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144 lines
5.6 KiB
144 lines
5.6 KiB
<chapter xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" xml:id="sec-writing-documentation">
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<title>Writing NixOS Documentation</title>
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<para>
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As NixOS grows, so too does the need for a catalogue and explanation
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of its extensive functionality. Collecting pertinent information
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from disparate sources and presenting it in an accessible style
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would be a worthy contribution to the project.
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</para>
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<section xml:id="sec-writing-docs-building-the-manual">
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<title>Building the Manual</title>
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<para>
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The DocBook sources of the <xref linkend="book-nixos-manual" />
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are in the
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<link xlink:href="https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/tree/master/nixos/doc/manual"><literal>nixos/doc/manual</literal></link>
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subdirectory of the Nixpkgs repository.
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</para>
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<para>
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You can quickly validate your edits with <literal>make</literal>:
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</para>
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<programlisting>
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$ cd /path/to/nixpkgs/nixos/doc/manual
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$ nix-shell
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nix-shell$ make
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</programlisting>
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<para>
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Once you are done making modifications to the manual, it's
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important to build it before committing. You can do that as
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follows:
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</para>
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<programlisting>
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nix-build nixos/release.nix -A manual.x86_64-linux
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</programlisting>
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<para>
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When this command successfully finishes, it will tell you where
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the manual got generated. The HTML will be accessible through the
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<literal>result</literal> symlink at
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<literal>./result/share/doc/nixos/index.html</literal>.
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</para>
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</section>
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<section xml:id="sec-writing-docs-editing-docbook-xml">
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<title>Editing DocBook XML</title>
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<para>
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For general information on how to write in DocBook, see
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<link xlink:href="http://www.docbook.org/tdg5/en/html/docbook.html">DocBook
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5: The Definitive Guide</link>.
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</para>
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<para>
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Emacs nXML Mode is very helpful for editing DocBook XML because it
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validates the document as you write, and precisely locates errors.
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To use it, see <xref linkend="sec-emacs-docbook-xml" />.
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</para>
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<para>
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<link xlink:href="http://pandoc.org">Pandoc</link> can generate
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DocBook XML from a multitude of formats, which makes a good
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starting point. Here is an example of Pandoc invocation to convert
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GitHub-Flavoured MarkDown to DocBook 5 XML:
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</para>
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<programlisting>
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pandoc -f markdown_github -t docbook5 docs.md -o my-section.md
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</programlisting>
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<para>
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Pandoc can also quickly convert a single
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<literal>section.xml</literal> to HTML, which is helpful when
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drafting.
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</para>
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<para>
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Sometimes writing valid DocBook is simply too difficult. In this
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case, submit your documentation updates in a
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<link xlink:href="https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues/new">GitHub
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Issue</link> and someone will handle the conversion to XML for
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you.
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</para>
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</section>
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<section xml:id="sec-writing-docs-creating-a-topic">
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<title>Creating a Topic</title>
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<para>
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You can use an existing topic as a basis for the new topic or
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create a topic from scratch.
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</para>
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<para>
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Keep the following guidelines in mind when you create and add a
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topic:
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</para>
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<itemizedlist>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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The NixOS
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<link xlink:href="http://www.docbook.org/tdg5/en/html/book.html"><literal>book</literal></link>
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element is in <literal>nixos/doc/manual/manual.xml</literal>.
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It includes several
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<link xlink:href="http://www.docbook.org/tdg5/en/html/book.html"><literal>parts</literal></link>
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which are in subdirectories.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Store the topic file in the same directory as the
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<literal>part</literal> to which it belongs. If your topic is
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about configuring a NixOS module, then the XML file can be
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stored alongside the module definition <literal>nix</literal>
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file.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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If you include multiple words in the file name, separate the
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words with a dash. For example:
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<literal>ipv6-config.xml</literal>.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Make sure that the <literal>xml:id</literal> value is unique.
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You can use abbreviations if the ID is too long. For example:
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<literal>nixos-config</literal>.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Determine whether your topic is a chapter or a section. If you
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are unsure, open an existing topic file and check whether the
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main element is chapter or section.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</itemizedlist>
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</section>
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<section xml:id="sec-writing-docs-adding-a-topic">
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<title>Adding a Topic to the Book</title>
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<para>
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Open the parent XML file and add an <literal>xi:include</literal>
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element to the list of chapters with the file name of the topic
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that you created. If you created a <literal>section</literal>, you
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add the file to the <literal>chapter</literal> file. If you
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created a <literal>chapter</literal>, you add the file to the
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<literal>part</literal> file.
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</para>
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<para>
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If the topic is about configuring a NixOS module, it can be
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automatically included in the manual by using the
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<literal>meta.doc</literal> attribute. See
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<xref linkend="sec-meta-attributes" /> for an explanation.
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</para>
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</section>
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</chapter>
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