===== Contributing to the Wiki =====

Corrections and new material are welcome. This page describes how to get an account and the conventions the wiki's pages follow.

==== Getting an account ====

Anyone can read the wiki, but editing needs an account, and self-registration is disabled to keep out spam. To request an account, [[https://github.com/alphalinux/issues/issues/new?title=Wiki+account+request|open an issue]] in [[https://github.com/alphalinux/issues|alphalinux/issues]] on GitHub, or message **mattst88** in **#alpha** on Libera.Chat, giving:

  * your name,
  * your email address, to which the account's password is sent, and
  * which Alpha systems you have.

The wiki's maintainer, [[user:mattst88|Matt Turner]], creates accounts by hand. Issues and **#alpha** are public; if you would rather not post your email address there, say so and send it privately instead. Each account has a user page under ''user:'', which can say who you are and what you work on.

Small corrections can also be sent without an account, in **#alpha** on Libera.Chat, on the linux-alpha mailing list, or in [[https://github.com/orgs/alphalinux/discussions|GitHub Discussions]] (see [[:community|Community]]): say which page, what is wrong, and the source for the correct information.

The wiki is DokuWiki. Every edit is committed to a git repository, where it can be reviewed and reverted. Content is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.

==== What the wiki covers ====

  * **Documentation**: how to install, run, and develop for Linux on Alpha, and how the architecture differs from others. Guides such as [[documentation:installation|Installation]] and [[documentation:qemu|QEMU]] give instructions; reference pages such as [[documentation:porting|Porting]] explain.
  * **Hardware and software**: one page per system, motherboard, firmware, boot loader, and operating system, with what is known about each and the sources for it.
  * **History**: the companies, people, lists, and distributions of Alpha and Alpha/Linux.
  * **News**: dated one-line entries for notable changes, such as merged patches and releases, on [[:news|News]], which the front page includes.
  * **Tasks**: the [[tasks:todo|To Do]] list and [[tasks:bugs|Bugs]].

==== Style ====

  * **Write in encyclopedic style.** State facts plainly, in the third person, without "we" or "you" outside the step-by-step guides and this page. Prefer the past tense for history and the present tense for what is still true.
  * **Write for today's reader.** Pages should help someone running or developing Linux on Alpha now. Historical detail belongs on the history pages; other pages keep it only when it still helps a present-day reader. Long-fixed bugs, old distribution workarounds, and settled mailing list debates usually do not.
  * **State facts, not who said them.** Write "The XL needs MILO", with the mailing list message in the footnote, rather than "In 2004, Jay Estabrook said that the XL needs MILO". Attribute a statement in the text only when it is an opinion or is disputed.
  * **Cite a source for every fact** that is not common knowledge, with a footnote directly after the sentence it supports. Footnotes use the refnotes syntax, for example:<code>
[(>[[https://github.com/alphalinux/mailing-list-archives/blob/main/axp-list-mbox/1998-July.mbox#L37024|"Re: SMP for AlphaServer?"]], Jay Estabrook, axp-list, 14 Jul 1998)]
</code>A mailing list citation gives the subject, author, list, and date, and links to the message in the [[https://github.com/alphalinux/mailing-list-archives|mailing list archives]], at the line where the message starts. A manual gives its title and page, and links to the PDF in the wiki's media, as ''%%{{wiki:path:file.pdf?linkonly|Title}}%%''. A kernel commit gives its subject and the release it appeared in.
  * **Record conflicts rather than resolving them silently.** When sources disagree, the page gives the account the evidence supports, and lists the other sources, with short quotes, in a section titled "Conflicting information" at the end. Keep each entry short, and list only real disagreements, not sources that merely add detail.
  * **Use US spelling**, one space after a full stop, and no em dashes. Write dates as "14 Jul 1998" in citations and "14 July 1998" in text, and binary sizes as KiB, MiB, and GiB.
  * **Name things as the sources do**: Alpha, not AXP, except in product names; processors by EV name with the part number on first mention, as in "EV56 (21164A)"; system names with their codename (AlphaServer ES40, Clipper); motherboards by their marketing names (AlphaPC 164LX), with the kernel's platform names (LX164) only in kernel context.
  * **Mark key presses** with the [[https://www.dokuwiki.org/plugin:keyboard|keyboard plugin]]: ''%%<key>C-c</key>%%'' for Ctrl-C, and ''%%<key>Esc</key> <key>Esc</key>%%'' for a sequence. ''C'', ''S'', and ''A'' alone mean Ctrl, Shift, and Alt, so write letter keys in lowercase. Put text typed at a prompt in ''%%''monospace''%%''.
  * **Call the port Alpha/Linux**, not Linux/Alpha or Alpha Linux, except in quoted titles and product names. "Linux on Alpha" is fine in ordinary prose.

==== Pages ====

  * Page names are lowercase, with words separated by underscores, in a namespace: ''hardware:systems:clipper'', ''software:boot_loaders:aboot'', ''documentation:porting:floating_point''.
  * New system and motherboard pages start from a template with an infobox; creating a page in ''hardware:systems'' or ''hardware:motherboards'' fills it in. The infobox fields are explained in the template.
  * Tag each page at the end with ''%%{{tag>...}}%%'', using the tags of similar pages.
  * Manuals, data sheets, and photographs go in the media manager, under the same namespace as the page that uses them, for example ''wiki:hardware:systems:alphaserver_es40''. Upload only documents that may be redistributed.
  * Some pages date quickly. [[:status|Current Status]] states the month it describes, which is updated whenever the page is, and completed tasks on the [[tasks:todo|To Do]] list are removed once the release that includes them is out.
  * A news entry is one table row in [[:news|News]], newest first: the date, what changed, with a link to the patch or release, who did the work, and, when known, the release that will include it.

==== See also ====

  * [[https://www.dokuwiki.org/wiki:syntax|DokuWiki syntax]]
  * [[:faq|FAQ]] and [[:glossary|Glossary]]

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