This is a fairly naive take. Versioned docs are indeed fantastic. They make all the difference when using a specific version of a program or API that’s changed over time. However, Wikis are not just docs. They frequently contain general information on use of the software, and ‘recipes’ that aren’t specific to a particular version. This includes info that was not known at the time of a release, or has been clarified or corrected with hindsight. Wikis encourage people to contribute this information because it’s quick and easy.
To achieve fully version-controlled docs, and be able to make corrections and additions to any past version, every change would have to be a PR, assesed for which version it first applied to, then patched into that historical release. So is one then forced into organising their repo to use branches for versions? One shouldn’t move tags or rebase, so does it get cherry-picked onto every relevant version? What about when the docs change is relevant to past versions that are still used, but refers to something that didn’t exist or wasn’t possible at the time that past version was released? It’s a far more arduous proposition than a single wiki edit.
This is a fairly naive take. Versioned docs are indeed fantastic. They make all the difference when using a specific version of a program or API that’s changed over time. However, Wikis are not just docs. They frequently contain general information on use of the software, and ‘recipes’ that aren’t specific to a particular version. This includes info that was not known at the time of a release, or has been clarified or corrected with hindsight. Wikis encourage people to contribute this information because it’s quick and easy.
To achieve fully version-controlled docs, and be able to make corrections and additions to any past version, every change would have to be a PR, assesed for which version it first applied to, then patched into that historical release. So is one then forced into organising their repo to use branches for versions? One shouldn’t move tags or rebase, so does it get cherry-picked onto every relevant version? What about when the docs change is relevant to past versions that are still used, but refers to something that didn’t exist or wasn’t possible at the time that past version was released? It’s a far more arduous proposition than a single wiki edit.