# Docutils Project Documentation Overview

Author: | David Goodger
Contact: | docutils-develop@lists.sourceforge.net
Date: | 2021-03-26
Revision: | 8644
Copyright: | This document has been placed in the public domain.

The latest working documents may be accessed individually below, or from the `docs` directory of the Docutils distribution.

Contents

- Docutils Stakeholders
- Project Fundamentals
- `user/`: Introductory & Tutorial Material for End-Users
- `ref/`: Reference Material for All Groups
- `peps/`: Python Enhancement Proposals
- `api/`: API Reference Material for Client-Developers
- `howto/`: Instructions for Developers
- `dev/`: Development Notes and Plans for Core-Developers

# Docutils Stakeholders

Docutils stakeholders can be categorized in several groups:

1. End-users: users of reStructuredText and the Docutils tools. Although some are developers (e.g. Python developers utilizing reStructuredText for docstrings in their source), many are not.
2. Client-developers: developers using Docutils as a library, programmers developing with Docutils.
3. Component-developers: those who implement application-specific components, directives, and/or roles, separately from Docutils.
4. Core-developers: developers of the Docutils codebase and participants in the Docutils project community.
5. Re-implementers: developers of alternate implementations of Docutils.

There's a lot of overlap between these groups. Most (perhaps all) core-developers, component-developers, client-developers, and re-implementers are also end-users. Core-developers are also client-developers, and may also be component-developers in other projects. Component-developers are also client-developers.

# Project Fundamentals

These files are for all Docutils stakeholders. They are kept at the top level of the Docutils project directory.

README.txt: | Project overview: quick-start, requirements, installation, and usage.
COPYING.txt: | Conditions for Docutils redistribution, with links to licenses.
FAQ.txt: | Docutils Frequently Asked Questions. If you have a question or issue, there's a good chance it's already answered here.
BUGS.txt: | A list of known bugs, and how to report a bug.
RELEASE-NOTES.txt: | Summary of the major changes in recent releases.
HISTORY.txt: | Detailed change history log.
THANKS.txt: | Acknowledgements.

# `user/`: Introductory & Tutorial Material for End-Users

Docutils-general:

- Docutils Front-End Tools
- Docutils Configuration
- Docutils Mailing Lists
- Docutils Link List

Writer-specific:

- Docutils HTML writers
- Easy Slide Shows With reStructuredText & S5
- Docutils LaTeX Writer
- Docutils ODF/OpenOffice/odt Writer

reStructuredText:

- A ReStructuredText Primer (see also the text source)
- Quick reStructuredText (user reference)
- reStructuredText Cheat Sheet (text only; 1 page for syntax, 1 page directive & role reference)
- reStructuredText Demonstration (a demonstration of most reStructuredText features; you can also have a look at the text source)

Editor support:

- Emacs support for reStructuredText

# `ref/`: Reference Material for All Groups

Many of these files began as developer specifications, but now that they're mature and used by end-users and client-developers, they have become reference material. Successful specs evolve into refs.

Docutils-general:

- The Docutils Document Tree (incomplete)
- Docutils Transforms
- Docutils Generic DTD
- OASIS XML Exchange Table Model Declaration Module (CALS tables DTD module)

Although not in the "ref" directory, PEP 258 is a must-read reference for any Docutils developer.

reStructuredText:

- An Introduction to reStructuredText (includes the Goals and History of reStructuredText)
- reStructuredText Markup Specification
- reStructuredText Directives
- reStructuredText Interpreted Text Roles
- reStructuredText Standard Definition Files

Prehistoric:

- Setext Documents Mirror

# `peps/`: Python Enhancement Proposals

- PEP 256: Docstring Processing System Framework is a high-level generic proposal. [PEP 256 in the master repository]
- PEP 257: Docstring Conventions addresses docstring style and touches on content. [PEP 257 in the master repository]
- PEP 258: Docutils Design Specification is an overview of the architecture of Docutils. It documents design issues and implementation details. [PEP 258 in the master repository]
- PEP 287: reStructuredText Docstring Format proposes a standard markup syntax. [PEP 287 in the master repository]

Please note that PEPs in the master repository may not be current, whereas the local versions are.

# `api/`: API Reference Material for Client-Developers

- The Docutils Publisher
- Inside A Docutils Command-Line Front-End Tool
- Docutils Runtime Settings
- (Docutils Transforms should be moved here)

PEP 258 is an overview of the architecture of Docutils.

# `howto/`: Instructions for Developers

- Security: Deploying Docutils Securely
- Writing HTML (CSS) Stylesheets for Docutils
- Docutils Internationalization
- Creating reStructuredText Directives
- Creating reStructuredText Interpreted Text Roles

# `dev/`: Development Notes and Plans for Core-Developers

Docutils-general:

- Docutils Hacker's Guide
- Docutils Distributor's Guide
- Docutils To Do List
- Docutils Project Policies
- Docutils Web Site
- Docutils Release Procedure
- The Docutils Subversion Repository
- Docutils Testing
- Docstring Semantics (incomplete)
- Python Source Reader (incomplete)
- Docutils Python DTD (experimental)
- Plan for Enthought API Documentation Tool
- Enthought API Documentation Tool RFP

reStructuredText:

- A Record of reStructuredText Syntax Alternatives
- Problems With StructuredText