Provided by: sphinx-common_1.8.5-7ubuntu3_all 
NAME
sphinx-build - Sphinx documentation generator tool
SYNOPSIS
sphinx-build [options] <sourcedir> <outputdir> [filenames ...]
DESCRIPTION
sphinx-build generates documentation from the files in <sourcedir> and places it in the <outputdir>.
sphinx-build looks for <sourcedir>/conf.py for the configuration settings. sphinx-quickstart(1) may be
used to generate template files, including conf.py.
sphinx-build can create documentation in different formats. A format is selected by specifying the
builder name on the command line; it defaults to HTML. Builders can also perform other tasks related to
documentation processing.
By default, everything that is outdated is built. Output only for selected files can be built by
specifying individual filenames.
For a list of available options, refer to sphinx-build -b.
OPTIONS
-b buildername
The most important option: it selects a builder. The most common builders are:
html Build HTML pages. This is the default builder.
dirhtml
Build HTML pages, but with a single directory per document. Makes for prettier URLs (no
.html) if served from a webserver.
singlehtml
Build a single HTML with the whole content.
htmlhelp, qthelp, devhelp, epub
Build HTML files with additional information for building a documentation collection in one
of these formats.
applehelp
Build an Apple Help Book. Requires hiutil and codesign, which are not Open Source and
presently only available on Mac OS X 10.6 and higher.
latex Build LaTeX sources that can be compiled to a PDF document using pdflatex.
man Build manual pages in groff format for UNIX systems.
texinfo
Build Texinfo files that can be processed into Info files using makeinfo.
text Build plain text files.
gettext
Build gettext-style message catalogs (.pot files).
doctest
Run all doctests in the documentation, if the doctest extension is enabled.
linkcheck
Check the integrity of all external links.
xml Build Docutils-native XML files.
pseudoxml
Build compact pretty-printed "pseudo-XML" files displaying the internal structure of the
intermediate document trees.
See /usage/builders/index for a list of all builders shipped with Sphinx. Extensions can add
their own builders.
-M buildername
Alternative to -b. Uses the Sphinx make_mode module, which provides the same build functionality
as a default Makefile or Make.bat. In addition to all Sphinx /usage/builders/index, the following
build pipelines are available:
latexpdf
Build LaTeX files and run them through pdflatex, or as per latex_engine setting. If
language is set to 'ja', will use automatically the platex/dvipdfmx latex to PDF pipeline.
info Build Texinfo files and run them through makeinfo.
IMPORTANT:
Sphinx only recognizes the -M option if it is placed first.
New in version 1.2.1.
-a If given, always write all output files. The default is to only write output files for new and
changed source files. (This may not apply to all builders.)
-E Don't use a saved environment (the structure caching all cross-references), but rebuild it
completely. The default is to only read and parse source files that are new or have changed since
the last run.
-t tag Define the tag tag. This is relevant for only directives that only include their content if this
tag is set.
New in version 0.6.
-d path
Since Sphinx has to read and parse all source files before it can write an output file, the parsed
source files are cached as "doctree pickles". Normally, these files are put in a directory called
.doctrees under the build directory; with this option you can select a different cache directory
(the doctrees can be shared between all builders).
-j N Distribute the build over N processes in parallel, to make building on multiprocessor machines
more effective. Note that not all parts and not all builders of Sphinx can be parallelized. If
auto argument is given, Sphinx uses the number of CPUs as N.
New in version 1.2: This option should be considered experimental.
Changed in version 1.7: Support auto argument.
-c path
Don't look for the conf.py in the source directory, but use the given configuration directory
instead. Note that various other files and paths given by configuration values are expected to be
relative to the configuration directory, so they will have to be present at this location too.
New in version 0.3.
-C Don't look for a configuration file; only take options via the -D option.
New in version 0.5.
-D setting=value
Override a configuration value set in the conf.py file. The value must be a number, string, list
or dictionary value.
For lists, you can separate elements with a comma like this: -D html_theme_path=path1,path2.
For dictionary values, supply the setting name and key like this: -D
latex_elements.docclass=scrartcl.
For boolean values, use 0 or 1 as the value.
Changed in version 0.6: The value can now be a dictionary value.
Changed in version 1.3: The value can now also be a list value.
-A name=value
Make the name assigned to value in the HTML templates.
New in version 0.5.
-n Run in nit-picky mode. Currently, this generates warnings for all missing references. See the
config value nitpick_ignore for a way to exclude some references as "known missing".
-N Do not emit colored output.
-v Increase verbosity (loglevel). This option can be given up to three times to get more debug
logging output. It implies -T.
New in version 1.2.
-q Do not output anything on standard output, only write warnings and errors to standard error.
-Q Do not output anything on standard output, also suppress warnings. Only errors are written to
standard error.
-w file
Write warnings (and errors) to the given file, in addition to standard error.
-W Turn warnings into errors. This means that the build stops at the first warning and sphinx-build
exits with exit status 1.
--keep-going
With -W option, keep going processing when getting warnings to the end of build, and sphinx-build
exits with exit status 1.
New in version 1.8.
-T Display the full traceback when an unhandled exception occurs. Otherwise, only a summary is
displayed and the traceback information is saved to a file for further analysis.
New in version 1.2.
-P (Useful for debugging only.) Run the Python debugger, pdb, if an unhandled exception occurs while
building.
-h, --help, --version
Display usage summary or Sphinx version.
New in version 1.2.
You can also give one or more filenames on the command line after the source and build directories.
Sphinx will then try to build only these output files (and their dependencies).
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
The sphinx-build refers following environment variables:
MAKE A path to make command. A command name is also allowed. sphinx-build uses it to invoke sub-build
process on make-mode.
Makefile Options
The Makefile and make.bat files created by sphinx-quickstart usually run sphinx-build only with the -b
and -d options. However, they support the following variables to customize behavior:
PAPER This sets the 'papersize' key of latex_elements: i.e. PAPER=a4 sets it to 'a4paper' and
PAPER=letter to 'letterpaper'.
NOTE:
Usage of this environment variable got broken at Sphinx 1.5 as a4 or letter ended up as option
to LaTeX document in place of the needed a4paper, resp. letterpaper. Fixed at 1.7.7.
SPHINXBUILD
The command to use instead of sphinx-build.
BUILDDIR
The build directory to use instead of the one chosen in sphinx-quickstart.
SPHINXOPTS
Additional options for sphinx-build.
DEPRECATION WARNINGS
If any deprecation warning like RemovedInSphinxXXXWarning are displayed when building a user's document,
some Sphinx extension is using deprecated features. In that case, please report it to author of the
extension.
To disable the deprecation warnings, please set PYTHONWARNINGS= environment variable to your environment.
For example:
• PYTHONWARNINGS= make html (Linux/Mac)
• export PYTHONWARNINGS= and do make html (Linux/Mac)
• set PYTHONWARNINGS= and do make html (Windows)
• modify your Makefile/make.bat and set the environment variable
SEE ALSO
sphinx-quickstart(1)
COPYRIGHT
2007-2020, Georg Brandl and the Sphinx team