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Re: Best Linux toolchain for SGML->PDF


Ian,

  Wow, thanks very much for all of the great info!!

  Ok, I think I'm getting closer to an optimal environment...

  My current tool set is now:

debian potato, Docbook 4.1, dsssl-1.73, jadetex 3.11-1,
openjade-1.3-15mdk.src.rpm

  I did find what seems to a bug in the Makefile when I converted the
openjade-1.3-15mdk.src.rpm via cpio and built it, then used it.  I got
the error:

openjade:E: cannot open "/usr/local/share/openjade-1.3/builtins.dsl" (No such file or directory)

  It turned out the "make install" put builtins.dsl in
/usr/local/share rather than /usr/local/share/openjade-1.3  I changed
the Makefile on line #18 from:

datadir=${prefix}/share
  to:
datadir=${prefix}/share/openjade-1.3

  Then reinstalled, this fixed the problem.

  Ok, so far so good.  My book consists of front matter, table of
contents, preface, part I, chapter ...., Part II etc... so I shouldn't
have too many problems ;-)

  My jadetex.cfg file has:

\def\PageTwoSide{1}
\def\TwoSideStartOnRight{0}

  Here's what I see:

1. No page numbers up to the Dedication (that's ok), but the blank page
   after that has "6" printed as it's page number.  The next page is
   the Table of Contents, the listed page numbers look pretty good
   except "Part 1" is listed as being on "Page i", seems like it
   should be "Page 1".

2. There are lots of blank pages so that Chapters start on the right
   but I was hoping not to see this since I have
   \def\TwoSideStartOnRight{0}.

3. Every thing else looks ok but I still can't figure out how to get
   right justified text in the <para>'s or get centered <caption>'s.

4. I still get tons of:
openjade:/usr/local/share/sgml/docbook/4.1/catalog:22:0:W: DTDDECL catalog entries are not supported
  But I guess I can safely ignore these??

 Thanks very much for all of your help.  You've really helped my alot
by spelling out the magic "recipe".

  Sincerely,

  Rick


> Currently I am very happy with the SGML/XML -> PDF via jade/DSSSL
> toolchain. We (my company) don't really have any open issues. We are
> using the toolchain to produce release notes, user guides and, more
> recently, course notes (which are mainly being converted from MS word
> documents).
> 
> However, you will need to apply patches to the basic tools to get them
> to this working point.
> 
> The problem is that openjade and jadetex are interdependent. Jadetex
> expects openjade to be producing output consisting of various "macros".
> Changes in jadetex over the years have added macros - particularly in
> the support of double sided printing. The released 1.3 of openjade only
> really supports jadetex 2.7 (as does jade 1.2.x).
> 
> You need openjade 1.3 (the released version)
> + a bunch of fixes from Francis J Lacoste (this fixes bugs and fits
> nicely with jadetex 2.20 - 3.3 )
> + a small patch from me which ties openjade to the recent releases of
> jadetex ( 3.4 - 3.11)
> 
> You want the latest DSSSL style sheets (>= 1.70 which have some key
> fixes for double sided printing and correct pagination of recto/verso
> pages) - more specifically, support OpenJade extensions required for
> correctly double sided printing). Of course, the latest version will do.
> 
> You want the latest (3.11) version of jadetex because this simply has
> the least bugs.
> 
> The recent versions of jadetex have better control of whitespace/layout,
> orphans/widows, tables + support for working two side printing (added in
> 3.4) + support for roman numerals in "front matter".
> 
> However, the DSSSL stylesheets have some problems with deciding what is
> front matter and when the pages start esp. when you have a complex mix
> of "parts" etc. There isn't really a correct generic fix. The fix that
> murray was talking about works for the situation where your book
> consists of front matter, table of contents, preface, part I, chapter
> ...., Part II etc... It won't work if you decide to stick a preface
> before each part for example. This is why it isn't in the official
> stylesheets - because it isn't really a solution - just reduces the
> problem for the most common applications.
> 
> You can find the BSD style sheet which contains this fix at
> 
> http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/cvsweb.cgi/doc/share/sgml/freebsd.dsl?rev=1.59&content-type=text/x-cvsweb-markup
> 
> Search for "Castle"...
> 
> I've submitted a patch for OpenJade against what was in CVS when I made
> the patch... this hasn't been applied, and in either case there has been
> no recent release of openjade. There needs to be - as openjade is being
> done a great disservice - when the released version contains so many
> flaws which have been fixed.
> 
> So, in my opinion, the best Linux DocBook SGML -> PDF toolchain is mine
> ;-). Fortunately, Camille included the patches to openjade + jadetex
> 3.11 + DSSSL stylesheets 1.72 in Mandrake 8.1. So this has the best tool
> chain.
> 
> If you have rpm2cpio on your debian system you can download the mandrake
> 8.1 RPM 
> 
> http://www.mirror.ac.uk/sites/sunsite.uio.no/pub/unix/Linux/Mandrake/8.1/SRPMS/openjade-1.3-15mdk.src.rpm
> 
> And extract the source + the patches. The patches you want are
> 
> openjade-1.3-features.patch.bz2
> openjade-1.3-twosidestartonright.patch.bz2
> 
> [I can email these to you if you like - I don't want to bombard the list
> with them]
> 
> The other patches are mainly to do with the RPM build enviroment, final
> file locations and some fixes for the 2.96 compiler.
> 
> Further praise for Mandrake... I bought the 8.0 Boxed release and was
> pleased to see that the printed guide that comes with it was actually
> produced by openjade/jadetex - so they used a linux tool chain all the
> way through the production process (as this predated the roman numerals
> patch and a few others it looks a bit tatty..). This compares with
> Redhat 7.1 manuals (last version I looked at) which was authored in
> DocBook, produces the HTML with openjade - but used Arbor Adept/Epic (or
> whatever it is) running on Solaris for their printed manuals.
> 
> I hope Mandrakesoft have carried on this process in 8.1 as it is a good
> example of the "Dog Food" principle....
> 
> I also looked at using htmldoc, but it is inferior to the results that
> you get with a "fixed" openjade/jadetex toolset.
> 
> Hope that helps.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Ian.
> 

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