Hi gang,

<total Latex newbie here>

Any hints on which packages to install on Debian Squeeze (current stable) or which files are required so I can try generating some FPDocs content?

Something like
aptitude install texlive tex4ht python-plastex hevea dvi2tty perhaps?

(Looking into writing some documentation on the db export units, but not so sure about my patches & want to test first how they end up looking)

Thanks,
Reinier

In our previous episode, Reinier Olislagers said:

texlive and tex4ht. plastex and hevea are tex4ht alternatives, and not commonly used.

dvi2tty only if you want to generate plain txt docs. (for dos mainly)

Reinier Olislagers wrote

Any hints on which packages to install on Debian Squeeze (current stable) or which files are required so I can try generating some FPDocs content?

Tip #1:
Install a distro geared for programmers. ;-) Slackware includes everything a developer needs out of the box. C, C++, Fortan compilers and more. Compiling FPC or Lazarus works out of the box. FPDoc generated PDF etc. all work out of the box because LaTeX comes standard with Slackware. All pretty awesome for any developer.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

I can add, that I am working on a rewrite of the RTF output writer for FPDoc. This will generate RTF docs very similar to the current PDF ones - including hyperlinking. The current RTF output in any released FPC is just useless. My idea is that you generate the RTF output, then open those RTL files with OpenOffice and simply select "Export to PDF". Much less dependency for Linux, Windows or MacOSX users - well, most Linux distros include OpenOffice as standard. This idea has another benefit. Currently the FPDoc PDF output is only A4, but I prefer A5 for reading on my iPad. I did manage to generate A5 docs but they have a pretty screwed layout. My initial testing with RTF and OpenOffice, is that the A5 PDF output is MUCH better.

Thanks Marco & Graeme for replying.

Mmmm, yes, thanks, Marco's tips seemed to work fine - at least the install: aptitude install texlive tex4ht
Haven't tried creating fpcdocs yet, so hadn't reported back yet.

I'm familiar with Debian (used to be FreeBSD) and not with Slackware;
I'd prefer not having to figure out yet another distro ;)

PS: aptitude install lazarus fpc fpc-source isn't too difficult to get FPC/Lazarus going in Debian either ;)

Your post did remind me to check whether git is installed though, thanks ;)

I can add, that I am working on a rewrite of the RTF output writer for FPDoc. This will generate RTF docs very similar to the current PDF ones - including hyperlinking.

Whatever scratches your itch ;)
Personally, I'd rather see some more content in the help files than yet another way of generating the stuff, but of course everyone's free to do what he wants.

Thanks,
Reinier

Reinier Olislagers wrote

PS: aptitude install lazarus fpc fpc-source isn't too difficult to get FPC/Lazarus going in Debian either ;)

I never install binary releases of the various distro packages - they are always out of date. Installing from source and wanting to compile, you need all the *-devel packages, which comes standard with Slackware. So it just works.

Your post did remind me to check whether git is installed though, thanks ;)

Did I mention SVN and Git come standard with Slackware too. :-)

Personally, I'd rather see some more content in the help files than yet another way of generating the stuff,

That's the problem for the documentation writers, not for the documentation tools. On the topic, I can add that the FPC docs are very good. It's class documentation from other frameworks that are lacking.

Graeme Geldenhuys wrote

On 18/09/2011, Reinier Olislagers wrote: I never install binary releases of the various distro packages - they are always out of date.

LazUpdater ftw ;) (When I have it working on Linux)

> Your post did remind me to check whether git is installed though, thanks ;) Did I mention SVN and Git come standard with Slackware too. :-)

Could have guessed though ;)

Still, it comes down to what one is most comfortable with. And if you want to, you can use a preseed file (IIRC) that customises your Debian install, similar to RedHat kickstart. Used it once to generate a working, configured VPN server from an ISO. ... leaving out other methods like puppet, FAI etc, but I've never used these in anger yet.

True, if you want to divide people into categories ;)

On the topic, I can add that the FPC docs are very good. It's class documentation from other frameworks that are lacking.

Yep, such as a certain well-known Delphi clone...

See you,
Reinier