What documentation is most critically absent?

vimanuelt

What documentation is most critically absent?
Your feedback will help the project determine prioritization.

vimanuelt

I am surprised there has not been a comment.
I suppose this is very good news. :-)

brianthehughes

I have a list, but I am inclined to address those items in contribution rather than share it.

Documentation gaps:

Releases without associated touches to documentation is a critical gap.
Application/system updates without even change or scope summary feels like a critical gap, which should be in system and available in documentation.
The What’s New page is not archived/logged any where so the next Release replaces the last What’s New.

vimanuelt

brianthehughes
That is encouraging to see.

When new users arrive at GhostBSD, what gaps or shortcomings do they typically notice in the documentation?

BigSneakyDuck

vimanuelt
The perennial questions you get about updating the FreeBSD version using the standard FreeBSD tools suggest it isn't being made clear enough to new users how maintenance and upgrading work in GhostBSD.

I think in general it's a bit problematic that users need to consult FreeBSD sources like the Handbook for advanced topics, but it isn't clear how much of that is relevant for GhostBSD.

I would love to see a GhostBSD-ified version of the FreeBSD Handbook but it would be a substantial maintenance burden - even the much larger FreeBSD Project struggles to keep theirs up to date. A more realistic target to maintain might be something about a quarter of the size or the FreeBSD Handbook and just hope advanced users can sort themselves out if they need it.

vimanuelt

BigSneakyDuck
Yes, I agree, but our immediate priority should be refactoring. Updating the documentation to focus on MATE, while we are transitioning to the Gershwin desktop, would only double the workload later.

Instead, we could encourage community members to assist with maintaining the current documentation for MATE, allowing the development team to concentrate on building the new desktop environment and associated tools.

If anyone is interested in contributing to the documentation effort, we warmly invite you to join the GhostBSD Contributors Telegram group:
https://t.me/ghostbsd_dev