DO NOT REPLY [Bug 20448] New: - Documentation installs in an unuseable state.

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http://nagoya.apache.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=20448

Documentation installs in an unuseable state.

           Summary: Documentation installs in an unuseable state.
           Product: Apache httpd-2.0
           Version: 2.0.46
          Platform: PC
        OS/Version: Windows NT/2K
            Status: NEW
          Severity: Major
          Priority: Other
         Component: Documentation
        AssignedTo: bugs@httpd.apache.org
        ReportedBy: cdearborn@secluda.com


I installed Apache using the MSI installer located at 
http://httpd.apache.org/download.cgi.  Once Apache was installed, I attempted 
to view the installed documentation using Internet Explorer 6 and opening the 
index.html file with it.  I was surprised to discover that there was no 
index.html file, but only a language specific index.html.en file.  Of course IE 
6 refused to open the file since it did not have a .html extension.  So I then 
opened the index.html.en file with Netscape.  I was then able to view the index 
page but when I clicked on a link, it attempted to link to another HTML file 
that did not have the .en suffix.  Since that file did not exist (the file had 
a .en suffix when it should not have), the link failed with a 404 error.

Frustrated, I finally gave up on viewing the installed documentation & took a 
look at the online documentation instead.  Unfortunately this was of limited 
use because I could not do a search thru just the installed documentation.  So 
I then attempted to do a straight text search through the installed 
documentation using the Windows 2000 "Search..." dialog...

When I attempted to do a text search in the docs directory for PHP, I ended up 
with a ton of hits, most of which were useless to me.  Because there are 
several copies of the documentation in different languages, as well as a 
boatload of XML files that it appears I don't need to view the docs, I ended up 
with a ton of hits, most of which were on HTML documents in languages that I 
don't know or XML files which I don't care about.  In short, the current 
shipped format of the documentation makes it impossible to do a text search for 
anything.

Today a friend told me that if I viewed the documentation through the Apache 
web server, then these problems would all mysteriously go away (less the 
inability to do a text search).  I can't tell you how frustrating it was not to 
be able to use the documentation.  My issue with viewing the documentation over 
Apache is that I want to be able to view the docs by opening the files directly 
with a browser.  The reason for this is that I do not want to host the Apache 
documentation on my web server.  People that will be visiting my web site have 
no need to view the documentation, and I do not want to make it accessible to 
them.

Wouldn't it be possible to either ship the documentation separately from Apache 
in language specific bundles?  Or wouldn't it be possible to put the docs for 
each language in a separate directory so that one could do a text search on 
just one copy of the docs?  Also, is it necessary to ship the XML files with a 
binary distribution?  The Apache source isn't shipped in the binary 
installation, and near as I can tell, the XML files are only needed to generate 
the documentation, and as an end-user, I really don't want to see them at all.

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