DocBook Framework for OS/2, eComStation and ArcaOS

DocBook Framework for OS/2, eComStation and ArcaOS is a bundle of programs and libraries allowing you to manipulate DocBook source files and convert them to various output formats.

DocBook is an XML-based platform-independent format for books, articles, technical documentation, FAQ, slides, etc. Once you write your documents in DocBook, you can convert them to a number of output formats while having just one place where you make all modifications — the source DocBook document.

WPI

Download

File Size [B] Description Release Date
DocBookFrameworkForOS2-1-0-0.WPI 10.976.609 WarpIN archive 2005-October-13

Alternative: Download from the Hobbes OS/2 Archive.

Why Should I Use DocBook?

  • DocBook is a platform-independent format. You can can edit, read and convert the same file on any platform.
  • DocBook is an XML language. You can use all standard tools that manipulate XML data, such as parsers, checkers, and converters.
  • DocBook is an open format. This guarantees that you will be able to read and manipulate your today-written article in the future.
  • Many output formats are available. Being an XML format, DocBook itself is not intended to be read directly by humans. Instead, many output formats can be generated from DocBook, including popular formats such as PDF, (X)HTML and RTF.

System Requirements

The framework is a bundle of Java software, data files, and Rexx scripts. Therefore, you will need the following components installed:

  • Rexx — Every OS/2, eComStation and ArcaOS system comes with Rexx installed by default.
  • Java — Preferably use Java 1.6 coming with ArcaOS. If you are not an ArcaOS user, use Golden Code or InnoTek Java 1.4. IBM Java 1.3 should also work. Note: Golden Code Java is not publicly available anymore.
  • WarpIN for installation. ArcaOS and eComstation come with WarpIN already installed. You can also download it from Netlabs or from the Hobbes archive.

Installation

DocBook Framework is installed automatically using WarpIN. During installation, your CONFIG.SYS will be modified. If you don't allow WarpIN to perform the modification, you will have to:

  • either modify CONFIG.SYS on your own by adding the Scripts directory to your PATH, or
  • add the Scripts directory to your PATH from the command line every time you use the framework.

In addition, java.exe must be on your PATH. It is assumed that PATH already contains the ...\jre\bin directory and no checks are performed, neither during the installation nor during normal operation.

Before you start using the framework, take a little time to configure it. A few configuration files must be set up in order for the tools to operate properly. Please read the file PatchTheseFiles.TXT for more details. These changes can be performed automatically and future versions of the framework will contain a little configuration tool that will be executed during installation.

The framework can be uninstalled using WarpIN. You can also delete it manually, but then the WarpIN database will not be consistent with your hard disk's content and you will have to synchronize it.

Components of the Framework

The framework consists of the following components:

  • DocBook 4 DTD and ISO entities.
  • DocBook 4 XSL stylesheets that prescribe how DocBook documents should be converted into other formats.
  • Saxon 6 – XSLT processor that converts a DocBook document into another format using a XSL stylesheet.
  • FOP 0.20.5 – FO processor that converts an FO document into a paged-media document.
  • Rexx scripts that set up the environment properly before launching the programs.

Other software can be plugged into the framework, e.g. XML Mind FO Converter (XFC) or XEP. Rexx scripts for starting them are present in the distribution, but the programs could not be included because of their strict licenses. However, you can easily download them on your own and install them into the ...\SW\XFC and ...\SW\XEP directories. Look into the UsefulLinks.TXT file for links to the software.

Screenshots

Screenshots

Click to open a slideshow!

Presentations

DocBook, Part 2: DocBook Framework for OS/2 – Presentation from the Warpstock Europe 2005 Conference. November 20, 2005; Dresden, Germany; PDF; 1627 KB.

DocBook Framework for OS/2 – Presentation from the Czech Warpstock 2005 Conference. July 16-17, 2005; Liberec, Czech Republic; PDF; 128 KB.

DocBook Presentation by Jirka Kosek from the Czech Warpstock 2005 Conference. July 16-17, 2005. Liberec, Czech Republic; HTML.

DocBook Framework – Status Report – Presentation from the Czech Warpstock 2006 Conference. September 22-24, 2006; Děčín, Czech Republic; PDF; 66 KB.