Convert doc/*.pod to Asciidoctor. This:
* Means we use the same markup for our man pages, the guides, and
release notes.
* Lets us add versions to our man pages.
* Gives us more formatting options, e.g. AsciiDoc supports `commands`,
nested lists and makes it easy to include version information. The
manpage backend doesn't seem to support tables very well,
unfortunately.
Convert our CMake configuration to produce *roff and html man pages
using Asciidoctor. Add a "manarg" block macro which makes our synopses
wrap correctly.
Similar to the release notes, guides, and FAQ, if Asciidoctor isn't
found the man pages won't be generated or installed.
Move Asciidoctor to the list of package build dependencies in various
places.
This commit includes the conversion script (pod2adoc.py), which will be
removed later.
Line count sanity check:
Man page .pod .adoc
androiddump 260 280
asn2deb 93 105
capinfos 401 471
captype 54 55
ciscodump 241 269
dftest 42 42
dpauxmon 153 169
dumpcap 464 534
editcap 528 583
etwdump 136 156
extcap 157 181
idl2deb 91 103
idl2wrs 120 100
mergecap 206 207
mmdbresolve 75 75
randpkt 107 111
randpktdump 158 184
rawshark 558 610
reordercap 76 78
sdjournal 145 157
sshdump 272 302
text2pcap 274 312
tshark 2135 2360
udpdump 133 151
wireshark-filter 486 479
wireshark 2967 3420
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:experimental:
= Introduction
This directory contains the source files needed to build the:
- Wireshark User’s Guide
- Wireshark Developer’s Guide
- Release notes (NEWS)
- Lua Reference
To build everything, build the `all_guides` target, e.g. `ninja
all_guides` or `msbuild all_guides.vcxproj`. Requirements are listed
below.
The guides and release notes are written in
https://asciidoctor.org/docs/asciidoc-syntax-quick-reference/[Asciidoctor syntax].
For more information see https://asciidoctor.org.
== Requirements
Ultimately we'd like to reduce the toolchain requirements to AsciidoctorJ alone, but that's not yet possible.
Additional tooling is required for the HTML and HTMLHelp targets.
See the https://www.wireshark.org/docs/wsdg_html_chunked/ChToolsDocumentationToolchain.html[Developer's Guide] for instructions on installing required packages for your platform.
== Asciidoctor Markup
The User’s and Developer’s Guides were originally written in DocBook and
were later converted to https://asciidoc.org/[AsciiDoc]. We subsequently
switched from AsciiDoc to Asciidoctor. As a result we currently use
https://asciidoctor.org/docs/migration/[compat mode], but may switch
to Asciidoctor’s modern markup at a later date.
Please use the following conventions when writing documentation:
- Window and dialog box names should be in “curly quotes”.
- Use Asciidoctor macros for buttons, keys, and menus. Note that these
are currently experimental:
** The btn:[Start] button
** Press kbd:[Shift+Ctrl+P] to open the preferences dialog.
** Select menu:File[Open] from the main menu.
This ensures that UI elements are shown consistently and lets us apply styles
to each type of element.
- Command line examples should reflect the OS:
+
----
$ echo Linux and UNIX
----
+
----
C:\> echo Windows
----
Admonitions ([NOTE], [TIP], and [WARNING]) can be used to highlight important
information. Keep in mind that they interrupt the flow of text by design. Too
many (especially in a row) are distracting and annoying.
== Custom Asciidoctor Macros
The following custom macros are available in `docbook/asciidoctor-macros`:
commaize-block::
Sorts a list of items and separates them with commas with an "and" preceding the last item.
cveidlink-inline-macro::
Links a CVE ID to cve.mitre.org.
manarg-block::
Ensures that individual arguments don't wrap in order to improve readability.
wsbuglink-inline-macro::
Links an issue number to gitlab.org/wireshark/wireshark/-/issues.
wssalink-inline-macro::
Links a security advisory to www.wireshark.org.
== Asciidoctor Live Preview
The Asciidoctor project provides a JavaScript version of Asciidoctor
(asciidoctor.js), which enables live previews in many web browsers and
text editors. See the
https://asciidoctor.org/docs/editing-asciidoc-with-live-preview/[Live
Preview] documentation for more information.
Note that our documentation depends on attributes defined in
_attributes.adoc_. The User’s Guide and Developer’s Guide are split
across several files, and only the top-level _user-guide.adoc_ and
_developer-guide.adoc_ include _attributes.adoc_. As a result,
some markup will be incomplete. You can work around this somewhat by
adding some attributes such as `compat-mode experimental` to your Live
Preview settings.
= HTML Help Alternatives
Ideally we would ship documentation with Wireshark that is pleasant to
read, browsable, and searchable. Unfortunately we don't have an easy way
to do this. The closest we've been able to come is by shipping an HTML
Help (.chm) file on Windows. However, HTML Help a) is limited to Windows,
b) crusty on normal displays, and c) really crusty on HiDPI displays.
The following alternative formats are available, each with advantages
and disadvantages:
== WebHelp
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_help[WebHelp] has three main
dependencies:
- DocBook XSL, including...
- webhelpindexer.jar
- The user's local web browser
This format generates both HTML pages and JavaScript, which might not run
reliably on end user machines.
== PDF
PDF output is page oriented, with static page sizes. This _usually_ isn't
a problem with modern reader software. However it doesn't look like we
can reliably load a PDF file and jump to specific section on some
platforms. For example, loading +++file:///path/to/user_guide.pdf#location+++
works in Firefox & Chrome, but not in Safari, Preview, or Internet Explorer.
== Qt Help
Qt provides an extensive https://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qthelp-framework.html[help system].
However, to use it we need to generate a Qt Help Project (.qhp) file,
which isn't currently supported by Asciidoctor or via DocBook XSL.
The default help application (Qt Assistant) is ugly. We'd probably want
to write our own help viewer app or integrate help directly via
QHelpEngine.