doc/man/README.md

   1 LTTng-tools man pages
   2 =====================
   3
   4 This directory contains the sources of the LTTng-tools man pages.
   5
   6 LTTng-tools man pages are written in
   7 [AsciiDoc](http://www.methods.co.nz/asciidoc/), and then converted to
   8 DocBook (XML) using the `asciidoc` command, and finally to troff using
   9 the appropriate DocBook XSL stylesheet (using the `xmlto` command).
  10
  11
  12 Custom XSL stylesheets
  13 ----------------------
  14
  15 There are a few custom XSL stylesheets applied for customizing the
  16 generated man pages in the `xsl` directory.
  17
  18
  19 Macros
  20 ------
  21
  22 AsciiDoc is configured with `asciidoc.conf` which contains a few
  23 macro definitions used everywhere in the man page sources.
  24
  25
  26 ### linklttng
  27
  28 The linklttng macro is used to link to another LTTng man page. Its
  29 output is different depending on the back-end. In troff, the man page
  30 name is rendered in bold, whereas the HTML5 output renders a hyperlink.
  31
  32 Usage example: `linklttng:lttng-enable-channel(1)`.
  33
  34
  35 ### option
  36
  37 The option macro is used to write a command-line option.
  38
  39 Usage example: `option:--no-output`, `option:--loglevel=TRACE_WARNING`
  40
  41
  42 ### not
  43
  44 The `:not:` macro is used to emphasize on _not_.
  45
  46
  47 Includes
  48 --------
  49
  50   * `common-cmd-footer.txt`: common `lttng` command footer.
  51   * `common-cmd-help-options.txt`: common program information section
  52     of `lttng` command options.
  53   * `common-cmd-options-head.txt`: common `lttng` command head of
  54     options section.
  55   * `common-footer.txt`: common footer for all commands.
  56
  57
  58 Convention
  59 ----------
  60
  61 Please follow those rules when updating the current man pages or
  62 writing new ones:
  63
  64   * Always use macros when possible (link to other LTTng man page,
  65     command-line option, NOT, etc.).
  66   * Use callouts with the `term` role for command-line examples.
  67   * Always refer to _long_ options in the text.
  68   * Use the `option:--option=parameter` format (with `=`) when providing
  69     a parameter to long options.
  70   * Write _user space_, not _userspace_ nor _user-space_.
  71     (neither _user land_).
  72   * Write _file system_, not _filesystem_.
  73   * Write _use case_, not _use-case_ nor _usecase_.
  74   * Write _log level_, not _loglevel_.
  75   * Write complete LTTng project names: _LTTng-modules_, _LTTng-UST_ and
  76     _LTTng-tools_, not _modules_, _UST_ and _tools_.
  77   * Prefer simple emphasis to strong emphasis for emphasizing text.
  78   * Try to stay behind the 72th column mark if possible, and behind
  79     the 80th column otherwise.
  80   * Do not end directory paths with a forward slash
  81     (good: `include/trace/events`, bad: `include/trace/events/`).
  82   * Minimize the use of the future tense (_will_).
  83   * Do not use Latin abbreviations (_e.g._, _i.e._, _etc._).