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Python Documentation README
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This directory contains the reStructuredText (reST) sources to the Python
documentation.  You don't need to build them yourself, prebuilt versions are
available at http://docs.python.org/download/.

Documentation on the authoring Python documentation, including information about
both style and markup, is available in the "Documenting Python" chapter of the
documentation.  There's also a chapter intended to point out differences to
those familiar with the previous docs written in LaTeX.


Building the docs
=================

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You need to have Python 2.4 or higher installed; the toolset used to build the
docs is written in Python.  It is called *Sphinx*, it is not included in this
tree, but maintained separately.  Also needed are the docutils, supplying the
base markup that Sphinx uses, Jinja, a templating engine, and optionally
Pygments, a code highlighter.
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Using make
----------

Luckily, a Makefile has been prepared so that on Unix, provided you have
installed Python and Subversion, you can just run ::

   make html

to check out the necessary toolset in the `tools/` subdirectory and build the
HTML output files.  To view the generated HTML, point your favorite browser at
the top-level index `build/html/index.html` after running "make".

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To use a Python interpreter that's not called ``python``, use the standard
way to set Makefile variables, using e.g. ::

   make html PYTHON=/usr/bin/python2.5

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Available make targets are:

 * "html", which builds standalone HTML files for offline viewing.

 * "htmlhelp", which builds HTML files and a HTML Help project file usable to
   convert them into a single Compiled HTML (.chm) file -- these are popular
   under Microsoft Windows, but very handy on every platform.

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   To create the CHM file, you need to run the Microsoft HTML Help Workshop over
   the generated project (.hhp) file.
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 * "latex", which builds LaTeX source files as input to "pdflatex" to produce
   PDF documents.
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 * "text", which builds a plain text file for each source file.

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 * "linkcheck", which checks all external references to see whether they are
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   broken, redirected or malformed, and outputs this information to stdout as
   well as a plain-text (.txt) file.
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 * "changes", which builds an overview over all versionadded/versionchanged/
   deprecated items in the current version. This is meant as a help for the
   writer of the "What's New" document.

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 * "coverage", which builds a coverage overview for standard library modules and
   C API.
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 * "pydoc-topics", which builds a Python module containing a dictionary with
   plain text documentation for the labels defined in
   `tools/sphinxext/pyspecific.py` -- pydoc needs these to show topic and
   keyword help.
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A "make update" updates the Subversion checkouts in `tools/`.


Without make
------------

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You'll need to install the Sphinx package, either by checking it out via ::
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   svn co http://svn.python.org/projects/external/Sphinx-1.0.5/sphinx tools/sphinx
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or by installing it from PyPI.
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Then, you need to install Docutils, either by checking it out via ::
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   svn co http://svn.python.org/projects/external/docutils-0.6/docutils tools/docutils
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or by installing it from http://docutils.sf.net/.

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You also need Jinja2, either by checking it out via ::

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   svn co http://svn.python.org/projects/external/Jinja-2.3.1/jinja2 tools/jinja2
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or by installing it from PyPI.

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You can optionally also install Pygments, either as a checkout via ::
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   svn co http://svn.python.org/projects/external/Pygments-1.3.1/pygments tools/pygments
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or from PyPI at http://pypi.python.org/pypi/Pygments.


Then, make an output directory, e.g. under `build/`, and run ::

   python tools/sphinx-build.py -b<builder> . build/<outputdirectory>

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where `<builder>` is one of html, text, latex, or htmlhelp (for explanations see
the make targets above).
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Contributing
============

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Bugs in the content should be reported to the Python bug tracker at
http://bugs.python.org.
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Bugs in the toolset should be reported in the Sphinx bug tracker at
http://www.bitbucket.org/birkenfeld/sphinx/issues/.
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You can also send a mail to the Python Documentation Team at docs@python.org,
and we will process your request as soon as possible.

If you want to help the Documentation Team, you are always welcome.  Just send
a mail to docs@python.org.


Copyright notice
================

The Python source is copyrighted, but you can freely use and copy it
as long as you don't change or remove the copyright notice:

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Copyright (c) 2000-2010 Python Software Foundation.
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All rights reserved.

Copyright (c) 2000 BeOpen.com.
All rights reserved.

Copyright (c) 1995-2000 Corporation for National Research Initiatives.
All rights reserved.

Copyright (c) 1991-1995 Stichting Mathematisch Centrum.
All rights reserved.

See the file "license.rst" for information on usage and redistribution
of this file, and for a DISCLAIMER OF ALL WARRANTIES.
----------------------------------------------------------------------