Re: db2html

[Dan Hensley <dan hensley att net>]

Raja R Harinath wrote:

> Dan Hensley <dan.hensley@att.net> writes:
> > Raja R Harinath wrote:
> [snip]
> > > For Linux, you can get `db2html' from:
> > >
> > >   * DocBook RPMs at http://sourceware.cygnus.com/docbook-tools/
> > >   * `cygnus-stylesheets' package on Debian
> > >   * I think a package called `sgmltools-2' for SuSE
> > >
> > > For other systems, here's my homegrown `db2html' and DSSSL driver file
> > > that customizes the "Norman Walsh Modular DocBook DSSSL Stylesheets".
> > > (This assumes that you already have a sane SGML setup, with all the
> > > right catalog files, and of course, the DocBook stylesheets).
> >
> > First of all, thank you very much for replying and posting this info!
> >
> > I think I have a sane SGML setup (I followed the directions on one of the web
> > pages and made sure the sample problems set up ok.  But to get things to work
> > right I had to remove the following line from your .dsl file:
> > ;; Modular DocBook Stylesheets <URL:http://nwalsh.com>
> >
> > Otherwise I got this:
> > jade:/usr/lib/sgml/db2x/docbook-html-override.dsl:10:35:E: character ":" not
> > allowed in attribute specification list
> > jade:/usr/lib/sgml/db2x/docbook-html-override.dsl:10:35:E: element "URL"
> > undefined
> > jade:/usr/lib/sgml/db2x/docbook-html-override.dsl:17:26:E: end tag for "URL"
> > omitted, but OMITTAG NO was specified
> > jade:/usr/lib/sgml/db2x/docbook-html-override.dsl:10:31: start tag was here
> >
> > Is this an indication that I don't have a sane environment?
>
> Well, line 10 in that file is a comment.  It looks like your version
> of `jade' is trying to interpret that line.  Try deleting that line
> and try again.  You may also want to try a newer version of `jade' or
> try a version from the OpenJade.

That's what I found strange.  At any rate, I removed that line and didn't get the
error message, but I wanted to make sure I wasn't hurting myself somewhere else.
I can't remember which version of jade I've actually got installed (probably the
one from sgmltools-2.0.2).  I kind of made a mess of my system installing jade and
docbook, so now I need to go back and clean it all up.

> > DocBook isn't exactly the easiest thing to set up and understand.  I
> > have no idea why the Gnome people decided to go this route for
> > documentation.  It seems like needless headaches for everyone.
>
> Maybe because it is the right tool for the job.  GNOME is not the only
> project standardizing on DocBook.  Even Sun is using a variant of
> DocBook to manage its manpages.

Well, OK.  :-)  I guess it's just one more tool I need to figure out.  I was just
getting frustrated that each part of the Gnome install process has been a
challenge.  I'd really like to contribute, but before I do I want to feel like I
know how to build the whole thing.  My first thought is to update the FAQ for
building from source, since it's out of date (at least last time I looked).  But
I'm still trying to figure out what I could actually make meaningful contributions
to.

> Anyway, I think the policy is that no build should terminate if the
> DocBook tools aren't present.  It is assumed that the person putting
> together the tarballs will have a sane setup, and the generated HTML
> files will be part of the tarball.  However, if you're working out of
> CVS, you've to fend for yourself -- but even here, the build doesn't
> break, you will only be missing the HTML version of the documentation.

I haven't pulled anything out of CVS yet (one more thing to learn), but all the
packages I've compiled so far have the no-fail policy (which IMHO is the right
thing to do).

Thanks,
Dan