From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
From: Eric Bischoff <ebisch@cybercable.tm.fr>
To: docbook-tools-discuss@sourceware.cygnus.com
Subject: Re: Re : db2??????? vs. SGMLTools2 vs. what else?
Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2000 06:36:00 -0000
Message-id: <38B3C440.1BDEF4DE@cybercable.tm.fr>
References: <951281049.19725.ezmlm@sourceware.cygnus.com> <20000223085415.B611@ciberia.es> <38B3ABD6.71623993@cybercable.tm.fr> <20000223081328.E8077@conectiva.com.br>
X-SW-Source: 2000/msg00068.html

Jorge Godoy wrote:
> > - to have the db2* scripts change their status from "unmaintained"
> >   to "maintained"
> 
> It would be nice...

(I would be the maintainer of those db2* scripts, of course)

> > - to have better directory organization in /usr/lib/sgml
> 
> It depends on your distribution. How's you /usr/lib/sgml? I've done a
> few customizations here... :-)

My distribution is the Caldera ;-). Here is /usr/lib/sgml organization

[eric@quark eric]$ ls /usr/lib/sgml
docbook-dtd
docbook-stylesheets
iso-entities-8879.1986
jade
kde

"iso-entities" directory name is the only one which does not match the
package name, to ensure compatibility with sgml-tools 1.0 linuxdoc
tools.

The DocBook tools hosted by Cygnus sourceware FTP server suggest a
different directory organisation, at least if you are using the RPM
version.

> > - to have things work better with alternate stylesheets
> 
> I do it with a wrapper, a Makefile and standar tools: jade/openjade &
> norm's modular stylesheets.

Of course every one can build his own solution. At KDE we used a series
of symbolic links as patches to the Cygnus tools. What I'm suggesting is
a good common technical solution for everyone.

> > - to make as little assumptions as possible : no
> >   "common" stylesheet for html and printout if not wished,
> >   no need of merging the individual catalogs in a single CATALOG
> >   if not wished, etc
> 
> It's not difficult. That's one of the reasons I don't use Cygnus
> tools.

;-)

I didn't say I made something difficult. I said I wanted to share my
experience and to integrate it into the Cygnus docbook tools, with Mark
Galassi's approval and technical advice, of course.

> > - gnuish syntax
> 
> Hmmm... It would require some programming, but... it's possible too.

It's not much again. You will be able to do things like db2html
--version, db2html --help, db2html --catalog somewhere.cat, etc

> > - compatibility (if no alternate stylesheets used) with
> >   former docbook-tools
> 
> What do you mean by "compatibility"? If your document is written in
> DocBook, it should be compatible with any tools used to process
> DocBook files.

I was referring to those famous db2* scripts, the ability to use the
CATALOG merged by "install-catalog" script, etc.

> > My distribution will be used by Caldera OpenLinux and KDE project. I'm
> > proposing to
> > make it the standard docbook-tools as well, if you agree. Just let me
> > know.
> 
> If you need some help, just drop me a message.

Thanks, the more crazy cows we are, the funniest the meat will be ;-)

What I need now is some approval by docbook-tools maintainer, Mark
Galassi, and somewhere to build a docbook-utils homepage (docbook-utils
being the set of db2* scripts, plus the install-catalog script, which I
suggest to be separate from the modular stylesheets package now).
 

-- 
Eric Bischoff  -  Documentation and Localization
Caldera (Deutschland) GmbH - Linux for Business!
Tel: +49 9131 7192 300 -  Fax: +49 9131 7192 399
http://www.caldera.de/