[xml/sgml] what to do with docbook-utils

[Ardo van Rangelrooij]

Hi,

I would to start a discussion on what to do with docbook-utils.

A couple of data points:

 * docbook-utils uses a a deprecated version of docbook2man which only supports
   SGML.  docbook2x' docbook2manxml supports both SGML and XML.
   (see also bug report #189951 from which I took the above)

 * Upstream development is hardly existent.  The biggest change in the last
   update what to replace using lynx/links by w3m (which resulted in version
   0.6.14 which I've not yet packaged).

Looking at the bug reports there're plenty of issues with docbook-utils.
If I really put my mind to it I can probabably fix most of these in e.g. a
month or so, but then we potentially end up with a debianized version of
docbook-utils.  I've got no idea how quickly the fixes would be incorporated
into the upstream source.

Also, to fix some of the bugs (epsecially #180066) would more or less require
a rewrite.  Keep mind that the various tools in docbook-utils originated as
separate scripts and were more or less slammed together in docbook-utils (of
course with all due and deserved respect for all the authors, but stil...).

Let's also draw docook2x and db2latex-xsl into this.  Wrt to manpage generation
docbook2x supersedes docbook-utils (see above).  And with db2latex-xsl we have
another route to generate PDF and PS output.  In other words, there's quite
some overlap between the three packages and each has its own set of issues.

I've got mixed feelings on how to approach cleaning this up: On one hand I've
got an itch to overhaul docbook-utils (but then we better start calling it
docbook-tools or something else) but on the other hand that might not be
well-received (being a fork and such).

So, I'm looking for input on this.  Maybe we should even move this to the
debian-sgml mailing list after some initial discussion here.

Thanks,
Ardo
-- 
Ardo van Rangelrooij                                     Debian XML/SGML Group
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