Ubuntu Manpage: ronn - convert markdown files to manpages

NAME

       ronn - convert markdown files to manpages

SYNOPSIS

       ronn [format...] file...
       ronn -m|--man file...
       ronn -S|--server file...
       ronn --pipe file
       ronn < file
       ronn -E|--encoding encoding ...

DESCRIPTION

       Ronn  converts  textfiles to standard roff-formatted Unix manpages or HTML. ronn-format(7)
       is based on markdown(7) but includes additional rules and syntax geared  toward  authoring
       manuals.

       In  its  default mode, ronn converts one or more input files to HTML or roff output files.
       The --roff, --html, and --fragment options  dictate  which  output  files  are  generated.
       Multiple format arguments may be specified to generate multiple output files. Output files
       are named after and written to the same directory as input files.

       The --server and --man options change the output behavior from file generation to  serving
       dynamically generated HTML manpages or viewing file as with man(1).

       With no file arguments, ronn acts as simple filter. Ronn source text is read from standard
       input and roff output is written to  standard  output.  Use  the  --html,  --roff,  and/or
       --fragment options to select the output format.

FILES

       The ronn command expects input to be valid ronn-format(7) text. Source files are typically
       named name.section.ronn (e.g., example.1.ronn). The name and section should match the name
       and section defined in the file's heading.

       Source  files  must  be  in UTF-8 encoding, or the encoding specified by the -E/--encoding
       option, regardless of the locale that ronn is running under.

       When building roff or HTML output files, destination filenames are  determined  by  taking
       the  basename of the input file and adding the appropriate file extension (or removing the
       file extension in the case of roff output). For  example,  executing  ronn  example.1.ronn
       generates example.1 with roff output and example.1.html with HTML output.

OPTIONS

These options control whether output is written to file(s), standard output, or directly
to a man pager.

-m, --man
Don't generate files, display files as if man(1) were invoked on the roff output
file. This simulates default man behavior by piping the roff output through
groff(1) and the paging program specified by the MANPAGER environment variable.

-S, --server
Don't generate files, start an HTTP server at http://localhost:1207/ and serve
dynamically generated HTML for the set of input files. A file named example.2.ronn
is served as /example.2.html. There's also an index page at the root with links to
each file.

The server respects the --style and document attribute options (--manual, --date,
etc.). These same options can be varied at request time by giving them as query
parameters: ?manual=FOO&style=dark,toc

NOTE: The builtin server is designed to assist in the process of writing and
styling manuals. It is in no way recommended as a general purpose web server.

--port=port
When used with -S/--server, runs the server at the specified port instead of the
default port 1207.

--pipe Don't generate files, write generated output to standard output. This is the
default behavior when ronn source text is piped in on standard input and no file
arguments are provided.

-o=directory, --output-dir=directory
Write generated files to the specified directory instead of the default location.

-E=encoding, --encoding=encoding
Specify the encoding that input files are in. Default is UTF-8, regardless of
user's locale settings. Input sent to STDIN is always treated as UTF-8, regardless
of whether -E is passed.

Format options control the files ronn generates, or the output format when the --pipe
argument is specified. When no format options are given, both --roff and --html are
assumed.

-r, --roff
Generate roff output. This is the default behavior when no files are given and ronn
source text is read from standard input.

-5, --html
Generate output in HTML format.

-f, --fragment
Generate output in HTML format but only the document fragment, not the header,
title, or footer.

Document attributes displayed in the header and footer areas of generated content are
specified with these options. (These values may also be set via the ENVIRONMENT.)

--manual=manual
The name of the manual this man page belongs to; manual is prominently displayed
top-center in the header area.

--organization=name
The name of the group, organization, or individual responsible for publishing the
document; name is displayed in the bottom-left footer area.

--date=date
The document's published date; date must be formatted YYYY-MM-DD and is displayed
in the bottom-center footer area. The file mtime is used when no date is given, or
the current time when no file is available.

HTML output can be customized through the use of CSS stylesheets:

--style=module[,module]...
The list of CSS stylesheets to apply to the document. Multiple module arguments may
be specified, but must be separated by commas or spaces.

When module is a simple word, search for files named module.css in all directories
listed in the RONN_STYLE environment variable, and then search internal styles.

When module includes a / character, use it as the full path to a stylesheet file.

Internal styles are man (included by default), toc, and 80c. See STYLES for
descriptions of features added by each module.

Miscellaneous options:

-w, --warnings
Show troff warnings on standard error when performing roff conversion. Warnings are
most often the result of a bug in ronn's HTML to roff conversion logic.

-W Disable troff warnings. Warnings are disabled by default. This option can be used
to revert the effect of a previous -w argument.

-v, --version
Show ronn version and exit.

LINK INDEXES

       When  generating  HTML  output,  ronn  hyperlinks  manual references (like grep(1), ls(1),
       markdown(7)) in source text based  on  reference  name  to  URL  mappings  defined  in  an
       index.txt  file.  Each  line  of  the  index  file describes a single reference link, with
       whitespace separating the reference's id from its location. Blank lines are allowed; lines
       beginning with a # character are ignored:

           # manuals included in this project:
           whisky(1)    whisky.1.ronn
           tango(5)     tango.5.ronn

           # external manuals
           grep(1)      https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man1/grep.1.html
           ls(1)        https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man1/ls.1.html

           # other URLs for use with markdown reference links
           src          https://github.com/

       The  location  is  an  absolute  or relative URL that usually points at an HTML version of
       manpage. It's possible to define references for things that aren't manpages.

       All manuals in an individual directory share the references defined  in  that  directory's
       index.txt  file. Index references may be used explicitly in Markdown reference style links
       using the syntax: [text][id], where text is the link text  and  id  is  a  reference  name
       defined in the index.

STYLES

The --style option selects a list of CSS stylesheets to include in the generated HTML.
Styles are applied in the order defined, so each can use the cascade to override
previously defined styles.

Builtin Stylesheets
These styles are included with the distribution:

man Basic manpage styles: typography, definition lists, indentation. This is always
included regardless of --style argument. It is however possible to replace the
default man module with a custom one by placing a man.css file on the RONN_STYLE
path.

print Basic print stylesheet. The generated <style> tag includes a media=print attribute.

toc Enables the Table of Contents navigation. The TOC markup is included in generated
HTML by default but hidden with an inline display:none style rule; the toc module
turns it on and applies basic TOC styles.

dark Light text on a dark background.

80c Changes the display width to mimic the display of a classic 80 character terminal.
The default display width causes lines to wrap at a gratuitous 100 characters.

Custom Stylesheets
Writing custom stylesheets is straight-forward. The following core selectors allow
targeting all generated elements:

.mp The manual page container element. Present on full documents and document
fragments.

body#manpage
Signifies that the page was fully-generated by Ronn and contains a single manual
page (.mp element).

.man-decor
The three-item heading and footing elements both have this class.

.man-head, .man-foot
The heading and footing, respectively.

.man-title
The main <h1> element. Hidden by default unless the manual has no name or section
attributes.

See the builtin style sources
https://github.com/apjanke/ronn-ng/tree/main/lib/ronn/template for examples.

EXAMPLES

       Build roff and HTML output files and view the roff manpage using man(1):

           $ ronn some-great-program.1.ronn
           roff: some-great-program.1
           html: some-great-program.1.html
           $ man ./some-great-program.1

       Build only the roff manpage for all .ronn files in the current directory:

           $ ronn --roff *.ronn
           roff: mv.1
           roff: ls.1
           roff: cd.1
           roff: sh.1

       Build only the HTML manpage for a few files and apply the dark and toc stylesheets:

           $ ronn --html --style=dark,toc mv.1.ronn ls.1.ronn
           html: mv.1.html
           html: ls.1.html

       Generate roff output on standard output and write to file:

           $ ronn <hello.1.ronn >hello.1

       View a ronn file in the same way as man(1) without building a roff file:

           $ ronn --man hello.1.ronn

       Serve HTML manpages at http://localhost:1207/ for all *.ronn files under a man/ directory:

           $ ronn --server man/*.ronn
           $ open http://localhost:1207/

ENVIRONMENT

       RONN_MANUAL
              A default manual name to be displayed in the top-center header area.  The  --manual
              option takes precedence over this value.

       RONN_ORGANIZATION
              The default manual publishing group, organization, or individual to be displayed in
              the bottom-left footer area. The --organization option takes precedence  over  this
              value.

       RONN_DATE
              The default manual date in YYYY-MM-DD format. Displayed in the bottom-center footer
              area. The --date option takes precedence over this value.

       RONN_STYLE
              A PATH-style list of directories to check for  stylesheets  given  to  the  --style
              option.  Directories  are  separated  by  a  :; blank entries are ignored. Use . to
              include the current working directory.

       MANPAGER
              The paging program used for man pages. This is  typically  set  to  something  like
              'less -is'.

       PAGER  Used instead of MANPAGER when MANPAGER is not defined.

COPYRIGHT

       Ronn-NG is Copyright (C) 2009 Ryan Tomayko https://tomayko.com/about, (C) 2018-2023 Andrew
       Janke https://apjanke.net, and other contributors. See the AUTHORS  file  in  the  Ronn-NG
       distribution for full details.