Re: Using Synergy configuration management system with Frame files

[David Neeley <dbneeley -at- gmail -dot- com>]

Robert,

Full document management solutions have version control as  a central
feature, yet they do not require that a user be particularly adept
with files to use them. Also, you can have multiple users accessing
those files with little or any conflict between them.

I suggest you look at a good one, perhaps Alfresco that I mentioned
before, and determine for yourself if adopting such a system would be
superior to what you are doing now. When you are working with a
documentation file, if only one writer is needed to access the
relevant files at a time, that can be easily accomplished. When
multiple authors are working on the same publication, it can become
something of a nightmare.

What is most important, though, for purposes of this discussion is not
whether you are happy with *your* system, but what others should look
at for *theirs*. The original question was from a writer who appears
not to have version control at all--and what tool *they* should adopt.
Thus, it seems to me to make far more sense for her company to go
straight to a document management solution and not to try to adjust to
the use of a source control program.

David



> From: Robert Lauriston <robert -at- lauriston -dot- com>
> To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Date: Sat, 14 Nov 2009 11:17:37 -0800
> Subject: Re: Using Synergy configuration management system with Frame files
> In FrameMaker, when you're adding a cross-reference from one .fm file
> to another, both files have to be checked out, since the program has
> to add a target marker. Shared text insets and graphics don't present
> any issues, they can be read-only.
>
> I've seen expensive FrameMaker-specific version control / content
> management tools at trade shows that let you merge files after two
> people have edited them. I presume those work by storing the content
> in XML. I've never worked anywhere where we needed such capabilities,
> and if I did, I'd switch from FrameMaker to XMetal or some other tool
> that uses XML as its native format.
>
> On Sat, Nov 14, 2009 at 11:00 AM, John Posada <jposada99 -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:
>> Unles you are checking whole books in and out each time, how well does
>> your version control program handle relationships between different
>> files in the same book? If you only work at the file level, how do you
>> address cross-reference links between files in a book, shared content
>> and inserts, and shared graphics among files?
>>
>> On Sat, Nov 14, 2009 at 12:43 PM, Robert Lauriston <robert -at- lauriston -dot- com> wrote:
>>> What does document management software do that makes it superior to
>>> version control software for FrameMaker projects?
>>>
>>> I've used a lot of different version control programs and can't think
>>> of anything I'd like them to do that they didn't.
>
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