pdf toolchain notes & suggestions
by Mark Johnson
Hi All,
I believe the broken part of the FDP XML -> PDF toolchain is due to
the passivetex component of the TeX backend.
After discussing the situation with Sebastian Rahtz, the upstream
developer of passivetex, I sadly report that passivetex is no longer
being developed or maintained. The last update, in fact, was in
November 2003.
When I asked Sebastian about the status of passivetex, here's what
he had to say (he gave permission to post his remarks, BTW):
> PassiveTeX does what it does, ie about 90% of FO, and thats where
> its frozen. Fixing the bugs are now so hard, I cannot do them.
The > decision to parse the XML using TeX seemed like a good idea,
> but in practice its a dead end. If I was starting again I'd work
> on a translator to plain TeX markup. thats doable, but a lot of
> work.
>
> [...]
>
> I convert my XML direct to LaTeX, and process that. It gives
> better results, faster :-}
>
> [...]
>
> others may disagree, but I don't see this particular path
(parsing > XSLFO using xmltex) ever being able to work 100%
Hence I think it's time to consider a different toolchain for pdf
output.
Two possibilities come to mind: FOP [1] and dblatex [2]. IMO fop
would be the better choice as customizing the output requires XSL
expertise, whereas dblatex requires LaTeX expertise to customize the
output.
If we were to adopt FOP, it would be nice to get it working under
gcj (via gij), so that we stick to a 100% free toolchain, though I
think it will also run under kaffe [3]. Some testing would clearly
need to be done... And if such a toolchain proves sufficient for the
needs of the FDP, it probably wouldn't be too difficult to find
someone to package FOP.
I hope this info helps us get to work on building a new XML -> PDF
toolchain:)
Anyway, that's my $0.02.
Cheers,
Mark
[1] http://xml.apache.org/fop/
[2] http://dblatex.sourceforge.net/
[3] http://www.kaffe.org/
--
----------------------------------------------------------
Mark Johnson <mjohnson(a)redhat.com>
OS Product Documentation
Engineering, Red Hat, Inc. <http://www.redhat.com>
Tel: 919.754.4151 Fax: 919.754.3708
GPG fp: DBEA FA3C C46A 70B5 F120 568B 89D5 4F61 C07D E242
18 years, 11 months
kernel-compilation-tutorial
by Kevin H. Hobbs
I just got frustrated with the flame war on kernel building.
I'd like to at least try to put together something along the lines of
documentation.
So far I've gone to the fabulous steps of:
export CVSROOT=:pserver:anonymous@rhlinux.redhat.com:/usr/local/CVS
cvs -z3 login
cvs -z3 co fedora-docs
cd fedora-docs/
cp -r example-tutorial/ kernel-compilation-tutorial
cd kernel-compilation-tutorial/
mv example-tutorial-en.xml kernel-compilation-tutorial-en.xml
gvim ~/.vimrc
gvim kernel-compilation-tutorial-en.xml
gvim Makefile
make
All this is useless except that the page is no longer blank.
18 years, 11 months
Fedora Project Mailing Lists reminder
by Elliot Lee
This is a reminder of the mailing lists for the Fedora Project, and
the purpose of each list. You can view this information at
http://fedora.redhat.com/participate/communicate/
When you're using these mailing lists, please take the time to choose
the one that is most appropriate to your post. If you don't know the
right mailing list to use for a question or discussion, please contact
me. This will help you get the best possible answer for your question,
and keep other list subscribers happy!
Mailing Lists
Mailing lists are email addresses which send email to all users
subscribed to the mailing list. Sending an email to a mailing list
reaches all users interested in discussing a specific topic and users
available to help other users with the topic.
The following mailing lists are available. To subscribe, send email to <listname>-request(a)redhat.com
(replace <listname> with the desired mailing list name such as
fedora-list) with the word subscribe in the subject.
fedora-announce-list - Announcements of changes and events. To stay
aware of news, subscribe to this list.
fedora-list - For users of releases. If you want help with a problem
installing or using , this is the list for you.
fedora-test-list - For testers of test releases. If you would like to
discuss experiences using TEST releases, this is the list for you.
fedora-devel-list - For developers, developers, developers. If you are
interested in helping create releases, this is the list for you.
fedora-docs-list - For participants of the docs project
fedora-desktop-list - For discussions about desktop issues such as user
interfaces, artwork, and usability
fedora-config-list - For discussions about the development of
configuration tools
fedora-legacy-announce - For announcements about the Fedora Legacy
Project
fedora-legacy-list - For discussions about the Fedora Legacy Project
fedora-selinux-list - For discussions about the Fedora SELinux Project
fedora-de-list - For discussions about Fedora in the German language
fedora-es-list - For discussions about Fedora in the Spanish language
fedora-ja-list - For discussions about Fedora in the Japanese language
fedora-i18n-list - For discussions about the internationalization of
Fedora Core
fedora-trans-list - For discussions about translating the software and
documentation associated with the Fedora Project
German: fedora-trans-de
French: fedora-trans-fr
Spanish: fedora-trans-es
Italian: fedora-trans-it
Brazilian Portuguese: fedora-trans-pt_br
Japanese: fedora-trans-ja
Korean: fedora-trans-ko
Simplified Chinese: fedora-trans-zh_cn
Traditional Chinese: fedora-trans-zh_tw
18 years, 12 months
Problem with installing Fedora
by H.T. Petter
Dear people
I have no idea if this is the right place for this question, but i
have no idea where i should otherwise go to.
I have been trying to install Fedora on an older computer (333MHz
pentium 3 with 64 Mb of RAM) to use it as a server, but after
installation and reboot i get a message that the OS is missing.
Does anybody know what i should do to fix this, or where i could go to
find an awnser? Naturally, if you need more info, i'd be more than
happy to give it!
Yours,
Harm-Tido Petter
18 years, 12 months
Build problems
by Paul W. Frields
I am having spurious errors in xmlto when I build. I don't recall seeing
these before today but it's been a while since I did any building:
8< - - -
[paul@bettie usb-hotplug-tutorial]$ make
Writing ln-legalnotice.html for legalnotice(legalnotice)
Writing s1-summary.html for sect1(s1-summary)
Writing s1-hotplug-files.html for sect1(s1-hotplug-files)
Writing s1-updfstab-files.html for sect1(s1-updfstab-files)
Writing s1-pam.html for sect1(s1-pam)
Writing s1-run-updfstab.html for sect1(s1-run-updfstab)
Writing s1-references.html for sect1(s1-references)
Writing index.html for article(usb-hotplug-tutorial)
/usr/bin/xmlto: line 379: 7068 Segmentation fault xsltproc
$XSLTOPTS -o "$XSLT_PROCESSED" "$STYLESHEET" "$INPUT_FILE"
- - - >8
Doing an immediate "make" again fails:
8< - - -
[paul@bettie usb-hotplug-tutorial]$ make
/usr/bin/xmlto: line 379: 7106 Segmentation fault xsltproc
$XSLTOPTS -o "$XSLT_PROCESSED" "$STYLESHEET" "$INPUT_FILE"
cp: cannot stat `*': No such file or directory
make: *** [html] Error 1
- - - >8
The Makefile is completely benign, and looks just like the one for
example-tutorial, with the exception of the name. I then ran the xmlto
process in a debugging shell for good measure, but it didn't clue me
into anything additional (which is not to say that it didn't have
anything to offer, given my relative density). ;-) I guess the above
means that xsltproc is at fault somehow, but I think debugging it may be
beyond my meager skills. I am running FC2 with all updates released to
date (incl. libxslt-1.1.5-1). Can anyone help?
--
Paul W. Frields, RHCE
18 years, 12 months
Installation types
by Stuart Ellis
Just to see if anyone can shed some light on this...
I'm looking at the Installation Types section of the Guide, and both the
installation system and the documentation for RH9 imply that the
Installation Type determines the default partition layout. At the
moment every type has the same default partition layout (100Mb /boot
partition, swap of 2x RAM, the rest in /), so the Installation Type only
controls the default package group selections. Is the concept of
varying the partition layout by Type something that is expected to occur
in future versions, or are references to it traces of an idea that died
at some point ?
--
Stuart Ellis
s.ellis(a)fastmail.co.uk
18 years, 12 months
Bug #129957 Update (Fedora Hardening)
by tuxxer
Text from bug update:
Here's the Intro and Chapter 1. If you reference the outline I posted a
while ago, you'll notice that kernel hardening is supposed to be chapter
2. Since that doc is still in the works, I'm going to jump right into
chapter 3, and if I can assist on the Kernel Compilation doc, I will.
Will post more as it is available.
Link to bug:
http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=129957
I think that the kernel compilation doc should be referenced in this
doc, but I'm not sure that it should be the only text on the subject. I
envision the reference to be for people who don't know how to
compile/recompile a kernel, and my Chapter 2, will discuss things that
can be included or left out to make the system more secure (for example,
a discussion of building the kernel without modules). Perhaps the
kernel compilation doc should cross reference this section of my doc?
Anyhow, in the meantime, I will continue on with Chapter 3: Securing the
Filesystem.
An html view of the doc, as well as ongoing developments (in html
format), will still be available at the link below. Please provide
direct feedback, criticisms, praise, jeers, etc. to the list, or my
email off-list, if desired.
http://members.cox.net/tuxxer
Thanks.
-Charlie
--
--
tuxxer <tuxxer(a)cox(dot)net>
<== tuxxer's gpg key fingerprint ==>
57EB F948 76AE 25BC E340 EFA9 FAF6 E1AC F1E1 1EA1
18 years, 12 months
Look of Fedora docs
by Vladimir Djokic
good day,
writers. while doing some mockups of docs look for fsn.org.yu at
http://www.gnome-ppp.org/fsn/template.html, i thought about doing some
work for fedora community. what i want is to `upgrade the look` of
fedora docs? should i try do something pretty (like novell with novell
linux desktop will have) or is it a no-no? to do some mockups so you can
see what i'm talking about?
bye,
vladeck.
--
"Theres no room for ideals in this mechanical place. There has to be
passion. "
19 years
