How do we want to maintain our documentation?

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How do we want to maintain our documentation?

Robert Metzger
Hi,

as part of making our codebase ready for the upcoming 0.9 release, I've
started to go over the documentation of Flink.

It seems that our current approach for documenting stuff:
- We implement and merge a feature
- We open a JIRA for documenting it.

Before the release, we realize that we have many open documentation issues
(currently 26) and hope that somebody (in this case me) is fixing them.

Some of the pull requests also contain documentation, but certainly not all
of them.


I am proposing to:
- add a rule to our coding guidelines [1] which states that every change
that affects the documentation needs to update the documentation
accordingly.
- Committers have to make sure that pull request are following the rule
before accepting the change. Otherwise, we reject the pull request.


[1] http://flink.apache.org/coding-guidelines.html
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Re: How do we want to maintain our documentation?

Lokesh Rajaram
+1. I like this idea, not sure if my vote counts :)

On Wed, Jun 3, 2015 at 8:21 AM, Robert Metzger <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> as part of making our codebase ready for the upcoming 0.9 release, I've
> started to go over the documentation of Flink.
>
> It seems that our current approach for documenting stuff:
> - We implement and merge a feature
> - We open a JIRA for documenting it.
>
> Before the release, we realize that we have many open documentation issues
> (currently 26) and hope that somebody (in this case me) is fixing them.
>
> Some of the pull requests also contain documentation, but certainly not all
> of them.
>
>
> I am proposing to:
> - add a rule to our coding guidelines [1] which states that every change
> that affects the documentation needs to update the documentation
> accordingly.
> - Committers have to make sure that pull request are following the rule
> before accepting the change. Otherwise, we reject the pull request.
>
>
> [1] http://flink.apache.org/coding-guidelines.html
>
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Re: How do we want to maintain our documentation?

Chiwan Park
+1 Good. PR should contain documentation.

Regards,
Chiwan Park

> On Jun 4, 2015, at 12:24 AM, Lokesh Rajaram <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> +1. I like this idea, not sure if my vote counts :)
>
> On Wed, Jun 3, 2015 at 8:21 AM, Robert Metzger <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> as part of making our codebase ready for the upcoming 0.9 release, I've
>> started to go over the documentation of Flink.
>>
>> It seems that our current approach for documenting stuff:
>> - We implement and merge a feature
>> - We open a JIRA for documenting it.
>>
>> Before the release, we realize that we have many open documentation issues
>> (currently 26) and hope that somebody (in this case me) is fixing them.
>>
>> Some of the pull requests also contain documentation, but certainly not all
>> of them.
>>
>>
>> I am proposing to:
>> - add a rule to our coding guidelines [1] which states that every change
>> that affects the documentation needs to update the documentation
>> accordingly.
>> - Committers have to make sure that pull request are following the rule
>> before accepting the change. Otherwise, we reject the pull request.
>>
>>
>> [1] http://flink.apache.org/coding-guidelines.html
>>





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Re: How do we want to maintain our documentation?

Till Rohrmann
For me it also makes sense that the contributor who has implemented the
changes and thus knows them best should update the documentation
accordingly.

+1

On Wed, Jun 3, 2015 at 5:25 PM, Chiwan Park <[hidden email]> wrote:

> +1 Good. PR should contain documentation.
>
> Regards,
> Chiwan Park
>
> > On Jun 4, 2015, at 12:24 AM, Lokesh Rajaram <[hidden email]>
> wrote:
> >
> > +1. I like this idea, not sure if my vote counts :)
> >
> > On Wed, Jun 3, 2015 at 8:21 AM, Robert Metzger <[hidden email]>
> wrote:
> >
> >> Hi,
> >>
> >> as part of making our codebase ready for the upcoming 0.9 release, I've
> >> started to go over the documentation of Flink.
> >>
> >> It seems that our current approach for documenting stuff:
> >> - We implement and merge a feature
> >> - We open a JIRA for documenting it.
> >>
> >> Before the release, we realize that we have many open documentation
> issues
> >> (currently 26) and hope that somebody (in this case me) is fixing them.
> >>
> >> Some of the pull requests also contain documentation, but certainly not
> all
> >> of them.
> >>
> >>
> >> I am proposing to:
> >> - add a rule to our coding guidelines [1] which states that every change
> >> that affects the documentation needs to update the documentation
> >> accordingly.
> >> - Committers have to make sure that pull request are following the rule
> >> before accepting the change. Otherwise, we reject the pull request.
> >>
> >>
> >> [1] http://flink.apache.org/coding-guidelines.html
> >>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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Re: How do we want to maintain our documentation?

Vasiliki Kalavri
Hi,

in principle I agree with Robert's suggestion.

I can only see two cases where this might not work well:

- if the change is something big / totally new and the documentation to be
written is large. In this case, I would prefer to have a separate issue for
docs to ensure better quality and review, otherwise we might end up with
following "improve docs" issues

- if the code change is blocking some other issue. Then, it might make
sense to merge the code fast and update the docs fast.

In any case though, I agree that it's not a good idea to have someone
adding the missing docs just before the release.

Cheers,
-Vasia.

On 3 June 2015 at 17:27, Till Rohrmann <[hidden email]> wrote:

> For me it also makes sense that the contributor who has implemented the
> changes and thus knows them best should update the documentation
> accordingly.
>
> +1
>
> On Wed, Jun 3, 2015 at 5:25 PM, Chiwan Park <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> > +1 Good. PR should contain documentation.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Chiwan Park
> >
> > > On Jun 4, 2015, at 12:24 AM, Lokesh Rajaram <[hidden email]>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > +1. I like this idea, not sure if my vote counts :)
> > >
> > > On Wed, Jun 3, 2015 at 8:21 AM, Robert Metzger <[hidden email]>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > >> Hi,
> > >>
> > >> as part of making our codebase ready for the upcoming 0.9 release,
> I've
> > >> started to go over the documentation of Flink.
> > >>
> > >> It seems that our current approach for documenting stuff:
> > >> - We implement and merge a feature
> > >> - We open a JIRA for documenting it.
> > >>
> > >> Before the release, we realize that we have many open documentation
> > issues
> > >> (currently 26) and hope that somebody (in this case me) is fixing
> them.
> > >>
> > >> Some of the pull requests also contain documentation, but certainly
> not
> > all
> > >> of them.
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> I am proposing to:
> > >> - add a rule to our coding guidelines [1] which states that every
> change
> > >> that affects the documentation needs to update the documentation
> > >> accordingly.
> > >> - Committers have to make sure that pull request are following the
> rule
> > >> before accepting the change. Otherwise, we reject the pull request.
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> [1] http://flink.apache.org/coding-guidelines.html
> > >>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
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Re: How do we want to maintain our documentation?

Fabian Hueske-2
+1 for Robert's suggestion.

In fact, I thought this was already our practice. Also I would not allow
exceptions from that rule in the "stable" codebase. Writing documentation
and describing how stuff should be used lets you think about it in a
different way and can help to make the feature better. Also features which
are not documented do not exist. We might be less strict with changes to
flink-staging but as soon as it moves out, documentation must be "complete".

However, such a rule will only help to have (more) complete documentation,
but not necessarily good documentation. I observed that documentation tends
to cluttered and more fragmented if more people add and change stuff. I
guess from time to time, documentation just needs to be restructured and
partially rewritten.

2015-06-03 18:19 GMT+02:00 Vasiliki Kalavri <[hidden email]>:

> Hi,
>
> in principle I agree with Robert's suggestion.
>
> I can only see two cases where this might not work well:
>
> - if the change is something big / totally new and the documentation to be
> written is large. In this case, I would prefer to have a separate issue for
> docs to ensure better quality and review, otherwise we might end up with
> following "improve docs" issues
>
> - if the code change is blocking some other issue. Then, it might make
> sense to merge the code fast and update the docs fast.
>
> In any case though, I agree that it's not a good idea to have someone
> adding the missing docs just before the release.
>
> Cheers,
> -Vasia.
>
> On 3 June 2015 at 17:27, Till Rohrmann <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> > For me it also makes sense that the contributor who has implemented the
> > changes and thus knows them best should update the documentation
> > accordingly.
> >
> > +1
> >
> > On Wed, Jun 3, 2015 at 5:25 PM, Chiwan Park <[hidden email]>
> wrote:
> >
> > > +1 Good. PR should contain documentation.
> > >
> > > Regards,
> > > Chiwan Park
> > >
> > > > On Jun 4, 2015, at 12:24 AM, Lokesh Rajaram <
> [hidden email]>
> > > wrote:
> > > >
> > > > +1. I like this idea, not sure if my vote counts :)
> > > >
> > > > On Wed, Jun 3, 2015 at 8:21 AM, Robert Metzger <[hidden email]>
> > > wrote:
> > > >
> > > >> Hi,
> > > >>
> > > >> as part of making our codebase ready for the upcoming 0.9 release,
> > I've
> > > >> started to go over the documentation of Flink.
> > > >>
> > > >> It seems that our current approach for documenting stuff:
> > > >> - We implement and merge a feature
> > > >> - We open a JIRA for documenting it.
> > > >>
> > > >> Before the release, we realize that we have many open documentation
> > > issues
> > > >> (currently 26) and hope that somebody (in this case me) is fixing
> > them.
> > > >>
> > > >> Some of the pull requests also contain documentation, but certainly
> > not
> > > all
> > > >> of them.
> > > >>
> > > >>
> > > >> I am proposing to:
> > > >> - add a rule to our coding guidelines [1] which states that every
> > change
> > > >> that affects the documentation needs to update the documentation
> > > >> accordingly.
> > > >> - Committers have to make sure that pull request are following the
> > rule
> > > >> before accepting the change. Otherwise, we reject the pull request.
> > > >>
> > > >>
> > > >> [1] http://flink.apache.org/coding-guidelines.html
> > > >>
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
>
mxm
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Re: How do we want to maintain our documentation?

mxm
+1 for your proposed changes, Robert. I would argue that is even more
crucial that big pull requests contain documentation because a lot of times
only the contributor can create this documentation. Additionally,
documentation makes reviewing a pull request much easier.

Fragmented documentation is a separate issue. We have to make sure that we
check the quality of the documentation in addition to the quality of the
submitted code.

On Wed, Jun 3, 2015 at 11:57 PM, Fabian Hueske <[hidden email]> wrote:

> +1 for Robert's suggestion.
>
> In fact, I thought this was already our practice. Also I would not allow
> exceptions from that rule in the "stable" codebase. Writing documentation
> and describing how stuff should be used lets you think about it in a
> different way and can help to make the feature better. Also features which
> are not documented do not exist. We might be less strict with changes to
> flink-staging but as soon as it moves out, documentation must be
> "complete".
>
> However, such a rule will only help to have (more) complete documentation,
> but not necessarily good documentation. I observed that documentation tends
> to cluttered and more fragmented if more people add and change stuff. I
> guess from time to time, documentation just needs to be restructured and
> partially rewritten.
>
> 2015-06-03 18:19 GMT+02:00 Vasiliki Kalavri <[hidden email]>:
>
> > Hi,
> >
> > in principle I agree with Robert's suggestion.
> >
> > I can only see two cases where this might not work well:
> >
> > - if the change is something big / totally new and the documentation to
> be
> > written is large. In this case, I would prefer to have a separate issue
> for
> > docs to ensure better quality and review, otherwise we might end up with
> > following "improve docs" issues
> >
> > - if the code change is blocking some other issue. Then, it might make
> > sense to merge the code fast and update the docs fast.
> >
> > In any case though, I agree that it's not a good idea to have someone
> > adding the missing docs just before the release.
> >
> > Cheers,
> > -Vasia.
> >
> > On 3 June 2015 at 17:27, Till Rohrmann <[hidden email]> wrote:
> >
> > > For me it also makes sense that the contributor who has implemented the
> > > changes and thus knows them best should update the documentation
> > > accordingly.
> > >
> > > +1
> > >
> > > On Wed, Jun 3, 2015 at 5:25 PM, Chiwan Park <[hidden email]>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > > +1 Good. PR should contain documentation.
> > > >
> > > > Regards,
> > > > Chiwan Park
> > > >
> > > > > On Jun 4, 2015, at 12:24 AM, Lokesh Rajaram <
> > [hidden email]>
> > > > wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > +1. I like this idea, not sure if my vote counts :)
> > > > >
> > > > > On Wed, Jun 3, 2015 at 8:21 AM, Robert Metzger <
> [hidden email]>
> > > > wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > >> Hi,
> > > > >>
> > > > >> as part of making our codebase ready for the upcoming 0.9 release,
> > > I've
> > > > >> started to go over the documentation of Flink.
> > > > >>
> > > > >> It seems that our current approach for documenting stuff:
> > > > >> - We implement and merge a feature
> > > > >> - We open a JIRA for documenting it.
> > > > >>
> > > > >> Before the release, we realize that we have many open
> documentation
> > > > issues
> > > > >> (currently 26) and hope that somebody (in this case me) is fixing
> > > them.
> > > > >>
> > > > >> Some of the pull requests also contain documentation, but
> certainly
> > > not
> > > > all
> > > > >> of them.
> > > > >>
> > > > >>
> > > > >> I am proposing to:
> > > > >> - add a rule to our coding guidelines [1] which states that every
> > > change
> > > > >> that affects the documentation needs to update the documentation
> > > > >> accordingly.
> > > > >> - Committers have to make sure that pull request are following the
> > > rule
> > > > >> before accepting the change. Otherwise, we reject the pull
> request.
> > > > >>
> > > > >>
> > > > >> [1] http://flink.apache.org/coding-guidelines.html
> > > > >>
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
>
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Re: How do we want to maintain our documentation?

Robert Metzger
I would also say that in particular big changes should include an update to
the documentation as well!

I'll add a rule to the guidelines and I'll start annoying you to write
documentation in pull requests.

On Thu, Jun 4, 2015 at 1:06 PM, Maximilian Michels <[hidden email]> wrote:

> +1 for your proposed changes, Robert. I would argue that is even more
> crucial that big pull requests contain documentation because a lot of times
> only the contributor can create this documentation. Additionally,
> documentation makes reviewing a pull request much easier.
>
> Fragmented documentation is a separate issue. We have to make sure that we
> check the quality of the documentation in addition to the quality of the
> submitted code.
>
> On Wed, Jun 3, 2015 at 11:57 PM, Fabian Hueske <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> > +1 for Robert's suggestion.
> >
> > In fact, I thought this was already our practice. Also I would not allow
> > exceptions from that rule in the "stable" codebase. Writing documentation
> > and describing how stuff should be used lets you think about it in a
> > different way and can help to make the feature better. Also features
> which
> > are not documented do not exist. We might be less strict with changes to
> > flink-staging but as soon as it moves out, documentation must be
> > "complete".
> >
> > However, such a rule will only help to have (more) complete
> documentation,
> > but not necessarily good documentation. I observed that documentation
> tends
> > to cluttered and more fragmented if more people add and change stuff. I
> > guess from time to time, documentation just needs to be restructured and
> > partially rewritten.
> >
> > 2015-06-03 18:19 GMT+02:00 Vasiliki Kalavri <[hidden email]>:
> >
> > > Hi,
> > >
> > > in principle I agree with Robert's suggestion.
> > >
> > > I can only see two cases where this might not work well:
> > >
> > > - if the change is something big / totally new and the documentation to
> > be
> > > written is large. In this case, I would prefer to have a separate issue
> > for
> > > docs to ensure better quality and review, otherwise we might end up
> with
> > > following "improve docs" issues
> > >
> > > - if the code change is blocking some other issue. Then, it might make
> > > sense to merge the code fast and update the docs fast.
> > >
> > > In any case though, I agree that it's not a good idea to have someone
> > > adding the missing docs just before the release.
> > >
> > > Cheers,
> > > -Vasia.
> > >
> > > On 3 June 2015 at 17:27, Till Rohrmann <[hidden email]> wrote:
> > >
> > > > For me it also makes sense that the contributor who has implemented
> the
> > > > changes and thus knows them best should update the documentation
> > > > accordingly.
> > > >
> > > > +1
> > > >
> > > > On Wed, Jun 3, 2015 at 5:25 PM, Chiwan Park <[hidden email]>
> > > wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > +1 Good. PR should contain documentation.
> > > > >
> > > > > Regards,
> > > > > Chiwan Park
> > > > >
> > > > > > On Jun 4, 2015, at 12:24 AM, Lokesh Rajaram <
> > > [hidden email]>
> > > > > wrote:
> > > > > >
> > > > > > +1. I like this idea, not sure if my vote counts :)
> > > > > >
> > > > > > On Wed, Jun 3, 2015 at 8:21 AM, Robert Metzger <
> > [hidden email]>
> > > > > wrote:
> > > > > >
> > > > > >> Hi,
> > > > > >>
> > > > > >> as part of making our codebase ready for the upcoming 0.9
> release,
> > > > I've
> > > > > >> started to go over the documentation of Flink.
> > > > > >>
> > > > > >> It seems that our current approach for documenting stuff:
> > > > > >> - We implement and merge a feature
> > > > > >> - We open a JIRA for documenting it.
> > > > > >>
> > > > > >> Before the release, we realize that we have many open
> > documentation
> > > > > issues
> > > > > >> (currently 26) and hope that somebody (in this case me) is
> fixing
> > > > them.
> > > > > >>
> > > > > >> Some of the pull requests also contain documentation, but
> > certainly
> > > > not
> > > > > all
> > > > > >> of them.
> > > > > >>
> > > > > >>
> > > > > >> I am proposing to:
> > > > > >> - add a rule to our coding guidelines [1] which states that
> every
> > > > change
> > > > > >> that affects the documentation needs to update the documentation
> > > > > >> accordingly.
> > > > > >> - Committers have to make sure that pull request are following
> the
> > > > rule
> > > > > >> before accepting the change. Otherwise, we reject the pull
> > request.
> > > > > >>
> > > > > >>
> > > > > >> [1] http://flink.apache.org/coding-guidelines.html
> > > > > >>
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
>
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Re: How do we want to maintain our documentation?

Matthias J. Sax
Big +1 :)

On 06/04/2015 01:33 PM, Robert Metzger wrote:

> I would also say that in particular big changes should include an update to
> the documentation as well!
>
> I'll add a rule to the guidelines and I'll start annoying you to write
> documentation in pull requests.
>
> On Thu, Jun 4, 2015 at 1:06 PM, Maximilian Michels <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
>> +1 for your proposed changes, Robert. I would argue that is even more
>> crucial that big pull requests contain documentation because a lot of times
>> only the contributor can create this documentation. Additionally,
>> documentation makes reviewing a pull request much easier.
>>
>> Fragmented documentation is a separate issue. We have to make sure that we
>> check the quality of the documentation in addition to the quality of the
>> submitted code.
>>
>> On Wed, Jun 3, 2015 at 11:57 PM, Fabian Hueske <[hidden email]> wrote:
>>
>>> +1 for Robert's suggestion.
>>>
>>> In fact, I thought this was already our practice. Also I would not allow
>>> exceptions from that rule in the "stable" codebase. Writing documentation
>>> and describing how stuff should be used lets you think about it in a
>>> different way and can help to make the feature better. Also features
>> which
>>> are not documented do not exist. We might be less strict with changes to
>>> flink-staging but as soon as it moves out, documentation must be
>>> "complete".
>>>
>>> However, such a rule will only help to have (more) complete
>> documentation,
>>> but not necessarily good documentation. I observed that documentation
>> tends
>>> to cluttered and more fragmented if more people add and change stuff. I
>>> guess from time to time, documentation just needs to be restructured and
>>> partially rewritten.
>>>
>>> 2015-06-03 18:19 GMT+02:00 Vasiliki Kalavri <[hidden email]>:
>>>
>>>> Hi,
>>>>
>>>> in principle I agree with Robert's suggestion.
>>>>
>>>> I can only see two cases where this might not work well:
>>>>
>>>> - if the change is something big / totally new and the documentation to
>>> be
>>>> written is large. In this case, I would prefer to have a separate issue
>>> for
>>>> docs to ensure better quality and review, otherwise we might end up
>> with
>>>> following "improve docs" issues
>>>>
>>>> - if the code change is blocking some other issue. Then, it might make
>>>> sense to merge the code fast and update the docs fast.
>>>>
>>>> In any case though, I agree that it's not a good idea to have someone
>>>> adding the missing docs just before the release.
>>>>
>>>> Cheers,
>>>> -Vasia.
>>>>
>>>> On 3 June 2015 at 17:27, Till Rohrmann <[hidden email]> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> For me it also makes sense that the contributor who has implemented
>> the
>>>>> changes and thus knows them best should update the documentation
>>>>> accordingly.
>>>>>
>>>>> +1
>>>>>
>>>>> On Wed, Jun 3, 2015 at 5:25 PM, Chiwan Park <[hidden email]>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> +1 Good. PR should contain documentation.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Regards,
>>>>>> Chiwan Park
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Jun 4, 2015, at 12:24 AM, Lokesh Rajaram <
>>>> [hidden email]>
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> +1. I like this idea, not sure if my vote counts :)
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Wed, Jun 3, 2015 at 8:21 AM, Robert Metzger <
>>> [hidden email]>
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Hi,
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> as part of making our codebase ready for the upcoming 0.9
>> release,
>>>>> I've
>>>>>>>> started to go over the documentation of Flink.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> It seems that our current approach for documenting stuff:
>>>>>>>> - We implement and merge a feature
>>>>>>>> - We open a JIRA for documenting it.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Before the release, we realize that we have many open
>>> documentation
>>>>>> issues
>>>>>>>> (currently 26) and hope that somebody (in this case me) is
>> fixing
>>>>> them.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Some of the pull requests also contain documentation, but
>>> certainly
>>>>> not
>>>>>> all
>>>>>>>> of them.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I am proposing to:
>>>>>>>> - add a rule to our coding guidelines [1] which states that
>> every
>>>>> change
>>>>>>>> that affects the documentation needs to update the documentation
>>>>>>>> accordingly.
>>>>>>>> - Committers have to make sure that pull request are following
>> the
>>>>> rule
>>>>>>>> before accepting the change. Otherwise, we reject the pull
>>> request.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> [1] http://flink.apache.org/coding-guidelines.html
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>


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