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

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.

       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.

--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.

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)      http://man.cx/grep(1)
           ls(1)        http://man.cx/ls(1)

           # other URLs for use with markdown reference links
           src          http://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 http://github.com/rtomayko/ronn/tree/master/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.

BUGS

       Ronn is written in Ruby and depends on hpricot and rdiscount, extension libraries that are non-trivial to
       install on some systems. A more portable version of this program would be welcome.

COPYRIGHT

       Ronn is Copyright (C) 2009 Ryan Tomayko http://tomayko.com/about