[maintenance doc updates]

["Martin v. Löwis"]

Do Re Mi chel La Si Do wrote:
> But, for previous versions of Python, I downloaded a CHM version; and, at 
> http://docs.python.org/download.html, I don't found this format.
> 
> is this a lapse of memory?

It is there now.

> Would it be possible to have a continuity in the availability of the 
> formats?

Unfortunately, no. The only way to build the CHM file is using HTML
workshop, which requires Windows to run, yet Fred builds the rest of
the documentation on Linux (I believe). So the current process is that
Fred builds the HTML tarball (along with all other formats), uploads
it to python.org. I download it from there (which takes 12-36h due
to time zone differences, and other commitments, like taking exams
from students); I then build the CHM, and put it into the Windows
MSI file. 12 hours after that, I get home and find that I forgot to
upload the CHM file to python.org. I now have to find out where
precisely it is stored on python.org, and checkout docs.python.org.
I then upload the CHM file into the right location, edit download.ht,
regenerate download.html, invoke "make install", and commit the
change to CVS. I do this on Linux, so I first install xchm to verify
that the CHM I'm uploading is really the one for 2.4.1.

IOW, there is too many manual steps in the process to guarantee
continuity, and the process works differently each time (which
currently is only two times: 2.4, and 2.4.1)

Regards,
Martin