Fred Drake | 34eefe5 | 1998-03-03 21:41:22 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 1 | Python main documentation -- in LaTeX |
Guido van Rossum | cd7bf39 | 1992-04-05 15:06:03 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 2 | ------------------------------------- |
| 3 | |
Fred Drake | 34eefe5 | 1998-03-03 21:41:22 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 4 | This directory contains the LaTeX sources to the Python documentation. |
| 5 | They now require LaTeX2e (LaTeX 2.09 compatibility is dropped). |
Guido van Rossum | 7f777ed | 1990-08-09 14:25:15 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 6 | |
Fred Drake | 34eefe5 | 1998-03-03 21:41:22 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 7 | The Python Reference Manual is no longer maintained in LaTeX. It is |
Guido van Rossum | 71ec03b | 1996-10-23 16:23:47 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 8 | now a FrameMaker document. The FrameMaker 5.0 files (ref.book, |
| 9 | ref*.doc) as well as PostScript generated (ref.ps) from it are in the |
Fred Drake | 71472a5 | 1998-03-04 15:21:02 +0000 | [diff] [blame^] | 10 | subdirectory ref/. (See <ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/framereader> |
| 11 | for a free reader for FrameMaker documents, for some platforms.) Many |
Guido van Rossum | a417b66 | 1997-12-08 20:51:26 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 12 | thanks to Robin Friedrich for the conversion of the Reference Manual |
| 13 | to FrameMaker and his work on its index. |
Guido van Rossum | 71ec03b | 1996-10-23 16:23:47 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 14 | |
Fred Drake | 34eefe5 | 1998-03-03 21:41:22 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 15 | If you don't have LaTeX, or if you'd rather not format the |
| 16 | documentation yourself, you can ftp a tar file containing HTML, PDF, |
| 17 | or PostScript versions of all documents. Additional formats may be |
| 18 | available. These should be in the same place where you fetched the |
Fred Drake | 71472a5 | 1998-03-04 15:21:02 +0000 | [diff] [blame^] | 19 | main Python distribution (try <http://www.python.org> or |
| 20 | <ftp://ftp.python.org>). |
Guido van Rossum | f1245a8 | 1995-03-20 13:00:53 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 21 | |
Fred Drake | 34eefe5 | 1998-03-03 21:41:22 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 22 | The following are the LaTeX source files: |
Guido van Rossum | 7f777ed | 1990-08-09 14:25:15 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 23 | |
Guido van Rossum | 676d6da | 1992-02-11 15:51:36 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 24 | tut.tex The tutorial |
Guido van Rossum | 6938f06 | 1994-08-01 12:22:53 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 25 | lib.tex, lib*.tex The library reference |
Guido van Rossum | 6938f06 | 1994-08-01 12:22:53 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 26 | ext.tex How to extend Python |
Guido van Rossum | a417b66 | 1997-12-08 20:51:26 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 27 | api.tex Reference for the Python/C API |
Guido van Rossum | 7f777ed | 1990-08-09 14:25:15 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 28 | |
Fred Drake | 34eefe5 | 1998-03-03 21:41:22 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 29 | All use the "manual" document class and "python" package, derived from |
| 30 | the old "myformat.sty" style file. These contains many macro |
| 31 | definitions useful in documenting Python, and set some style parameters. |
Guido van Rossum | 7f777ed | 1990-08-09 14:25:15 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 32 | |
Fred Drake | 34eefe5 | 1998-03-03 21:41:22 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 33 | There's a Makefile to call LaTeX and the other utilities in the right |
Guido van Rossum | f1245a8 | 1995-03-20 13:00:53 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 34 | order and the right number of times. This will produce DVI files for |
| 35 | each document made; to preview them, use xdvi. PostScript is produced |
| 36 | by the same Makefile target that produces the DVI files. This uses |
Fred Drake | 71472a5 | 1998-03-04 15:21:02 +0000 | [diff] [blame^] | 37 | the dvips tool. Printing depends on local conventions; at our site, |
| 38 | we use lpr. For example: |
Guido van Rossum | 7f777ed | 1990-08-09 14:25:15 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 39 | |
Guido van Rossum | 71ec03b | 1996-10-23 16:23:47 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 40 | make lib # create lib.dvi and lib.ps |
| 41 | xdvi lib # preview lib.dvi |
Fred Drake | 34eefe5 | 1998-03-03 21:41:22 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 42 | lpr lib.ps # print on default printer |
Guido van Rossum | cd7bf39 | 1992-04-05 15:06:03 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 43 | |
Guido van Rossum | f1245a8 | 1995-03-20 13:00:53 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 44 | |
Fred Drake | 71472a5 | 1998-03-04 15:21:02 +0000 | [diff] [blame^] | 45 | What if I find a bug? |
| 46 | --------------------- |
| 47 | |
| 48 | First, check that the bug is present in the online version of the |
| 49 | documentation at <http://www.python.org/docs/>; we may have already |
| 50 | fixed it. |
| 51 | |
| 52 | If we haven't, tell us about it. We'd like the documentation to be |
| 53 | complete and accurate, but have limited time. If you discover any |
| 54 | inconsistencies between the documentation and implementation, or just |
| 55 | have suggestions as to how to improve the documentation, let is know! |
| 56 | Send comments and patches to the Python Documentation Team: |
| 57 | |
| 58 | python-docs@python.org |
| 59 | |
| 60 | Thanks! |
| 61 | |
| 62 | |
Fred Drake | 34eefe5 | 1998-03-03 21:41:22 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 63 | What tools do I need? |
| 64 | --------------------- |
Guido van Rossum | a417b66 | 1997-12-08 20:51:26 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 65 | |
Fred Drake | 34eefe5 | 1998-03-03 21:41:22 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 66 | You need to install Python; some of the scripts used to produce the |
| 67 | documentation are written in Python. |
Guido van Rossum | a417b66 | 1997-12-08 20:51:26 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 68 | |
Fred Drake | 34eefe5 | 1998-03-03 21:41:22 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 69 | The simplest way to get the rest of the tools in the configuration we |
| 70 | used is to install the teTeX TeX distribution, version 0.9. More |
Fred Drake | 71472a5 | 1998-03-04 15:21:02 +0000 | [diff] [blame^] | 71 | information is available on teTeX at <http://www.tug.org/tetex/>. |
| 72 | This is a UNIX-only TeX distribution at this time. |
Fred Drake | 34eefe5 | 1998-03-03 21:41:22 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 73 | |
| 74 | If you don't want to get teTeX, or if you're not using UNIX, here is |
| 75 | what you'll need: |
| 76 | |
| 77 | To create DVI, PDF, or PostScript files: |
| 78 | |
| 79 | - LaTeX2e, 1995/12/01 or newer. Older versions are likely to |
| 80 | choke. |
| 81 | |
| 82 | - makeindex. This is used to produce the indexes for the |
| 83 | library reference and Python/C API reference. |
| 84 | |
| 85 | To create PDF files: |
| 86 | |
| 87 | - pdflatex. We used the one in the teTeX 0.9 distribution |
| 88 | (version 0.11 at the time of this writing). |
| 89 | |
| 90 | To create PostScript files: |
| 91 | |
| 92 | - dvips. Most TeX installations include this. If you don't |
Fred Drake | 71472a5 | 1998-03-04 15:21:02 +0000 | [diff] [blame^] | 93 | have one, check CTAN (<ftp://ctan.tug.org/tex-archive/>). |
Fred Drake | 34eefe5 | 1998-03-03 21:41:22 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 94 | |
| 95 | To create info files: |
| 96 | |
| 97 | - makeinfo. This is available from any GNU mirror. |
| 98 | |
| 99 | To create HTML files: |
| 100 | |
Fred Drake | 71472a5 | 1998-03-04 15:21:02 +0000 | [diff] [blame^] | 101 | - Perl 5.004_04 or newer. Find the software at |
| 102 | <http://language.perl.com/info/software.html>. |
Fred Drake | 34eefe5 | 1998-03-03 21:41:22 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 103 | |
| 104 | - LaTeX2HTML 98.1p1, or newer. Releases are available at |
Fred Drake | 71472a5 | 1998-03-04 15:21:02 +0000 | [diff] [blame^] | 105 | <http://www-dsed.llnl.gov/files/programs/unix/latex2html/>. |
Fred Drake | 34eefe5 | 1998-03-03 21:41:22 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 106 | |
| 107 | |
| 108 | What if Times fonts are not available? |
| 109 | -------------------------------------- |
| 110 | |
| 111 | As distributed, the LaTeX documents use PostScript Times fonts. This |
| 112 | is done since they are much better looking and produce smaller |
| 113 | PostScript files. If, however, your TeX installation does not support |
| 114 | them, they may be easily disabled. Edit the file manual.cls and |
| 115 | comment out the line that starts "\RequirePackage{times}" using a "%" |
| 116 | character at the beginning of the line. An alternative is to install |
| 117 | the right fonts and LaTeX style file. |
Guido van Rossum | a417b66 | 1997-12-08 20:51:26 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 118 | |
| 119 | |
Guido van Rossum | f1245a8 | 1995-03-20 13:00:53 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 120 | Making HTML files |
| 121 | ----------------- |
| 122 | |
Fred Drake | 34eefe5 | 1998-03-03 21:41:22 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 123 | The LaTeX documents can be converted to HTML using Nikos Drakos' |
| 124 | LaTeX2HTML converter. See the Makefile; after some twiddling, "make |
Guido van Rossum | a417b66 | 1997-12-08 20:51:26 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 125 | l2h" should do the trick. |
Guido van Rossum | f1245a8 | 1995-03-20 13:00:53 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 126 | |
Fred Drake | 71472a5 | 1998-03-04 15:21:02 +0000 | [diff] [blame^] | 127 | For the reference manual, we use Harlequin's webmaker. We're not very |
Guido van Rossum | a417b66 | 1997-12-08 20:51:26 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 128 | happy with it and hope that eventually FrameMaker will be able to |
| 129 | produce HTML without third party help. |