Finding a documentation solution without vendor lock-in
pospi Thu 28 Nov 2019 1:49AMPublicSeen by 61It seems like Gitbook are actually jerks who don't give you access to the git repository your documentation is backed by.
Potential workaround is that there is a bidirectional sync option for Github repos. Since the group is currently private, we would need a private repo to do this backup.
Does anyone have a paid Github account and would like to volunteer to host a backup of the group's handbook?
Once configured, we can connect to the git repo on Github and use it to access the raw data.
pospiMon 9 Mar 2020 5:06AM
Let's review in a few weeks and see how HackMD is serving our needs.
pospiMon 9 Mar 2020 4:23AM
I have done the Gitbook export and it is worse than expected. It does not preserve history in the cutover! Completely terrible. But not such a big deal since I am the only one who has written in there directly (others have, but with their names as prefix to a question). The content is now living at https://github.com/economikit-alliance/handbook and browsable at https://economikit-alliance.github.io/, and I have set up a HackMD group for us to edit in for those who aren't comfortable with git usage.
Will send invites around shortly, it's just a bit tedious to add the pages as you have to do them individually.
pospiTue 3 Dec 2019 8:58PM
No, not at all. We still need some way of getting at the raw data & git history out of Gitbook. I need somebody with a paid Github account to test if this is possible; otherwise we'll need to revisit other solutions.
Bob HaugenTue 3 Dec 2019 6:56PM
So @pospi are we good now, and we are no longer looking at alternatives?
pospiMon 2 Dec 2019 11:17PM
FWIW we now have a free pro Gitbook account because we're an open source team... so that's something (;
pospiMon 2 Dec 2019 2:59AM
Not much of use in that thread, those are all tools requiring the sort of technical expertise I was hoping to avoid here.
Another option is to use a Github wiki directly (the editing isn't quite as nice, but still totally usable if you are comfortable with Markdown). But having a private Github wiki entails the same barrier as syncing Gitbook across- you need a paid Github account.
Bob HaugenFri 29 Nov 2019 12:33PM
@pospi did you see this SSB thread about gitbook replacements for that very problem?
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pospi ·Fri 27 Mar 2020 2:19AM
HackMD seems to be working well for everyone. Closing this until such time as we may want to revisit.