Complete Tool Chain for DocBook XML 5.0+

Totally Free Solution Based On Emacs
Ivan Zaporozhets
First Edition
Copyright © 2010-2011 Divine DandelionSM Online Publishing Service


This tutorial explains how to build the complete tool chain suitable for modern DocBook XML 5.0+ projects and providing such brilliant features as RelaxNG-aware validation, completion, modularity, auto-building, etc.


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DocBook began in 1991. DocBook’s roots are in SGML, where it was defined with a Document Type Definition, or DTD. DocBook was released as both an SGML and an XML vocabulary starting with V4.1. The V4.x versions of DocBook, like the versions that came before them, were also defined with a DTD.

During that long DTD Era, many solutions were mentioned to make authoring easy and authors lucky. DTD-aware editors interactively validate documents as you edit them and assist in inserting valid elements, attributes, and values at a certain context.

Starting with DocBook V5.0 released on November 1, 2009, DocBook is exclusively an XML vocabulary defined with RELAX NG and Schematron. This is a slight problem because very few XML editors support them. Of course, using your habitual editor, you still can validate your DocBook V5.0+ documents with standalone validators, but it requires an extra tool in your tool chain, an extra step in your development process, and - what is more important - you can't use validation and completion anymore while you edit documents. It makes authoring uncomfortable and inefficient.

Most of RELAX NG supporting editors are commercial or restricted in some ways products. Probably there is only one free editor, old good Emacs (with nXML mode), providing both real-time RELAX NG validation and completion. In addition, you can use Emacs as an working environment to manage your project files, transform documents to various intermediate and output formats with external tools, etc. - i.e. to perform the full development process. Emacs, however, has a reputation for being extremely complicated.

All these prevent DocBook V5.0 transition or, at least, stick authors with DTD validation, that isn’t very valuable since the DTD version doesn’t enforce many DocBook constraints. Some publications attract our attention to Emacs mainly as to a very powerful XML editor that offers guided editing and validation of XML documents; others describe an interface to the make utility as well - although not for exclusive performing DocBook publishing. DocBook community still needs a simple and clear explanation of how to build from scratch an efficient tool chain based on Emacs for full processing DocBook V5.0+ documents.

Introduction

Divine Dandelion℠ is a service mark for Divine Dandelion℠ Online Publishing Service provided by PteroWare™ Group. 

Divine Dandelion℠ Online Publishing Service focuses mostly on publishing free books, articles, and other documents authorized with DocBook XML V5.0 or later.