Author: | David Goodger |
---|---|
Contact: | [email protected] |
Date: | |
Web site: | http://docutils.sourceforge.net/ |
Copyright: | This document has been placed in the public domain. |
Contents
This is for those who want to get up & running quickly. Read on for complete details.
Get and install the latest release of Python, available from
Docutils is compatible with Python versions from 2.3 up to 2.6 and version 3.1. (Support for Python 3 is new and might still have some issues.)
Use the latest Docutils code. Get the code from Subversion or from the snapshot:
See Releases & Snapshots below for details.
Unpack the tarball in a temporary directory (not directly in Python's
site-packages
) and runsetup.py install
orinstall.py
with admin rights. On Windows systems it may be sufficient to double-clickinstall.py
. On Unix or Mac OS X, type:su (enter admin password) ./setup.py install
Docutils will only work with Python 3, if installed with a Python version >= 3. If your default Python version is 2.x, also call
python3 setup.py install
from the temporary directory. See Installation below for details.Use a front-end tool from the "tools" subdirectory of the same directory as in step 3. For example:
cd tools ./rst2html.py ../FAQ.txt ../FAQ.html (Unix) python rst2html.py ..\FAQ.txt ..\FAQ.html (Windows)
See Usage below for details.
The purpose of the Docutils project is to create a set of tools for processing plaintext documentation into useful formats, such as HTML, XML, and LaTeX. Support for the following sources has been implemented:
- Standalone files.
- PEPs (Python Enhancement Proposals).
Support for the following sources is planned:
- Inline documentation from Python modules and packages, extracted with namespace context.
- Email (RFC-822 headers, quoted excerpts, signatures, MIME parts).
- Wikis, with global reference lookups of "wiki links".
- Compound documents, such as multiple chapter files merged into a book.
- And others as discovered.
While we are trying to follow a "release early & often" policy, features are added very frequently. Since the code in the Subversion repository is usually in a bug-free state, we recommend that you use the current snapshot (which is usually updated within an hour of changes being committed to the repository):
- Snapshot of Docutils code, documentation, front-end tools, and tests: http://docutils.sf.net/docutils-snapshot.tgz
- Snapshot of the Sandbox (experimental, contributed code): http://docutils.sf.net/docutils-sandbox-snapshot.tgz
To keep up to date on the latest developments, download fresh copies of the snapshots regularly. New functionality is being added weekly, sometimes daily. (There's also the Subversion repository.)
To run the code, Python 2.3 or later must already be installed. Python is available from http://www.python.org/.
The Python Imaging Library, or PIL, is used for some image manipulation operations if it is installed.
- README.txt: You're reading it.
- COPYING.txt: Public Domain Dedication and copyright details for non-public-domain files (most are PD).
- FAQ.txt: Frequently Asked Questions (with answers!).
- RELEASE-NOTES.txt: Summary of the major changes in recent releases.
- HISTORY.txt: A detailed change log, for the current and all previous project releases.
- BUGS.txt: Known bugs, and how to report a bug.
- THANKS.txt: List of contributors.
- setup.py: Installation script. See "Installation" below.
- install.py: Quick & dirty installation script. Just run it. For any kind of customization or help though, setup.py must be used.
- docutils: The project source directory, installed as a Python package.
- extras: Directory for third-party modules that Docutils depends on (roman.py). These are only installed if they're not already present.
- docs: The project documentation directory. Read
docs/index.txt
for an overview. - docs/user: The project user documentation directory. Contains the
following documents, among others:
- docs/user/tools.txt: Docutils Front-End Tools
- docs/user/latex.txt: Docutils LaTeX Writer
- docs/user/rst/quickstart.txt: A ReStructuredText Primer
- docs/user/rst/quickref.html: Quick reStructuredText (HTML only)
- docs/ref: The project reference directory.
docs/ref/rst/restructuredtext.txt
is the reStructuredText reference. - licenses: Directory containing copies of license files for non-public-domain files.
- tools: Directory for Docutils front-end tools. See
docs/user/tools.txt
for documentation. - test: Unit tests. Not required to use the software, but very useful if you're planning to modify it. See Running the Test Suite below.
The first step is to expand the .tgz
archive in a temporary
directory (not directly in Python's site-packages
). It
contains a distutils setup file "setup.py". OS-specific installation
instructions follow.
Open a shell.
Go to the directory created by expanding the archive:
cd <archive_directory_path>
Install the package:
python setup.py install
If the python executable isn't on your path, you'll have to specify the complete path, such as /usr/local/bin/python. You may need root permissions to complete this step.
To install for a specific python version, use this version in the setup call, e.g.
python3.1 setup.py install
Just double-click install.py
. If this doesn't work, try the
following:
Open a DOS Box (Command Shell, MS-DOS Prompt, or whatever they're calling it these days).
Go to the directory created by expanding the archive:
cd <archive_directory_path>
Install the package:
<path_to_python.exe>\python setup.py install
To install for a specific python version, specify the Python executable for this version.
If called from Python 3, setup.py, in addition to copying the sources to the right place, will also convert them using 2to3 to Python 3 compatible code.
- If you want to test or develop Docutils, also run
python3 setup.py build
. This will generate Python 3 compatible sources, tests and developer tools in the build directory. Do changes on the Python 2 versions of the sources and re-run the build command. This works incrementally, so if you change one file it will only reconvert that file the next time you run setup.py build.
After unpacking and installing the Docutils package, the following shell commands will generate HTML for all included documentation:
cd <archive_directory_path>/tools ./buildhtml.py ../
On Windows systems, type:
cd <archive_directory_path>\tools python buildhtml.py ..
The final directory name of the <archive_directory_path>
is
"docutils" for snapshots. For official releases, the directory may be
called "docutils-X.Y.Z", where "X.Y.Z" is the release version.
Alternatively:
cd <archive_directory_path> tools/buildhtml.py --config=tools/docutils.conf (Unix) python tools\buildhtml.py --config=tools\docutils.conf (Windows)
With Python 3, call:
build/<Python-3-subdir>/tools/buildhtml.py --config=tools/docutils.conf
Some files may generate system messages (warnings and errors). The
docs/user/rst/demo.txt
file (under the archive directory) contains
five intentional errors. (They test the error reporting mechanism!)
There are many front-end tools in the unpacked "tools" subdirectory.
You may want to begin with the "rst2html.py" front-end tool. Most
tools take up to two arguments, the source path and destination path,
with STDIN and STDOUT being the defaults. Use the "--help" option to
the front-end tools for details on options and arguments. See
Docutils Front-End Tools (docs/user/tools.txt
) for full documentation.
The package modules are continually growing and evolving. The
docutils.statemachine
module is usable independently. It contains
extensive inline documentation (in reStructuredText format of course).
Contributions are welcome!
To run the entire test suite, after installation open a shell and use the following commands:
cd <archive_directory_path>/test ./alltests.py
Under Windows, type:
cd <archive_directory_path>\test python alltests.py
For testing with Python 3 use the converted test suite:
cd <archive_directory_path>/build/<Python-3-subdir>/test python alltests.py
You should see a long line of periods, one for each test, and then a summary like this:
Ran 1111 tests in 24.653s OK Elapsed time: 26.189 seconds
The number of tests will grow over time, and the times reported will depend on the computer running the tests. The difference between the two times represents the time required to set up the tests (import modules, create data structures, etc.).
If any of the tests fail, please open a bug report, send email,
or post a message via the web interface (see Bugs).
Please include all relevant output, information about your operating
system, Python version, and Docutils version. To see the Docutils
version, use one of the rst2*
front ends or tools/quicktest.py
with the --version
option, e.g.:
cd ../tools ./quicktest.py --version
Windows users type these commands:
cd ..\tools python quicktest.py --version
Python 3 users must use build/<Python-3-subdir>/tools/quicktest.py
.
If you have questions or need assistance with Docutils or reStructuredText, please post a message to the Docutils-users mailing list.