[llvm-dev] Docs: Re-organizing the LLVM docs

[Cranmer, Joshua via llvm-dev]

The break-down of “User Guides”, “Programming Documentation”, and “Subsystem Documentation” has always been difficult for me to remember which group the document I’m looking for is actually in.

I’d propose a breakdown that looks more like this:
# How to build/package/dockerize/etc. LLVM (it’s surprising how many pages we have on this!)
# How to use LLVM tools. This is the “I’m using LLVM solely from the command-line, what do I do?” section.
# The LLVM Reference – this would include the Language Reference as well as backend-specific pages that describe how target-specific information works for those targets (honestly, we could use more of that), the details of atomics and exception handling, etc. This is the “I’m writing/reading LLVM IR, what do I do?” section.
# The LLVM API Reference – this covers the links to Doxygen, description on the AliasAnalysis interface, etc. This is the “I’m using LLVM as a library (or to write a pass, or a backend, or within LLVM itself), what do I do?” section, and it probably warrants a few subsections (e.g., details for backend implementation).

The rest of the documents are hard to categorize, being a mix of documentation of formats (say the .PDB documentation guide), description of LLVM passes, details of implementation approaches (e.g., Spectre mitigations), and some information for people who want to understand terminology.

From: llvm-dev [mailto:llvm-dev-bounces at lists.llvm.org] On Behalf Of via llvm-dev
Sent: Thursday, August 22, 2019 14:14
To: llvm-dev <llvm-dev at lists.llvm.org>
Subject: [llvm-dev] Docs: Re-organizing the LLVM docs


As part of my Google Season of Docs project, I’ve been conducting a content audit of the LLVM docs. My goal is to identify specific categories and tasks under which the docs can be re-organized. One of my first suggestions will be to turn the main index (llvm.org/docs<http://llvm.org/docs>) into a landing page of sorts. Here’s an example of how the new index page might look:



# Welcome/About

* Introduction and overview of LLVM

* Topic links



# Getting Started/Tutorials

* Brief description w/topic links



# Reference

* Brief description w/topic links



# Getting Involved/Community

* Overview of how to get involved with the LLVM project

* Topic links



Due to the sheer number of topics, there would also need to be “sub-pages”. For example, there could be a separate Reference page that lists all of the available reference topics by category.



One thing I’m having trouble with is determining how to split up (i.e., categorize) the many topics listed under User Guides, Programming Documentation, and Subsystem Documentation. Some topics are easier to categorize than others, such as topics specific to getting started, troubleshooting, logging bugs, etc. But other topics are harder to categorize. Should they be broken up based on where they fall within the LLVM toolchain? For example, a category for topics specific to the Optimizer.



Given that you’re all more familiar with the LLVM project than I am, I’d be curious to get your thoughts/suggestions as to how you might split up the docs to make it easier for new and existing users to locate the information they need.



Thanks,

DeForest
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