I just pushed another alpha release out to the live site: http://www.sonatype.com/book/. This release includes the following changes:
- A New Foreword: I wanted to provide something that set the expectations for the Alpha release. First, we're taking a risk that someone might stumble upon the book and assume that it is a stable completed work. It isn't. We don't expect a lot of changes to the existing content over the next few weeks, but people should know, we're still in an alpha stage of this book release. The Foreword also encourages feedback and points people back at this blog.
- Copyright: Sonatype intends to release this book under a Creative Commons license, but we've reserved all rights for our Alpha release. We're not doing this to prevent you from using and redistributing the book, we just don't feel comfortable allowing or encouraging redistribution of an unfinished production that has Sonatype's name on it. As we get closer to a final production release, we will clarify the license that we intend to apply to this book. (It'll be some variant of CC.)
- Preface Material: I always leave the preface to the last thing I do in a book, but the online version of the book seems naked without some expected intro material. The preface intro I wrote might be a little too grand? Maybe "How to Use this Book" is a little to sarcastic? If people don't like this section, they should let me know. There is also a new section that encourages feedback. The feedback email address is tobrien@sonatype.com until we have a better email alias.
- Part I Introduction: Part I had no introduction, I added a lengthy introduction which reiterates the preface. I compares Part I to a Developer's Notebook, but then it also makes the case for Part II. Is this section appropriate? You tell me.