[docbook-apps] added <fo:block> around list items causes them to render incorrectly

[Mark Johnson <mrj at debian dot org>]

Hi All,

I just received the below bug report from the debian package of
docbook-xsl V1.64.1. 

I'm wondering if the problem is toolchain-dependent or if I should
simply apply the suggested patch to V1.64.1 and upload the package
into the debian archive. If it's a true docbook-xsl bug, I'll go ahead
and submit a bug report at sourceforge. 

Thanks,
Mark

Here's the bug report (#225192):
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Package: docbook-xsl
Version: 1.64.1-1
Severity: normal
Tags: patch

First, some caveats:

  I'm no docbook expert.
  I've been using xmlto, which uses xsltproc and passivetex:

  ii  xmlto                 0.0.17-2              XML-to-any converter
  ii  xsltproc              1.1.1-1               XSLT command line processor
  ii  passivetex            1.24-0.1              Macros to process XSL formatting objects


The problem:

Documents which rendered correctly using those tools (and a bit of
unrelated hacking), using the previous debian docbook-xsl
(docbook-xsl_1.62.4.0-1), produce incorrectly-formatted list items
using 1.64.1-1 (with or without that unrelated hacking).

E.g. where an <unorderedlist> used to come out as (crude ASCII
illunstration of pdf output):

  *  item 1
  *  item 2
  *  item 3

it now comes out as:

  *
   item 1
  *
   item 2
  * 
   item 3


Similar things happened to <variablelist>s, callout lists,
<orderedlist>s, and maybe others: the list item number, identifier, or
bullet now comes out on a separate line ahead of the item's content,
instead of where it belongs.  This problem occurs only in the
fo-produced output, not in html output.

(If it would help to have a small docbook source file that illustrates
the problem, I'll be happy to do that -- just let me know.)


My solution:

Running diff on the docbook-xml 1.62.4.0-1 vs. 1.64.1-1 contents
quickly brought my attention to
/usr/share/sgml/docbook/stylesheet/xsl/nwalsh/fo/lists.xsl, and the
following patch (which undoes only the extra <fo:block>...</fo:block>s
that were added for list-like items between those two versions) solves
the problem (a unified diff with extra context, for clarity):


--- stylesheet/xsl/nwalsh/fo/lists.xsl.orig	2003-12-04 15:13:46.000000000 -0500
+++ stylesheet/xsl/nwalsh/fo/lists.xsl	2003-12-27 02:26:54.000000000 -0500
@@ -104,25 +104,23 @@
           <!--
           <xsl:when test="$itemsymbol='circle'">&#x2218;</xsl:when>
           <xsl:when test="$itemsymbol='round'">&#x2218;</xsl:when>
           <xsl:when test="$itemsymbol='square'">&#x2610;</xsl:when>
           <xsl:when test="$itemsymbol='box'">&#x2610;</xsl:when>
           -->
           <xsl:otherwise>&#x2022;</xsl:otherwise>
         </xsl:choose>
       </fo:block>
     </fo:list-item-label>
     <fo:list-item-body start-indent="body-start()">
-      <fo:block>
 	<xsl:apply-templates/>
-      </fo:block>
     </fo:list-item-body>
   </xsl:variable>
 
   <xsl:choose>
     <xsl:when test="parent::*/@spacing = 'compact'">
       <fo:list-item id="{$id}" xsl:use-attribute-sets="compact.list.item.spacing">
         <xsl:copy-of select="$item.contents"/>
       </fo:list-item>
     </xsl:when>
     <xsl:otherwise>
       <fo:list-item id="{$id}" xsl:use-attribute-sets="list.item.spacing">
@@ -214,25 +212,23 @@
 
 <xsl:template match="orderedlist/listitem">
   <xsl:variable name="id"><xsl:call-template name="object.id"/></xsl:variable>
 
   <xsl:variable name="item.contents">
     <fo:list-item-label end-indent="label-end()">
       <fo:block>
         <xsl:apply-templates select="." mode="item-number"/>
       </fo:block>
     </fo:list-item-label>
     <fo:list-item-body start-indent="body-start()">
-      <fo:block>
 	<xsl:apply-templates/>
-      </fo:block>
     </fo:list-item-body>
   </xsl:variable>
 
   <xsl:choose>
     <xsl:when test="parent::*/@spacing = 'compact'">
       <fo:list-item id="{$id}" xsl:use-attribute-sets="compact.list.item.spacing">
         <xsl:copy-of select="$item.contents"/>
       </fo:list-item>
     </xsl:when>
     <xsl:otherwise>
       <fo:list-item id="{$id}" xsl:use-attribute-sets="list.item.spacing">
@@ -390,25 +386,23 @@
 </xsl:template>
 
 <xsl:template match="varlistentry" mode="vl.as.list">
   <xsl:variable name="id"><xsl:call-template name="object.id"/></xsl:variable>
   <fo:list-item id="{$id}" xsl:use-attribute-sets="list.item.spacing">
     <fo:list-item-label end-indent="label-end()" text-align="start">
       <fo:block>
         <xsl:apply-templates select="term"/>
       </fo:block>
     </fo:list-item-label>
     <fo:list-item-body start-indent="body-start()">
-      <fo:block>
 	<xsl:apply-templates select="listitem"/>
-      </fo:block>
     </fo:list-item-body>
   </fo:list-item>
 </xsl:template>
 
 <xsl:template match="variablelist" mode="vl.as.blocks">
   <xsl:variable name="id">
     <xsl:call-template name="object.id"/>
   </xsl:variable>
 
   <!-- termlength is irrelevant -->
 
@@ -935,25 +929,23 @@
 <xsl:template match="callout">
   <xsl:variable name="id"><xsl:call-template name="object.id"/></xsl:variable>
   <fo:list-item id="{$id}">
     <fo:list-item-label end-indent="label-end()">
       <fo:block>
         <xsl:call-template name="callout.arearefs">
           <xsl:with-param name="arearefs" select="@arearefs"/>
         </xsl:call-template>
       </fo:block>
     </fo:list-item-label>
     <fo:list-item-body start-indent="body-start()">
-      <fo:block>
 	<xsl:apply-templates/>
-      </fo:block>
     </fo:list-item-body>
   </fo:list-item>
 </xsl:template>
 
 <xsl:template name="callout.arearefs">
   <xsl:param name="arearefs"></xsl:param>
   <xsl:if test="$arearefs!=''">
     <xsl:choose>
       <xsl:when test="substring-before($arearefs,' ')=''">
         <xsl:call-template name="callout.arearef">
           <xsl:with-param name="arearef" select="$arearefs"/>




(I don't know why those extra <fo:block> blocks were added, but it
seems that <xsl:apply-templates/> already adds <fo:block> around the
content it puts out.  Maybe this is a transitional bug.)

Thanks.  Let me know if you want me to try something else, or
if you want to know anything I neglected to tell you.



-- 
_____________________________________
Mark Johnson        <mark@dulug.duke.edu>
Debian XML/SGML     <mrj@debian.org>
Home Page:          <http://dulug.duke.edu/~mark/>
GPG fp: DBEA FA3C C46A 70B5 F120  568B 89D5 4F61 C07D E242


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