Introduction
============
This document is for people interested in contributing to the Synchronet
Documentation Project : http://wasteland-bbs.com/syncdocs/

Synchronet and it's related Source Code and Documentation is freely available
and is continuing to be developed as an Open Source project.

Active contributors are currently needed to help with the conversion and
updating of the Synchronet Documentation.

If you are interested in contributing to this project please contact :
syncdocs@wasteland-bbs.com

Availability
============
CVS access to the Documentation and Modification History is Available at :
cvs.synchro.net:/cvsroot/sbbs/

Example Command Line to Checkout the Current Documentation Files :
cvs -d :pserver:username@cvs.synchro.net:/cvsroot/sbbs login
(Enter your Password)
cvs -d :pserver:username@cvs.synchro.net:/cvsroot/sbbs checkout docs

Web-based CVS access is available at :
http://cvs.synchro.net/cgi-bin/cvsweb.cgi

Instructions for Working with CVS
=================================
First, you should contact the address above if you not already done so to
obtain your CVS Username and Password for CVS Access.

New members of the documentation team should first obtain the latest copy
of the documentation files from the CVS repository as described above.

It is important that you keep your local copy of the CVS files updated and
always start your current editing session with the most recent CVS image.

Example Command Line to Update the Documentation Files Locally :
cvs -d :pserver:username@cvs.synchro.net:/cvsroot/sbbs login
(Enter your Password)
cvs -d :pserver:username@cvs.synchro.net:/cvsroot/sbbs update docs

If you make changes to the project you should upload your changes in a timely
fashion to ensure an organized and efficient version control system.  All
changes should be *thoroughly documented* when uploading to the repository.

Please refer to the CVS Documentation for information on how to obtain and
use the CVS Features and Functions http://www.cvshome.org .

If you're looking for a GUI front-end for CVS management try these :
http://www.wincvs.org
http://www.lincvs.org

If you have any questions on using CVS with the Synchronet Documentation :
syncdocs@wasteland-bbs.com 

Working with the CVS Files Locally
==================================
The bulk of the HTML Conversion and Formatting work is currently being done
on Windows 98/2000 with FrontPage 2000. This eases the editing and formatting
of the large amount of data in the docs project.  The CVS image should be
portable to other platforms and editors as well.

If you have problems or notice any incompatibilities please contact :
syncdocs@wasteland-bbs.com

FrontPage 2000
--------------
To get started with FrontPage 2000 the easiest thing to do is create a new
web and point it to your local cvs directory of the docs project.  This will
convert your local cvs directory into a FrontPage Web and create the
necessary files and directories required by FrontPage.

To do this follow these steps :

1) Download the CVS image if you haven't already.
2) Open Frontpage 2000 and select File->New->Web from the Menu
3) Select "Empty Web" and enter the path of your local cvs image into the
   Web Location Dialog Box (e.g. c:\cvs\sbbs\docs).
4) Hit OK to Create the Web

** NOTE: If Frontpage asks if you want to overwrite anything, say NO.

After creating the FrontPage Web you should now have a local Frontpage Web
containing the documentation project.  You can now start to work with the
files and contribute to the project.

** IMPORTANT: FP2000 has many features that require a Web server and FP2000
              Server Extensions.  DO NOT use these features within the
              Documentation Project.  Compatibility between all platforms
              should be maintained to prevent problems with other systems.

** IMPORTANT: FP2000 has many files and directories it uses to manage a Web.
              These files SHOULD NOT be included your CVS uploads, and only
              the Documentation Project files themselves should be uploaded
              to the repository.  If you are unsure which files are needed
              when uploading to the repository, please refer to the CVSweb
              http://cvs.synchro.net/cgi-bin/cvsweb.cgi to see which files
              are currently checked-in to CVS.

Working with other HTML/Text Editors
------------------------------------
Working with the documentation files with other editors should not be a
problem, but there are a couple things to remember.

1) DO NOT use any features exclusive to your editor or editing environment.
   Efforts must be made to ensure cross-platform viewing and editing.

2) DO NOT upload files to CVS generated for or by your editor of choice.

** Only approved HTML tags should be included in the Documentation Project. **
