Message-Id: <20161129092314.351-1-daniel.vetter@ffwll.ch>
Date:   Tue, 29 Nov 2016 10:23:14 +0100
From:   Daniel Vetter <daniel.vetter@...ll.ch>
To:     LKML <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>
Cc:     Daniel Vetter <daniel.vetter@...ll.ch>,
        Jonathan Corbet <corbet@....net>, linux-doc@...r.kernel.org,
        Christoph Hellwig <hch@...radead.org>,
        Peter Zijlstra <peterz@...radead.org>,
        Jani Nikula <jani.nikula@...ux.intel.com>,
        Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab@...pensource.com>,
        Daniel Vetter <daniel.vetter@...el.com>
Subject: [PATCH] doc: Explain light-handed markup preference a bit better

We already had a super-short blurb, but worth extending it I think:
We're still pretty far away from anything like a consensus, but
there's clearly a lot of people who prefer an as-light as possible
approach to converting existing .txt files to .rst. Make sure this is
properly taken into account and clear.

Motivated by discussions with Peter and Christoph and others.

v2:
- Mention that existing headings should be kept when converting
  existing .txt files (Mauro).
- Explain that we prefer :: for quoting code, it's easier on the
  eyes (Mauro).
- Explain that blindly converting outdated docs is harmful. Motived
  by comments Peter did in our discussion.

Cc: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@....net>
Cc: linux-doc@...r.kernel.org
Cc: Christoph Hellwig <hch@...radead.org>
Cc: Peter Zijlstra <peterz@...radead.org>
Cc: Jani Nikula <jani.nikula@...ux.intel.com>
Cc: Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab@...pensource.com>
Signed-off-by: Daniel Vetter <daniel.vetter@...el.com>
---
 Documentation/kernel-documentation.rst | 44 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--
 1 file changed, 42 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/kernel-documentation.rst b/Documentation/kernel-documentation.rst
index 0dd17069bc0b..d04cecdb498d 100644
--- a/Documentation/kernel-documentation.rst
+++ b/Documentation/kernel-documentation.rst
@@ -77,9 +77,27 @@ Specific guidelines for the kernel documentation
 
 Here are some specific guidelines for the kernel documentation:
 
-* Please don't go overboard with reStructuredText markup. Keep it simple.
+* Please don't go overboard with reStructuredText markup. Keep it simple. A lot
+  of core kernel developers prefer plain text, with a big emphasis on plain. In
+  the end if we have pretty generated docs which the subject experts don't
+  like to edit and keep up-to-date everyone loses.
 
-* Please stick to this order of heading adornments:
+  Be especially considerate when converting existing documentation. There's a
+  wide scale from annotating every little bit with in-line styles to only
+  touching up the bare minimum needed to integrate an existing file into the
+  larger documentation. Please align with the wishes of the maintainer to make
+  sure that documentations stays useful for everyone.
+
+* Don't just blindly convert documents, also carefully review them and fix up
+  any issues in the text itself. Updated docs might trick readers into believing
+  they're accurately reflecting current best practice, which would be rather
+  harmful if the text itself is entirely outdated.
+
+* When converting existing documents, please try to retain the existing heading
+  styles as much as possible. Sphinx accept almost anything, as long as it's
+  consistent and headings all start in column 1.
+
+  For new documents please stick to this order of heading adornments:
 
   1. ``=`` with overline for document title::
 
@@ -136,6 +154,28 @@ changed to ``VIDIOC_LOG_STATUS`` and the function can now referenced by:
      :c:func:`VIDIOC_LOG_STATUS`
 
 
+For inserting code examples and use-cases use the simple fixed-width quoting
+style ``::`` which can either be on a line of it's own, or at the end of a
+preceeding paragraph. If there's no space before the double-colon it will be
+converted to a normal ``:``, which makes the overall text flow fairly reasonable
+
+.. code-block:: rst
+
+     Some text explaing what you need to do::
+
+        code_example()
+
+     More text explaining the next step::
+
+        if (condition)
+                more_function_calls();
+
+
+Sphinx also supports ``.. code-block::`` annotations, which also allow you to
+specify the language used for hightlight. But that should only be used when
+really necessary.
+
+
 list tables
 -----------
 
-- 
2.10.2

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