of people are engaged into interesting activities, such as poking with hardware. I am aware on what you are talking about, but its improvement, speed of it greatly exceeds our resources.

We were overrun by contribution. Development is the happy part, people like to help. When its about maintaining ... people tend to hide.

Tho choice I had was - badly, deprecated, terrible logging but with compatible documentation or better working, better commented, better logging with terrible documentation.

We tried to keep up with documentation on this change but at one point this was simply not possible anymore. Team, that receives no compensation, not financial not emotional, can work at 200% only for limited time.

Last year I have engaged a person (which is organizing previously mentioned meeting) for few hours per week to keep pushing forward as nobody from the (existing) team can afford few hours of our time. I expect to improve documentation this year.

[ag88]

just reposting this in case anyone is interested
https://forum.armbian.com/events/event/47-armbian-documentation-follow-up/

[rpardini]

The documentation website, linking to this repository is completely out of date.

I believe the documentation belongs to previous armbian generation.

./compile docker is no longer supported (docker is not required)
PACKAGE_LIST_ADDITIONAL is no longer supported
userpatches\config-docker.conf is no longer there, I believe no longer supported.

Check out this half-year-old PR -- most of this is already written down, needs editing. @rvalle specifically this

[rvalle]

@rpardini honestly, I would release it even if uncomplete.

I have given up on development documentation, as newcomer, I now prefer to look into the code directly...

It is not trivial with this build system to check if an option is taken effect, and builds take time, so you can get to waste a lot of time.