norman.walsh.name: Comments on /2005/01/03/DocBook-05http://norman.walsh.name/2005/01/03/DocBook-05/comments.atom2012-02-13T08:39:06.18182ZComment 1 on /2005/01/03/DocBook-05http://norman.walsh.name/2010/09/25/oauth#comment00012005-01-04T16:10:41Z2005-01-04T16:10:41ZBruce D'Arcusda39a3ee5e6b4b0d3255bfef95601890afd80709

For me, the most frustrating issue relating to packaging was the DTD-based toolchain. So, I have my document with its doctype declaration and I want to transform it. I rummage around and figure out how to get an xslt processor working. But wait, I can't actually run the damned process because the processor wants to know where the DTD is.

Now I have to figure out how to deal with catalog files (not at all fun!), or I just remove the declaration and try again. But wait, the document contains entities, and the processor again chokes.

Perhaps with v5, the task can be made easier for new users by simplifying the above mess? Maybe a simple shell script for running the transformation would help too?

Comment 2 on /2005/01/03/DocBook-05http://norman.walsh.name/2010/09/25/oauth#comment00022005-01-09T18:43:37Z2005-01-09T18:43:37ZJeroen Ruigrok van der Wervenda39a3ee5e6b4b0d3255bfef95601890afd80709

FreeBSD has a textproc/xmlcatmgr (which I think comes from NetBSD) that automates registration of new DTDs in the catalogs. Might be useful?

Comment 3 on /2005/01/03/DocBook-05http://norman.walsh.name/2010/09/25/oauth#comment00032005-01-10T19:04:42Z2005-01-10T19:04:42ZIsmael Oleada39a3ee5e6b4b0d3255bfef95601890afd80709

IMO, xmlto (http://freshmeat.net/projects/xmlto/) is a great and stable wrapper for xml processing. Is available for years in all main Linux distros AFAIK. I feel using something like: 

    $ xmlto pdf document.xml
    $ xmlto xhtml document.xml
is not so hard for a user.

Thus, xmlto and the the related packages is a present packaging solution in *IX, where we have a well structured catalog registry system and filesystem standar which keeps things clear and easy to use with the remote package updaters like yum, urpmi or apt.

An about whishes, I think the present stylesheets still needs a lot of love. The present output, specially the PDF one is not as beauty as I think it could be. And nicer PDF and HTML would be an eternal gift for the users :-D

Comment 4 on /2005/01/03/DocBook-05http://norman.walsh.name/2010/09/25/oauth#comment00042005-01-17T03:33:44Z2005-01-17T03:33:44ZIan E. Gormanda39a3ee5e6b4b0d3255bfef95601890afd80709

"Better Packaging for Users." The "Docbook Element Reference" in the Docbook 5.0 Definitive Guide is a _big_ improvement in this area. The content model is now formatted for eyeball parsers. I found the reference section (operator definitions!) and the examples in Chapter 2 (the cookbook) essential to getting started, and would have found it easier with the new Definitive Guide.

Comment 5 on /2005/01/03/DocBook-05http://norman.walsh.name/2010/09/25/oauth#comment00052007-03-14T10:12:08Z2007-03-14T10:12:08ZMatej Ceplda39a3ee5e6b4b0d3255bfef95601890afd80709

Docbook reference as info file for Emacs.