93 lines
3.6 KiB
Markdown
93 lines
3.6 KiB
Markdown
# Writing NixOS Documentation {#sec-writing-documentation}
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As NixOS grows, so too does the need for a catalogue and explanation of
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its extensive functionality. Collecting pertinent information from
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disparate sources and presenting it in an accessible style would be a
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worthy contribution to the project.
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## Building the Manual {#sec-writing-docs-building-the-manual}
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The DocBook sources of the [](#book-nixos-manual) are in the
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[`nixos/doc/manual`](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/tree/master/nixos/doc/manual)
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subdirectory of the Nixpkgs repository.
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You can quickly validate your edits with `make`:
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```ShellSession
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$ cd /path/to/nixpkgs/nixos/doc/manual
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$ nix-shell
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nix-shell$ devmode
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```
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Once you are done making modifications to the manual, it's important to
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build it before committing. You can do that as follows:
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```ShellSession
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nix-build nixos/release.nix -A manual.x86_64-linux
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```
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When this command successfully finishes, it will tell you where the
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manual got generated. The HTML will be accessible through the `result`
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symlink at `./result/share/doc/nixos/index.html`.
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## Editing DocBook XML {#sec-writing-docs-editing-docbook-xml}
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For general information on how to write in DocBook, see [DocBook 5: The
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Definitive Guide](https://tdg.docbook.org/tdg/5.1/).
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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. To
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use it, see [](#sec-emacs-docbook-xml).
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[Pandoc](https://pandoc.org/) can generate DocBook XML from a multitude of
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formats, which makes a good starting point. Here is an example of Pandoc
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invocation to convert GitHub-Flavoured MarkDown to DocBook 5 XML:
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```ShellSession
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pandoc -f markdown_github -t docbook5 docs.md -o my-section.md
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```
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Pandoc can also quickly convert a single `section.xml` to HTML, which is
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helpful when drafting.
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Sometimes writing valid DocBook is too difficult. In this case,
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submit your documentation updates in a [GitHub
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Issue](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues/new) and someone will
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handle the conversion to XML for you.
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## Creating a Topic {#sec-writing-docs-creating-a-topic}
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You can use an existing topic as a basis for the new topic or create a
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topic from scratch.
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Keep the following guidelines in mind when you create and add a topic:
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- The NixOS [`book`](https://tdg.docbook.org/tdg/5.0/book.html)
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element is in `nixos/doc/manual/manual.xml`. It includes several
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[`parts`](https://tdg.docbook.org/tdg/5.0/book.html) which are in
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subdirectories.
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- Store the topic file in the same directory as the `part` to which it
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belongs. If your topic is about configuring a NixOS module, then the
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XML file can be stored alongside the module definition `nix` file.
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- If you include multiple words in the file name, separate the words
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with a dash. For example: `ipv6-config.xml`.
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- Make sure that the `xml:id` value is unique. You can use abbreviations
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if the ID is too long. For example: `nixos-config`.
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- Determine whether your topic is a chapter or a section. If you are
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unsure, open an existing topic file and check whether the main
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element is chapter or section.
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## Adding a Topic to the Book {#sec-writing-docs-adding-a-topic}
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Open the parent CommonMark file and add a line to the list of
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chapters with the file name of the topic that you created. If you
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created a `section`, you add the file to the `chapter` file. If you created
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a `chapter`, you add the file to the `part` file.
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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 `meta.doc` attribute.
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See [](#sec-meta-attributes) for an explanation.
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