[ANN] Docutils 0.3 released

[David Goodger]

Docutils is a system for processing plaintext documentation
(reStructuredText markup).  Docutils currently supports input from
standalone files and PEPs; a future release will be include support
for inline documentation from Python modules and packages.  It
currently produces simple HTML4 for CSS1, LaTeX (which can be
processed to PDF), and Docutils-native XML.  DocBook XML output is
under development, and other formats will become available in time.

Quick link to the download:

     http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/docutils/docutils-0.3.tar.gz

Docutils home page: http://docutils.sourceforge.net/

Although useful and solid, Docutils should be considered experimental
software.  There are plans to overhaul the configuration system and
rename the front-end tools.  Internal and API details may change.

There have been many improvements since release 0.2:

* Extensions to reStructuredText syntax & parser: embedded URIs in
   hyperlink references; interpreted text; block quote attributions.
   New directives: admonition, topic, sidebar, line-block,
   parsed-literal, rubric, epigraph, highlights, pull-quote, include,
   raw, replace, unicode, class, sectnum, target-notes.

* Added convenience functions for easy programmatic/library use.

* Added LaTeX output support (thanks to Engelbert Gruber).

* The front-end tools have increased in number and now have support
   for command-line options (thanks to Greg Ward's Optik) and
   configuration files.

* reStructuredText has become an official format for PEPs (see
   http://www.python.org/peps/pep-0001.html).

* Thanks to international Docutils users, language support has been
   added for Spanish, French, Italian, and Slovak.  These join the
   existing Swedish, German, and English language support.  Support for
   more languages is welcome and easy to add!

* Lots of improvements and bug fixes.  Details in HISTORY.txt.

To subscribe to the mailing lists:

* Development discussions (docutils-develop at lists.sourceforge.net):
   http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/docutils-develop

* Docutils usage Q&A (docutils-users at lists.sourceforge.net):
   http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/docutils-users

* CVS checkin messages:
   http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/docutils-checkins

High-level discussions also take place on the Python Doc-SIG mailing
list: http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/doc-sig.

User documentation:

* A ReStructuredText Primer (gentle introduction):
   http://docutils.sf.net/docs/rst/quickstart.html

* Quick reStructuredText (user reference):
   http://docutils.sf.net/docs/rst/quickref.html

* Docutils Front-End Tools: http://docutils.sf.net/docs/tools.html

Further details here:

* Docutils FAQ: http://docutils.sf.net/FAQ.html

* Docutils README: http://docutils.sf.net/README.html

* Docutils History: http://docutils.sf.net/HISTORY.html

* Copying Docutils: http://docutils.sf.net/COPYING.html

* reStructuredText Markup Specification:
   http://docutils.sf.net/spec/rst/reStructuredText.txt

* PEP 256, Docstring Processing System Framework:
   http://www.python.org/peps/pep-0256.html

* PEP 258, Docutils Design Specification:
   http://www.python.org/peps/pep-0258.html

* PEP 287, reStructuredText Docstring Format:
   http://www.python.org/peps/pep-0287.html

There are still many features to be added.  Contributors are welcome!

-- 
David Goodger    http://starship.python.net/~goodger

Programmer/sysadmin for hire: http://starship.python.net/~goodger/cv