Contributing RHEL docs question

[samrocketman]

@axilleas I have a question for you. I'd like to contribute best practice documentation which can be used in RHEL.

https://github.com/gitlabhq/gitlab-recipes/tree/master/install/centos

There is already CentOS documentation but my idea of an install and the steps to go about it are considerably different for a production RHEL install than what that guide covers.

Should I contribute a separate document for RHEL or should I completely revamp the CentOS documentation?

[axilleas]

Sure, provide a separate install guide and make any changes needed to centos guide (some stuff may need removal to avoid duplication).

[samrocketman]

@axilleas I think it would be useful to provide mini-guides inline as part of the guide which can be referenced by multiple guides. e.g. building git from source or building ruby from source which applies to any platform and could be used in multiple guides.

Then in the main guide in the section where it installs Ruby or Git not to mention the steps but reference the mini guide on another page. The same can be said about apache. Instead of outlining Apache steps reference the Apache README which already has comprehensive steps for configuration (and just needs a few steps for installing prerequisites/modules. Tell me your thoughts on this.

[axilleas]

Yeah I like it :) Where should we put the general info? When I took over the structure overhaul of gitlab-recipes, I tried to keep it as simpler and structured I could. Can you make a [WIP] PR with your thoughts and review this progressively? What feels best, I'm open to ideas.

[samrocketman]

Sure, I'm currently in the process of reorganizing my company wiki using the same idea (splitting up the article steps into linked components for each prerequisite instead of explaining in one big blob). I'll come up with something and we can hash it out in a PR.

[samrocketman]

To be clear from my original request. CentOS is RHEL. It is a binary build of the exact packages provided by RedHat in their source RPMs for the RHEL OS. Cent is a community maintained build attempting to provide a perfect copy with RedHats blessing (in a press release they stated they like the community build because it gives a free version for customers to try out and use the official enterprise version if a customer wants support). There are guides on the internet which detail converting RHEL to CentOS which is merely a minor change in where the repositories are pointed (e.g. when someone decides to stop paying for support but still wants security updates).

At any rate, people who use Cent regularly know that but I just wanted to let you know because it might not make sense to maintain two guides for RHEL and Cent. We can discuss it further in the PR but for now I might provide a separate guide and then we can decide how we want to proceed.

[axilleas]

I only setup CentOS to test the install process, so you know better :)

[FelipeMiranda]

I'm trying the CentOS guide in a Red Hat 6 and it does not work, repos missing libraries, it's my second day working on that and I'm about to get a CentOS instance to try it out.

[axilleas]

Can you try again? I merged a PR that adds some missing packages.
#242