3.7. Pre-release software and draft documentation

Completed documentation for pre-release software is not the same thing as draft documentation.

Drafts are unfinished versions of a book or article, and their unfinished state is unrelated to the status of the software they document.

In both circumstances, however, it is important to make the status of the software, documentation or both clear to users, developers, readers and reviewers.

3.7.1. Denoting pre-release software

Documentation for pre-release software, especially pre-release software being distributed to testers, customers and partners, should carry a clear mark denoting the beta-status of the software.

To create that mark do the following:

Add the software's pre-release version number, or equivalent state information, to the subtitle in your Book_Info.xml file. Place this additional text in <remark> tags. For example:
```
<subtitle>Using Red Hat Enterprise Warp Drive<remark> Version 1.1, Beta 2</remark></subtitle>
```
add SHOW_REMARKS to the Makefile and set it to '1':
```
SHOW_REMARKS = 1
```

When your book is built with this text and setting, the software's status is displayed in clear and unmistakable fashion. PDF builds display the remark on their cover and title pages. HTML builds (both html and html-single) display the remark near the beginning of index.html

Because this approach makes no changes to the information in Book_Info.xml used to generate RPMs, it also ensures there is no ambiguity in the RPM subsystem's operation.

Important

It is the writer's responsibility to remove the <remark> tag and its contents and remove or turn off SHOW_REMARKS when documentation is updated for use with the release version of the software.