[FFmpeg-user] "instead of complaining, submit a patch" [was: Re: minterpolate problem]

[Phil Rhodes]

 On Tuesday, 2 February 2021, 20:29:44 GMT, Michael Koch <astroelectronic at t-online.de> wrote:

 > In my opinion, it would be best to have all documentation in a wiki.
I think that's probably a good idea. For something the size and complexity of ffmpeg, trying to embed the documentation into the executable is crazy.
> Another suggestion: A programmer who adds a new feature to FFmpeg> shouldn't write the documentation for this feature himself. Because for> him everything is totally clear and he forgets to describe some> important details.
This is a very important point. Often, documenting something like ffmpeg will requires an enormous amount of back and forth between technical people and writers to ensure that everything's documented in a way that's both technically rigorous and understandable. A lot of open source projects fail hard on this because what happens is exactly what you fear - whoever implemented it, who is not a writer to begin with, and may be operating in a second language, writes up a very thin description with an enormous amount of prerequisites and assumed knowledge.
P