Debian doc-base Manual
Christian Schwarz
<schwarz@debian.org>
Adam Di Carlo
<aph@debian.org>
Robert Luberda
<robert@debian.org>
ver. 0.11.1
Copyright © 1998, Christian Schwarz
Copyright © 1999 – 2002, Adam Di Carlo
Copyright © 2006 – 2018, Robert Luberda
This manual is free software; you may redistribute it and/or modify it
under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option) any
later version.
This is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but without any
warranty; without even the implied warranty of merchantability or
fitness for a particular purpose. See the GNU General Public License
for more details.
A copy of the GNU General Public License is available as
/usr/share/common-licenses/GPL in the Debian GNU/Linux distribution or
on the World Wide Web at the GNU website. You can also obtain it by
writing to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth
Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
25 January 2021
Abstract
This manual describes what doc-base is and how it can be used to manage
online manuals on Debian systems.
__________________________________________________________________
Table of Contents
1. About doc-base
2. The packages interface
2.1. Introduction
2.2. Document IDs
2.3. Control Files
2.3.1. Example
2.3.2. Syntax of the control file
2.3.2.1. The main section
2.3.2.2. Format sections
2.3.3. The section field
2.4. Registering Documents With doc-base
2.5. doc-base 0.8.x features and incompatibilities
2.5.1. Splitting control files over multiple binary packages
2.5.2. Registering local documents
2.5.3. dpkg triggers
2.6. Checking Syntax of Control Files
3. Getting information about installed documents
4. TODO List
4.1. Roadmap for 0.9.* releases
4.2. Old TODO entries
Chapter 1. About doc-base
Some time ago, there was a big discussion on the Debian mailing lists
about the preferred documentation format in Debian. The discussion
showed clearly that people have very different opinions on that topic
and thus, we'll have to implement a flexible solution.
The doc-base package tries to implement such a flexible solution: every
Debian package that provides online documentation (other than manual
pages) will register these documents to doc-base via the install-docs
script (see Section 2.4, “Registering Documents With doc-base”) at
installation time and de-register the manuals again when the package is
removed.
Since all manuals will eventually be registered, doc-base can also be
used to solve another outstanding problem: Debian currently has four
different online documentation systems, doc-central, dwww, dochelp, and
dhelp. Each system has advantages and disadvantages; thus doc-base
supports all of them. The system administrator can choose which
implementation he/she prefers.
Chapter 2. The packages interface
Table of Contents
2.1. Introduction
2.2. Document IDs
2.3. Control Files
2.3.1. Example
2.3.2. Syntax of the control file
2.3.2.1. The main section
2.3.2.2. Format sections
2.3.3. The section field
2.4. Registering Documents With doc-base
2.5. doc-base 0.8.x features and incompatibilities
2.5.1. Splitting control files over multiple binary packages
2.5.2. Registering local documents
2.5.3. dpkg triggers
2.6. Checking Syntax of Control Files
2.1. Introduction
Each Debian package that installs online manuals (in any format) should
register its manuals to doc-base. This is done by installing a doc-base
control file (see Section 2.3, “Control Files”) and calling
install-docs from the postinst script (see Section 2.4, “Registering
Documents With doc-base”).
2.2. Document IDs
Each document that is registered to doc-base must have a unique
document ID.
The document ID is usually taken from the document's title or from the
package name. Here are a few examples:
DOCID Title
---------------------- ----------------------------
debian-policy Debian Policy Manual
developers-reference Debian Developers Reference
doc-base Debian doc-base Manual
emacs-manual GNU Emacs Manual
Legal characters for the document ID are lower case letters (a-z),
digits (0-9), plus (+) or minus (-) signs, and dots (.) (the same
characters allowed in package names).
2.3. Control Files
For each piece of online documentation, doc-base needs a control file
that describes the documentation and the documentation file formats
that are provided initially.
2.3.1. Example
Here is an example of a control file:
Document: doc-base
Title: Debian doc-base Manual
Author: Christian Schwarz
Abstract: This manual describes what doc-base is
and how it can be used to
manage online manuals on Debian systems.
Section: Debian
Format: DebianDoc-SGML
Files: /usr/share/doc/doc-base/doc-base.sgml.gz
Format: Text
Files: /usr/share/doc/doc-base/doc-base.txt.gz
Format: HTML
Index: /usr/share/doc/doc-base/doc-base.html/index.html
Files: /usr/share/doc/doc-base/doc-base.html/*.html
If the doc-base package provided necessary files in other formats, it
would be possible to add more sections at the end of the control file:
Format: PDF
Files: /usr/share/doc-base/doc-base.pdf
Format: PostScript
Files: /usr/share/doc-base/doc-base.ps.gz
Format: DVI
Files: /usr/share/doc-base/doc-base.dvi.gz
Format: Info
Index: /usr/share/info/doc-base.info.gz
Files: /usr/share/info/doc-base.info*.gz
2.3.2. Syntax of the control file
As you can see from the above example, the syntax -- as is the whole
design of doc-base -- is heavily influenced by dpkg. This is important
since every maintainer will have to work with doc-base and thus, it
should be simple to remember the basic ideas.
The syntax of the control file is simple:
* The file consist of
+ exactly one main section providing base information about the
registered manual (see Section 2.3.2.1, “The main section”
below);
+ one or more format sections (see Section 2.3.2.2, “Format
sections”) containing pointers to the registered documentation
files.
* Successive sections must be separated with empty lines.
* Non-empty lines use a `field-name: value' syntax.
* The field names are case-insensitive.
* The field values are case-sensitive (except for the Format field).
* Field values may be wrapped over several lines by making the first
character of subsequent lines a space.
+ If a multi-line value should contain an empty line, a single
dot (.) must be placed in the second column.
+ If the Abstract field value should contain lines displayed
verbatim, the lines must begin with two spaces.
* The file should be encoded in UTF-8.
2.3.2.1. The main section
The first section of the control file describes the document. The
following fields are available:
Document
Document ID, required field; should be the first field.
Title
Title of the document; required field.
Author
Author(s) of the document; optional field.
Abstract
Short paragraph giving an overview of the document; optional but
recommended field.
Section
Section where the document belongs; see Section 2.3.3, “The
section field”. Required field.
2.3.2.2. Format sections
The next sections describe the different formats for the provided
document, which is described in the first section. The following fields
are available:
Format
Format for the document. Required field. The following formats
are recognised:
+ HTML,
+ Text,
+ PDF,
+ PostScript,
+ Info,
+ DVI,
+ and DebianDoc-SGML.
The values of this field are case-insensitive (e.g. both Text
and text are valid).
Index
Index or top-level file for this document format. Only applies
to document formats HTML and Info, and required if the format is
HTML or Info.
This field has to contain the absolute file name of the main
page of the document. This file will be specified as the front
page link when the document is registered.
Files
Space separated list of filenames or POSIX shell globs (i.e. *,
?, and [] meta-characters) representing the files which
constitute the documentation in this format. Required field.
There must be at least one such section. If there are more, each of
them must register files in different formats (e.g. having two Format:
HTML sections in one control file is not allowed).
Except for the Info format the files referred to in both Index and
Files fields should be placed somewhere under the /usr/share/doc
hierarchy. If for some reason it's not possible, then the registering
package should provide a symbolic link pointing from the above
hierarchy to the real files and register its documentation through the
link, allowing the doc-base, dhelp, or dwww packages to actually handle
the documentation. Of course, files in the Info format should be
located in the /usr/share/info directory.
2.3.3. The section field
The section field holds a slash-separated list of hierarchical section
components. The hierarchy is mostly based on the sections outlined in
chapter 2.1 of the Debian Menu Policy; however the top-level
Applications component was removed and a few doc-base-specific sections
were added.
The full section list is presented below.
Accessibility
Documentation of tools to aid people with disabilities or for
machines lacking usual input devices.
Amateur Radio
Anything relating to ham radio.
Data Management
Interactive database programs, collection managers, address
books, bibliography tools, etc.
Debian
Documentation of Debian specific tools, policies, etc.
Editors
Documentation of editors, other than office word processors, for
text-based information.
Education
Educational and training software.
Emulators
Software that allows you to run non-native software or more than
one OS at a time.
File Management
Tools for file management, archiving, searching, CD/DVD burning,
backup, etc.
Games
Games and recreations. Entries should be placed in the
appropriate subsection.
Games/Action
Games that involve a lot of action and require fast
reflexes.
Games/Adventure
Role playing and adventure games, interactive movies and
stories, etc.
Games/Blocks
Tetris-like games involving falling blocks.
Games/Board
Games played on a board.
Games/Card
Games involving a deck of cards.
Games/Puzzles
Tests of ingenuity and logic.
Games/Simulation
Simulations of the real world in all detail and
complexity.
Games/Strategy
Games involving long-term strategic thinking.
Games/Tools
Server browsers, configurators, editors, and other
game-related tools that are not games themselves.
Games/Toys
Amusements, eye-candy, entertaining demos, screen hacks
(screen-savers), etc.
Graphics
2D and 3D graphics manipulation software.
Help
Documentation of programs that provide user documentation.
Help/Books
Books.
Help/FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions.
Help/HOWTO
Various HOWTOs.
Help/RFC
RFCs
Help/Standards
Standards
Mobile Devices
Software that allows you to interface with mobile devices
(phones, PDAs, etc.).
Network
Network related software. This is a two-level section; do not
put entries directly here.
Network/Communication
Mail, USENET news, chat, instant messaging, IP telephony,
video conferencing software, etc.
Network/File Transfer
File transfer software such as download managers, FTP
clients, P2P clients, etc.
Network/Monitoring
Network monitoring software.
Network/Remote Access
Tools for remotely managing a computer.
Network/Web Browsing
Web browsers, tools for offline browsing, etc.
Network/Web News
Web feed (RSS, Atom, etc.) and podcast aggregators.
Office
Office suites, word processors, spreadsheets, CRM, ERP,
financial software, etc.
Programming
IDEs, debuggers, compilers, APIs, libraries, programming
languages. Documentation related to only one specific language
should be put in the subsection named like the language, for
example:
+ Programming/C
+ Programming/C++
+ Programming/Java
+ Programming/OCaml
+ Programming/Perl
+ Programming/Python
+ Programming/Ruby
Project Management
Timetable managers, group task trackers, bug tracking software,
etc.
Science
Documentation of scientific and engineering-related software.
Please use the appropriate subsection.
Science/Astronomy
Astronomy-related software.
Science/Biology
Biology-related software.
Science/Chemistry
Chemistry-related software.
Science/Data Analysis
Software designed for processing, extracting, and
presenting generic scientific data.
Science/Electronics
Circuit design tools, simulators and assemblers for
microprocessors, etc.
Science/Engineering
CAD, UML tools, diagram-drawing and other
engineering-related software.
Science/Geoscience
Geoscience-related software.
Science/Mathematics
Mathematics-related software.
Science/Medicine
Medicine-related software.
Science/Physics
Physics-related software.
Science/Social
Social sciences-related software.
Screen
Programs that affect the whole screen.
Screen/Saving
Tools for blanking the screen. Entries of screen hacks and
configuration GUIs should go to other appropriate
sections.
Screen/Locking
Tools for locking the screen.
Shells
Various shells to be used inside a terminal emulator.
Sound
Sound players, editors, and rippers/recorders.
System
System related software. Place entries in one of the
subsections.
System/Administration
Administrative and system configuration utilities, also
tools for personal user settings.
System/Hardware
Tools for manipulating specific hardware, especially
non-standard laptop hardware.
System/Language Environment
This section is reserved for language-env as a special
case.
System/Monitoring
System information and monitoring tools, log viewers, etc.
System/Package Management
Package managers and related tools.
System/Security
Security, cryptography and privacy related software,
antiviruses, tools to track and report bugs, etc.
Terminal Emulators
Graphical terminal emulators.
Text
Text oriented tools like dictionaries, OCR, translation, text
analysis software, etc.
TV and Radio
TV-in, TV-out, FM radio, teletext browsers, etc.
Typesetting
Software for typesetting text and graphics from structured input
files like LaTeX or docbook sources, database exports etc.
Viewers
Software for viewing images, documents and other (non-video)
media.
Video
Video players, editors, and rippers/recorders.
Web Development
Software for web site editing, web programming, and site
administration.
Window Managers
X window managers.
2.4. Registering Documents With doc-base
In order to register a piece of online documentation to doc-base, all
the package needs to do is install the control file (see Section 2.3,
“Control Files”) as file /usr/share/doc-base/document-id.
Further processing of the control file is handled by a dpkg trigger
(cf. /usr/share/doc/dpkg/triggers.txt.gz) provided by doc-base. The
trigger will call install-docs to generate the
/var/lib/doc-base/documents/<document-id> file and register the online
manuals to dwww, and dhelp, when the package is installed, and
de-register the manuals when the package is removed.
2.5. doc-base 0.8.x features and incompatibilities
2.5.1. Splitting control files over multiple binary packages
Since version 0.8.7 it is possible to provide documents with the same
document-id by more than one binary package. All such documents will be
merged together and the merged document will be generated in the
/var/lib/doc-base/documents/document-id file. This feature can be
useful in cases when the same documentation, but in different formats,
is provided by two binary packages.
For example the foo-text package could install the
/usr/share/doc-base/foo-text file with the following contents:
Document: foo
Title: This is foo
Author: John Foo <foo@foo.net>
Abstract: Description of foo
Section: Text
Format: text
Files: /usr/share/foo-text/foo.txt.gz
and the foo-html package could install the following
/usr/share/doc-base/foo-html file:
Document: foo
Title: This is foo
Author: John Foo <foo@foo.net>
Abstract: Description of foo
Section: Text
Format: HTML
Index: /usr/share/foo-html/index.html
Files: /usr/share/foo-html/*.html
When both packages are installed, install-docs will merge the contents
of the two files into /var/lib/doc-base/documents/foo:
Document: foo
Title: This is foo
Author: John Foo <foo@foo.net>
Abstract: Description of foo
Section: Text
Format: HTML
Index: /usr/share/foo-html/index.html
Files: /usr/share/foo-html/*.html
Format: text
Files: /usr/share/foo-text/foo.txt.gz
2.5.2. Registering local documents
Version 0.8.7 and further allow a user to register local documentation.
In order to do this local administrators need to create their own
control file (see Section 2.3, “Control Files”, place it in the
/etc/doc-base/documents directory, and then register it with
install-docs -i /etc/doc-base/documents/<document-id>
Before removing the file, it should be de-registered with
install-docs -r /etc/doc-base/documents/<document-id>
Since version 0.8.12
install-docs --install-changed
may be used instead of the two above commands.
2.5.3. dpkg triggers
doc-base 0.8.11 and greater use the dpkg triggers feature to register
and de-register the documentation. There is no longer a need to call
install-docs from maintainer scripts.
2.6. Checking Syntax of Control Files
With the new --check (-c) option of install-docs it is possible to
check the control file:
$ install-docs --check /usr/share/doc-base/doc-base
/usr/share/doc-base/doc-base: No problems found
$ install-docs -c /usr/share/doc-base/xlogmaster
Error in `/usr/share/doc-base/xlogmaster', line 15: `Index' value missing for fo
rmat info
/usr/share/doc-base/xlogmaster: Fatal error found, the file won't be registered
$ install-docs -c /usr/share/doc-base/MC-FAQ /usr/share/doc-base/gnu-privacy-han
dbook
/usr/share/doc-base/MC-FAQ: 1 warning(s) or non-fatal error(s) found
/usr/share/doc-base/gnu-privacy-handbook: 1 warning(s) or non-fatal error(s) fou
nd
More details about the warnings and non-fatal errors can be found using
the --verbose (-v) option:
$ install-docs -v -c /usr/share/doc-base/MC-FAQ /usr/share/doc-base/gnu-privacy-
handbook
Warning in `/usr/share/doc-base/MC-FAQ', line 1: invalid value of `Document' fie
ld
/usr/share/doc-base/MC-FAQ: 1 warning(s) or non-fatal error(s) found
Warning in `/usr/share/doc-base/gnu-privacy-handbook', line 12: file `/usr/share
/doc/gnupg-doc/GNU_Privacy_Handbook/html/book1.html' does not exist
/usr/share/doc-base/gnu-privacy-handbook: 1 warning(s) or non-fatal error(s) fou
nd
With the --rootdir option it is possible to check non-installed
packages:
$ dpkg-deb -x autoclass_3.3.4-6_i386.deb AUTOCLASS_UNPACKED
$ install-docs --rootdir AUTOCLASS_UNPACKED -vc AUTOCLASS_UNPACKED/usr/share/doc
-base/*
AUTOCLASS_UNPACKED/usr/share/doc-base/autoclass-results: No problems found
AUTOCLASS_UNPACKED/usr/share/doc-base/autoclass-theory: No problems found
If the --rootdir option was omitted, install-docs would complain:
Warning in `AUTOCLASS_UNPACKED/usr/share/doc-base/autoclass-results', line 20: f
ile mask `/usr/share/doc/autoclass/kdd-95.pdf' does not match any files
Warning in `AUTOCLASS_UNPACKED/usr/share/doc-base/autoclass-theory', line 20: fi
le mask `/usr/share/doc/autoclass/tr-fia-90-12-7-01.pdf' does not match any file
s
Chapter 3. Getting information about installed documents
If you want to get information about the status of an installed manual,
you can use the `-s' or `--status' option of install-docs followed by
the document id:
$ install-docs -s foo
---document-information---
Document: foo
Abstract: This manual is about foos, bars, and Debian.
Author: Wile E. Coyote
Section: Debian
Title: Debian Foo's Manual
---format-description---
Format: debiandoc-sgml
Files: /usr/share/doc/foo/sgml/foo.sgml.gz
---format-description---
Format: html
Files: /usr/share/doc/foo/html-sgml/*.html
Index: /usr/share/doc/foo/html-sgml/index.html
---status-information---
Control-Files: /usr/share/doc-base/foo (changed: Tue Apr 8 23:09:24 2008)
doc-base always creates a /var/lib/doc-base/documents/<document-id>
file when installing a document.
Chapter 4. TODO List
Table of Contents
4.1. Roadmap for 0.9.* releases
4.2. Old TODO entries
4.1. Roadmap for 0.9.* releases
* Internationalisation and po-debconf support. Unfortunately this
would require merging Abstract and Title fields into one
Description field. See Bug#171363, Bug#171375, and Bug#171378.
* Introduce some new fields, like Package (Bug#71955), or SortSkip
(Bug#187590).
* Possibly allow documents to appear in multiple sections; see Steve
M. Robbins' mail.
* Possibly index documentation with swish++ that could be used by
frontends like dhelp or dwww.
4.2. Old TODO entries
* Policy: document the doc-base document registration file format
separately (or SUBDOC it) as a proposed Debian documentation system
policy.
* Policy: define a first-cut standard as the document hierarchy.
* Documentation update: show clean and minimal use of install-docs
from a maintainer script.
* It is extremely difficult to deal coherently with a misnamed
control file, or a mismatch between a control file and the document
field. This hit me in the transition between doc-base 0.4 to 0.5
(in 0.4 I had added, in a file install-docs-man, a document ID
named install-doc-man). Something needs to be done about that.
* Automated format conversion, including user preferences. (For
example, convert Texinfo source to GNU info or PostScript,
optionally compress or remove HTML manuals which are also available
in GNU info format, etc. etc.)
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