mirror of
https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs.git
synced 2024-11-17 19:21:04 +00:00
nixos/doc: Improve documentation of documentation
- Move contents of README.md from nixos/modules/installer/tools/manpages/ to nixos/doc/manual/contributing-to-this-manual.chapter.md. - Don't mention DocBook as its obsolete and too specific. - Rename derivation attribute name of configuration.nix(5) manual page, both on the `contributing-to-this-manual.chapter.md`, and in other places.
This commit is contained in:
Doron Behar
parent
32f75a0f2a
commit
924a07dc22
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@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ You can quickly check your edits with the following:
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```ShellSession
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$ cd /path/to/nixpkgs
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$ $EDITOR doc/nixos/manual/... # edit the manual
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$ nix-build nixos/release.nix -A manual.x86_64-linux
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```
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@ -13,24 +14,96 @@ If the build succeeds, the manual will be in `./result/share/doc/nixos/index.htm
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There's also [a convenient development daemon](https://nixos.org/manual/nixpkgs/unstable/#sec-contributing-devmode).
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**Contributing to the man pages**
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The above instructions don't deal with the appendix of available `configuration.nix` options, and the manual pages related to NixOS. These are built, and written in a different location and in a different format, as explained in the next sections.
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The man pages are written in [DocBook] which is XML.
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## Contributing to the `configuration.nix` options documentation {#sec-contributing-options}
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To see what your edits look like:
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The documentation for all the different `configuration.nix` options is automatically generated by reading the `description`s of all the NixOS options defined at `nixos/modules/`. If you want to improve such `description`, find it in the `nixos/modules/` directory, and edit it and open a pull request.
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To see how your changes render on the web, run again:
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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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And you'll see the changes to the appendix in the path `result/share/doc/nixos/options.html`.
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You can also build only the `configuration.nix(5)` manual page, via:
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```ShellSession
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$ cd /path/to/nixpkgs
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$ nix-build nixos/release.nix -A manpages.x86_64-linux
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$ nix-build nixos/release.nix -A nixos-configuration-reference-manpage.x86_64-linux
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```
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You can then read the man page you edited by running
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And observe the result via:
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```ShellSession
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$ man --manpath=result/share/man nixos-rebuild # Replace nixos-rebuild with the command whose manual you edited
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$ man --local-file result/share/man/man5/configuration.nix.5
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```
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If you're on a different architecture that's supported by NixOS (check nixos/release.nix) then replace `x86_64-linux` with the architecture.
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`nix-build` will complain otherwise, but should also tell you which architecture you have + the supported ones.
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If you're on a different architecture that's supported by NixOS (check file `nixos/release.nix` on Nixpkgs' repository) then replace `x86_64-linux` with the architecture. `nix-build` will complain otherwise, but should also tell you which architecture you have + the supported ones.
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[DocBook]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DocBook
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## Contributing to `nixos-*` tools' manpages {#sec-contributing-nixos-tools}
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The manual pages for the tools available in the installation image can be found in Nixpkgs' by running (e.g for `nixos-rebuild`):
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```ShellSession
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$ git ls | grep nixos-rebuild.8
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```
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Man pages are written in [`mdoc(7)` format](https://mandoc.bsd.lv/man/mdoc.7.html) and should be portable between mandoc and groff for rendering (though minor differences may occur, mandoc and groff seem to have slightly different spacing rules.)
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For previewing edited files, you can just run `man --local-file path/to/file.8` and you will see it rendered.
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Being written in `mdoc`, these manpages use semantic markup. This file provides a guideline on where to apply which of the semantic elements of `mdoc`.
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### Command lines and arguments {#ssec-contributing-nixos-tools-cli-and-args}
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In any manpage, commands, flags and arguments to the *current* executable should be marked according to their semantics. Commands, flags and arguments passed to *other* executables should not be marked like this and should instead be considered as code examples and marked with `Ql`.
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- Use `Fl` to mark flag arguments, `Ar` for their arguments.
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- Repeating arguments should be marked by adding ellipses (`...`).
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- Use `Cm` to mark literal string arguments, e.g. the `boot` command argument passed to `nixos-rebuild`.
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- Optional flags or arguments should be marked with `Op`. This includes optional repeating arguments.
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- Required flags or arguments should not be marked.
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- Mutually exclusive groups of arguments should be enclosed in curly brackets, preferably created with `Bro`/`Brc` blocks.
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When an argument is used in an example it should be marked up with `Ar` again to differentiate it from a constant. For example, a command with a `--host name` flag that calls ssh to retrieve the host's local time would signify this thusly:
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```
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This will run
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.Ic ssh Ar name Ic time
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to retrieve the remote time.
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```
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### Paths, NixOS options, environment variables {#ssec-contributing-nixos-tools-options-and-environment}
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Constant paths should be marked with `Pa`, NixOS options with `Va`, and environment variables with `Ev`.
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Generated paths, e.g. `result/bin/run-hostname-vm` (where `hostname` is a variable or arguments) should be marked as `Ql` inline literals with their variable components marked appropriately.
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- Taking `hostname` from an argument become `.Ql result/bin/run- Ns Ar hostname Ns -vm`
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- Taking `hostname` from a variable otherwise defined becomes `.Ql result/bin/run- Ns Va hostname Ns -vm`
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### Code examples and other commands {#ssec-contributing-nixos-tools-code-examples}
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In free text names and complete invocations of other commands (e.g. `ssh` or `tar -xvf src.tar`) should be marked with `Ic`, fragments of command lines should be marked with `Ql`.
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Larger code blocks or those that cannot be shown inline should use indented literal display block markup for their contents, i.e.
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```
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.Bd -literal -offset indent
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...
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.Ed
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```
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Contents of code blocks may be marked up further, e.g. if they refer to arguments that will be substituted into them:
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```
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.Bd -literal -offset indent
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{
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options.hostname = "\c
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.Ar hostname Ns \c
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";
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}
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.Ed
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```
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@ -185,7 +185,7 @@ in rec {
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# Generate the configuration.nix manual package
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configuration-manual = runCommand "nixos-manpages"
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nixos-configuration-reference-manpage = runCommand "nixos-configuration-reference-manpage"
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{ nativeBuildInputs = [
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buildPackages.installShellFiles
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buildPackages.nixos-render-docs
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@ -1,57 +0,0 @@
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# NixOS manpages
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This is the collection of NixOS manpages, excluding `configuration.nix(5)`.
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Man pages are written in [`mdoc(7)` format](https://mandoc.bsd.lv/man/mdoc.7.html) and should be portable between mandoc and groff for rendering (though minor differences may occur, mandoc and groff seem to have slightly different spacing rules.)
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For previewing edited files, you can just run `man -l path/to/file.8` and you will see it rendered.
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Being written in `mdoc` these manpages use semantic markup. This file provides a guideline on where to apply which of the semantic elements of `mdoc`.
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### Command lines and arguments
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In any manpage, commands, flags and arguments to the *current* executable should be marked according to their semantics. Commands, flags and arguments passed to *other* executables should not be marked like this and should instead be considered as code examples and marked with `Ql`.
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- Use `Fl` to mark flag arguments, `Ar` for their arguments.
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- Repeating arguments should be marked by adding ellipses (`...`).
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- Use `Cm` to mark literal string arguments, e.g. the `boot` command argument passed to `nixos-rebuild`.
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- Optional flags or arguments should be marked with `Op`. This includes optional repeating arguments.
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- Required flags or arguments should not be marked.
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- Mutually exclusive groups of arguments should be enclosed in curly brackets, preferably created with `Bro`/`Brc` blocks.
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When an argument is used in an example it should be marked up with `Ar` again to differentiate it from a constant. For example, a command with a `--host name` flag that calls ssh to retrieve the host's local time would signify this thusly:
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```
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This will run
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.Ic ssh Ar name Ic time
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to retrieve the remote time.
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```
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### Paths, NixOS options, environment variables
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Constant paths should be marked with `Pa`, NixOS options with `Va`, and environment variables with `Ev`.
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Generated paths, e.g. `result/bin/run-hostname-vm` (where `hostname` is a variable or arguments) should be marked as `Ql` inline literals with their variable components marked appropriately.
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- Taking `hostname` from an argument become `.Ql result/bin/run- Ns Ar hostname Ns -vm`
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- Taking `hostname` from a variable otherwise defined becomes `.Ql result/bin/run- Ns Va hostname Ns -vm`
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### Code examples and other commands
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In free text names and complete invocations of other commands (e.g. `ssh` or `tar -xvf src.tar`) should be marked with `Ic`, fragments of command lines should be marked with `Ql`.
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Larger code blocks or those that cannot be shown inline should use indented literal display block markup for their contents, i.e.
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```
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.Bd -literal -offset indent
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...
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.Ed
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```
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Contents of code blocks may be marked up further, e.g. if they refer to arguments that will be substituted into them:
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```
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.Bd -literal -offset indent
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{
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options.hostname = "\c
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.Ar hostname Ns \c
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";
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}
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.Ed
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```
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@ -346,7 +346,7 @@ in
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system.build.manual = manual;
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environment.systemPackages = []
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++ optional cfg.man.enable manual.configuration-manual
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++ optional cfg.man.enable manual.nixos-configuration-reference-manpage
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++ optionals cfg.doc.enable [ manual.manualHTML nixos-help ];
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})
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@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ in rec {
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manualHTML = buildFromConfig ({ ... }: { }) (config: config.system.build.manual.manualHTML);
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manual = manualHTML; # TODO(@oxij): remove eventually
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manualEpub = (buildFromConfig ({ ... }: { }) (config: config.system.build.manual.manualEpub));
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manpages = buildFromConfig ({ ... }: { }) (config: config.system.build.manual.configuration-manual);
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nixos-configuration-reference-manpage = buildFromConfig ({ ... }: { }) (config: config.system.build.manual.nixos-configuration-reference-manpage);
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options = (buildFromConfig ({ ... }: { }) (config: config.system.build.manual.optionsJSON)).x86_64-linux;
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@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ in
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inherit (config.system.build)
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nixos-install nixos-generate-config nixos-enter;
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inherit (config.system.build.manual) configuration-manual;
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inherit (config.system.build.manual) nixos-configuration-reference-manpage;
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};
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extraOutputsToInstall = ["man"];
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