1 <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"
2 "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
5 <title>Documentation Guidelines</title>
6 <meta name="GENERATOR" content=
7 "Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.79">
8 <link rel="HOME" title="Privoxy Developer Manual" href="index.html">
9 <link rel="PREVIOUS" title="The CVS Repository" href="cvs.html">
10 <link rel="NEXT" title="Coding Guidelines" href="coding.html">
11 <link rel="STYLESHEET" type="text/css" href="../p_doc.css">
12 <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
14 <body class="SECT1" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" vlink=
15 "#840084" alink="#0000FF">
16 <div class="NAVHEADER">
17 <table summary="Header navigation table" width="100%" border="0"
18 cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
20 <th colspan="3" align="center">Privoxy Developer Manual</th>
23 <td width="10%" align="left" valign="bottom"><a href="cvs.html"
24 accesskey="P">Prev</a></td>
25 <td width="80%" align="center" valign="bottom"></td>
26 <td width="10%" align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="coding.html"
27 accesskey="N">Next</a></td>
30 <hr align="left" width="100%">
33 <h1 class="SECT1"><a name="DOCUMENTATION" id="DOCUMENTATION">3.
34 Documentation Guidelines</a></h1>
35 <p>All formal documents are maintained in Docbook SGML and located in the
36 <samp class="COMPUTEROUTPUT">doc/source/*</samp> directory. You will need
37 <a href="http://www.docbook.org" target="_top">Docbook</a>, the Docbook
38 DTD's and the Docbook modular stylesheets (or comparable alternatives),
39 and either <span class="APPLICATION">jade</span> or <span class=
40 "APPLICATION">openjade</span> (recommended) installed in order to build
41 docs from source. Currently there is <a href="../user-manual/index.html"
42 target="_top"><i class="CITETITLE">user-manual</i></a>, <a href=
43 "../faq/index.html" target="_top"><i class="CITETITLE">FAQ</i></a>, and,
44 of course this, the <i class="CITETITLE">developer-manual</i> in this
45 format. The <i class="CITETITLE">README</i>, <i class=
46 "CITETITLE">AUTHORS</i>, <i class="CITETITLE">INSTALL</i>, <i class=
47 "CITETITLE">privoxy.1</i> (man page), and <i class="CITETITLE">config</i>
48 files are also now maintained as Docbook SGML. These files, when built,
49 in the top-level source directory are generated files! Also, the
50 <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> <tt class=
51 "FILENAME">index.html</tt> (and a variation on this file, <tt class=
52 "FILENAME">privoxy-index.html</tt>, meant for inclusion with doc
53 packages), are maintained as SGML as well. <span class=
54 "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">DO NOT edit these directly</i></span>.
55 Edit the SGML source, or contact someone involved in the
57 <p><tt class="FILENAME">config</tt> requires some special handling. The
58 reason it is maintained this way is so that the extensive comments in the
59 file mirror those in <i class="CITETITLE">user-manual</i>. But the
60 conversion process requires going from SGML to HTML to text to special
61 formatting required for the embedded comments. Some of this does not
62 survive so well. Especially some of the examples that are longer than 80
63 characters. The build process for this file outputs to <tt class=
64 "FILENAME">config.new</tt>, which should be reviewed for errors and
65 mis-formatting. Once satisfied that it is correct, then it should be hand
66 copied to <tt class="FILENAME">config</tt>.</p>
67 <p>Other, less formal documents (e.g. <tt class="FILENAME">LICENSE</tt>)
68 are maintained as plain text files in the top-level source directory.</p>
69 <p>Packagers are encouraged to include this documentation. For those
70 without the ability to build the docs locally, text versions of each are
71 kept in CVS. HTML versions are also being kept in CVS under <tt class=
72 "FILENAME">doc/webserver/*</tt>.</p>
73 <p>Formal documents are built with the Makefile targets of <samp class=
74 "COMPUTEROUTPUT">make dok</samp>. The build process uses the document
75 SGML sources in <samp class="COMPUTEROUTPUT">doc/source/*/*</samp> to
76 update all text files in <samp class="COMPUTEROUTPUT">doc/text/</samp>
77 and to update all HTML documents in <samp class=
78 "COMPUTEROUTPUT">doc/webserver/</samp>.</p>
79 <p>Documentation writers should please make sure documents build
80 successfully before committing to CVS, if possible.</p>
81 <p>How do you update the webserver (i.e. the pages on privoxy.org)?</p>
84 <p>First, build the docs by running <samp class="COMPUTEROUTPUT">make
88 <p>Run <samp class="COMPUTEROUTPUT">make webserver</samp> which
89 copies all files from <samp class=
90 "COMPUTEROUTPUT">doc/webserver</samp> to the sourceforge webserver
94 <p>Finished docs should be occasionally submitted to CVS (<tt class=
95 "FILENAME">doc/webserver/*/*.html</tt>) so that those without the ability
96 to build them locally, have access to them if needed. This is especially
97 important just prior to a new release! Please do this <span class=
98 "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">after</i></span> the <tt class=
99 "LITERAL">$VERSION</tt> and other release specific data in <tt class=
100 "FILENAME">configure.in</tt> has been updated (this is done just prior to
103 <h2 class="SECT2"><a name="SGML" id="SGML">3.1. Quickstart to Docbook
105 <p>If you are not familiar with SGML, it is a markup language similar
106 to HTML. Actually, not a mark up language per se, but a language used
107 to define markup languages. In fact, HTML is an SGML application. Both
108 will use <span class="QUOTE">"tags"</span> to format text and other
109 content. SGML tags can be much more varied, and flexible, but do much
110 of the same kinds of things. The tags, or <span class=
111 "QUOTE">"elements"</span>, are definable in SGML. There is no set
112 <span class="QUOTE">"standards"</span>. Since we are using <span class=
113 "APPLICATION">Docbook</span>, our tags are those that are defined by
114 <span class="APPLICATION">Docbook</span>. Much of how the finish
115 document is rendered is determined by the <span class=
116 "QUOTE">"stylesheets"</span>. The stylesheets determine how each tag
117 gets translated to HTML, or other formats.</p>
118 <p>Tags in Docbook SGML need to be always <span class=
119 "QUOTE">"closed"</span>. If not, you will likely generate errors.
120 Example: <tt class="LITERAL"><title>My Title</title></tt>.
121 They are also case-insensitive, but we strongly suggest using all lower
122 case. This keeps compatibility with [Docbook] <span class=
123 "APPLICATION">XML</span>.</p>
124 <p>Our documents use <span class="QUOTE">"sections"</span> for the most
125 part. Sections will be processed into HTML headers (e.g. <tt class=
126 "LITERAL">h1</tt> for <tt class="LITERAL">sect1</tt>). The <span class=
127 "APPLICATION">Docbook</span> stylesheets will use these to also
128 generate the Table of Contents for each doc. Our TOC's are set to a
129 depth of three. Meaning <tt class="LITERAL">sect1</tt>, <tt class=
130 "LITERAL">sect2</tt>, and <tt class="LITERAL">sect3</tt> will have TOC
131 entries, but <tt class="LITERAL">sect4</tt> will not. Each section
132 requires a <tt class="LITERAL"><title></tt> element, and at least
133 one <tt class="LITERAL"><para></tt>. There is a limit of five
134 section levels in Docbook, but generally three should be sufficient for
136 <p>Some common elements that you likely will use:</p>
140 <td><span class="emphasis"><i class=
141 "EMPHASIS"><para></para></i></span>, paragraph
142 delimiter. Most text needs to be within paragraph elements (there
143 are some exceptions).</td>
146 <td><span class="emphasis"><i class=
147 "EMPHASIS"><emphasis></emphasis></i></span>, the
148 stylesheets make this italics.</td>
151 <td><span class="emphasis"><i class=
152 "EMPHASIS"><filename></filename></i></span>, files
153 and directories.</td>
156 <td><span class="emphasis"><i class=
157 "EMPHASIS"><command></command></i></span>, command
161 <td><span class="emphasis"><i class=
162 "EMPHASIS"><literallayout></literallayout></i></span>,
163 like <tt class="LITERAL"><pre></tt>, more or less.</td>
166 <td><span class="emphasis"><i class=
167 "EMPHASIS"><itemizedlist></itemizedlist></i></span>,
168 list with bullets.</td>
171 <td><span class="emphasis"><i class=
172 "EMPHASIS"><listitem></listitem></i></span>, member
176 <td><span class="emphasis"><i class=
177 "EMPHASIS"><screen></screen></i></span>, screen
178 output, implies <tt class=
179 "LITERAL"><literallayout></tt>.</td>
182 <td><span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS"><ulink
183 url="example.com"></ulink></i></span>, like HTML
184 <tt class="LITERAL"><a></tt> tag.</td>
187 <td><span class="emphasis"><i class=
188 "EMPHASIS"><quote></quote></i></span>, for, doh,
193 <p>Look at any of the existing docs for examples of all these and
195 <p>You might also find <span class="QUOTE">"<a href=
196 "http://opensource.bureau-cornavin.com/crash-course/index.html" target=
197 "_top">Writing Documentation Using DocBook - A Crash Course</a>"</span>
201 <h2 class="SECT2"><a name="DOCSTYLE" id="DOCSTYLE">3.2. <span class=
202 "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> Documentation Style</a></h2>
203 <p>It will be easier if everyone follows a similar writing style. This
204 just makes it easier to read what someone else has written if it is all
205 done in a similar fashion.</p>
209 <p>All tags should be lower case.</p>
212 <p>Tags delimiting a <span class="emphasis"><i class=
213 "EMPHASIS">block</i></span> of text (even small blocks) should be
214 on their own line. Like:</p>
215 <p class="LITERALLAYOUT"> <para><br>
216 Some text goes here.<br>
217 </para><br>
218 </p>Tags marking
219 individual words, or few words, should be in-line:
220 <p class="LITERALLAYOUT">
221 Just to <emphasis>emphasize</emphasis>, some text goes here.<br>
223 </p>
226 <p>Tags should be nested and step indented for block text like:
227 (except in-line tags)</p>
228 <p class="LITERALLAYOUT"> <para><br>
229 <itemizedlist><br>
230 <para><br>
231 <listitem><br>
232 Some text goes here in our list example.<br>
234 </listitem><br>
235 </para><br>
236 </itemizedlist><br>
237 </para><br>
238 </p>This makes it easier
239 to find the text amongst the tags ;-)
242 <p>Use white space to separate logical divisions within a document,
243 like between sections. Running everything together consistently
244 makes it harder to read and work on.</p>
247 <p>Do not hesitate to make comments. Comments can either use the
248 <comment> element, or the <!-- --> style comment
249 familiar from HTML. (Note in Docbook v4.x <comment> is
250 replaced by <remark>.)</p>
253 <p>We have an international audience. Refrain from slang, or
254 English idiosyncrasies (too many to list :). Humor also does not
255 translate well sometimes.</p>
258 <p>Try to keep overall line lengths in source files to 80
259 characters or less for obvious reasons. This is not always
260 possible, with lengthy URLs for instance.</p>
263 <p>Our documents are available in differing formats. Right now,
264 they are just plain text and/or HTML, but others are always a
265 future possibility. Be careful with URLs (<ulink>), and avoid
267 <p>My favorite site is <ulink
268 url="http://example.com">here</ulink>.</p>
269 <p>This will render as <span class="QUOTE">"My favorite site is
270 here"</span>, which is not real helpful in a text doc. Better like
272 <p>My favorite site is <ulink
273 url="http://example.com">example.com</ulink>.</p>
276 <p>All documents should be spell checked occasionally. <span class=
277 "APPLICATION">aspell</span> can check SGML with the <tt class=
278 "LITERAL">-H</tt> option. (<span class="APPLICATION">ispell</span>
284 <h2 class="SECT2"><a name="AEN207" id="AEN207">3.3. Privoxy Custom
286 <p><span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> documentation is using a
287 number of customized <span class="QUOTE">"entities"</span> to
288 facilitate documentation maintenance.</p>
289 <p>We are using a set of <span class="QUOTE">"boilerplate"</span> files
290 with generic text, that is used by multiple docs. This way we can write
291 something once, and use it repeatedly without having to re-write the
292 same content over and over again. If editing such a file, keep in mind
293 that it should be <span class="emphasis"><i class=
294 "EMPHASIS">generic</i></span>. That is the purpose; so it can be used
295 in varying contexts without additional modifications.</p>
296 <p>We are also using what <span class="APPLICATION">Docbook</span>
297 calls <span class="QUOTE">"internal entities"</span>. These are like
298 variables in programming. Well, sort of. For instance, we have the
299 <tt class="LITERAL">p-version</tt> entity that contains the current
300 <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> version string. You are
301 strongly encouraged to use these where possible. Some of these
302 obviously require re-setting with each release (done by the Makefile).
303 A sampling of custom entities are listed below. See any of the main
304 docs for examples.</p>
307 <p>Re- <span class="QUOTE">"boilerplate"</span> text entities are
309 <p><tt class="LITERAL"><!entity supported SYSTEM
310 "supported.sgml"></tt></p>
311 <p>In this example, the contents of the file, <tt class=
312 "FILENAME">supported.sgml</tt> is available for inclusion anywhere
313 in the doc. To make this happen, just reference the now defined
314 entity: <tt class="LITERAL">&supported;</tt> (starts with an
315 ampersand and ends with a semi-colon), and the contents will be
316 dumped into the finished doc at that point.</p>
319 <p>Commonly used <span class="QUOTE">"internal
320 entities"</span>:</p>
324 <td><span class="emphasis"><i class=
325 "EMPHASIS">p-version</i></span>: the <span class=
326 "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> version string, e.g.
327 <span class="QUOTE">"3.0.27"</span>.</td>
330 <td><span class="emphasis"><i class=
331 "EMPHASIS">p-status</i></span>: the project status, either
332 <span class="QUOTE">"alpha"</span>, <span class=
333 "QUOTE">"beta"</span>, or <span class=
334 "QUOTE">"stable"</span>.</td>
337 <td><span class="emphasis"><i class=
338 "EMPHASIS">p-not-stable</i></span>: use to conditionally
339 include text in <span class="QUOTE">"not stable"</span>
340 releases (e.g. <span class="QUOTE">"beta"</span>).</td>
343 <td><span class="emphasis"><i class=
344 "EMPHASIS">p-stable</i></span>: just the opposite.</td>
347 <td><span class="emphasis"><i class=
348 "EMPHASIS">p-text</i></span>: this doc is only generated as
355 <p>There are others in various places that are defined for a specific
356 purpose. Read the source!</p>
359 <div class="NAVFOOTER">
360 <hr align="left" width="100%">
361 <table summary="Footer navigation table" width="100%" border="0"
362 cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
364 <td width="33%" align="left" valign="top"><a href="cvs.html"
365 accesskey="P">Prev</a></td>
366 <td width="34%" align="center" valign="top"><a href="index.html"
367 accesskey="H">Home</a></td>
368 <td width="33%" align="right" valign="top"><a href="coding.html"
369 accesskey="N">Next</a></td>
372 <td width="33%" align="left" valign="top">The CVS Repository</td>
373 <td width="34%" align="center" valign="top"> </td>
374 <td width="33%" align="right" valign="top">Coding Guidelines</td>