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https://github.com/rtomayko/ronn

the opposite of roff
https://github.com/rtomayko/ronn

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the opposite of roff

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README 

        
# Ronn



Ronn builds manuals. It converts simple, human readable textfiles to roff for

terminal display, and also to HTML for the web.



The source format includes all of Markdown but has a more rigid structure and

syntax extensions for features commonly found in manpages (definition lists,

link notation, etc.). The ronn-format(7) manual page defines the format in

detail.



The `*.ronn` files found in the [`man/`][1] directory show off a wide range of

ronn capabilities:



  * [ronn(1)](http://rtomayko.github.com/ronn/ronn.1) command -

    [source file](http://github.com/rtomayko/ronn/blob/master/man/ronn.1.ronn),

    [roff output](http://github.com/rtomayko/ronn/blob/master/man/ronn.1)



  * [ronn-format(7)](http://rtomayko.github.com/ronn/ronn-format.7) -

    [source file](http://github.com/rtomayko/ronn/blob/master/man/ronn-format.7.ronn),

    [roff output](http://github.com/rtomayko/ronn/blob/master/man/ronn-format.7)



[1]: http://github.com/rtomayko/ronn/tree/master/man



As an alternative, you might want to check out [pandoc](http://johnmacfarlane.net/pandoc/) which can also convert markdown into roff manual pages.



## Examples



Build roff and HTML output files for one or more input files:



    $ ronn man/ronn.5.ronn

    roff: man/ronn.5

    html: man/ronn.5.html



Generate only a standalone HTML version of one or more files:



    $ ronn --html man/markdown.5.ronn

    html: man/markdown.5.html



Build roff versions of all ronn files in a directory:



    $ ronn --roff man/*.ronn



View a ronn file as if it were a manpage without building intermediate files:



    $ ronn --man man/markdown.5.ronn



View roff output with man(1):



    $ man man/ronn.5



The [ronn(1)](http://rtomayko.github.com/ronn/ronn.1) manual page includes

comprehensive documentation on `ronn` command line options.



## Background



Some think UNIX manual pages are a poor and outdated form of documentation. I

disagree:



- Manpages follow a well defined structure that's immediately familiar. This

  gives developers a starting point when documenting new tools, libraries, and

  formats.



- Manpages get to the point. Because they're written in an inverted style, with

  a SYNOPSIS section followed by additional detail, prose and references to

  other sources of information, manpages provide the best of both cheat sheet

  and reference style documentation.



- Historically, manpages use an extremely -- unbelievably -- limited set of

  text formatting capabilities. You get a couple of headings, lists, bold,

  underline and no more. This is a feature.



- Although two levels of section hierarchy are technically supported, most

  manpages use only a single level. Unwieldy document hierarchies complicate

  otherwise good documentation. Remember that Feynman covered all of physics

  -- heavenly bodies through QED -- with only two levels of document hierarchy

  (_The Feynman Lectures on Physics_, 1970).



- The classical terminal manpage display is typographically well thought out.

  Big bold section headings, justified monospace text, nicely indented

  paragraphs, intelligently aligned definition lists, and an informational

  header and footer.



- Manpages have a simple referencing syntax; e.g., sh(1), fork(2), markdown(7).

  HTML versions can use this to generate links between pages.



Unfortunately, figuring out how to create a manpage is a fairly tedious process.

The roff/mandoc/mdoc macro languages are highly extensible, fractured between

multiple dialects, and include a bunch of device specific stuff irrelevant to

modern publishing tools.



## Copying



Ronn is Copyright (C) 2010 [Ryan Tomayko](http://tomayko.com/about)


See the file COPYING for information of licensing and distribution.