sgml(5)




NAME

     sgml, solbook - Standard Generalized Markup Language


DESCRIPTION

     Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) is the ISO stan-
     dard  8879:1986 that describes a syntax for marking up docu-
     ments with tags that describe the purpose of the text rather
     than the appearance on the page. This form of markup facili-
     tates document interchange between  different platforms  and
     applications.   SGML allows the management of information as
     data objects rather than text on a page.

     In an  SGML document  the  main  structural  components  are
     called  elements.  The organization and structure of a docu-
     ment and the meaning of elements are described in the  Docu-
     ment  Type  Definition  ( DTD ). Elements are the  tags that
     identify the content. Element names may  be  descriptive  of
     the  content  for ease of use. For example  <para> for para-
     graphs. Elements can have   attributes  which  are  used  to
     modify or refine the properties or characteristics of
      the element. Within the  DTD a valid context for each  ele-
     ment is defined and a framework is provided for the types of
     elements that constitute a compliant document.

     Another component of the  DTD is entities.  Entities  are  a
     collection  of  characters that can be referenced as a unit.
     Entities are similar to constants in a programming  language
     such as C. They can be defined and referenced. An entity can
     represent one character or symbol which does not appear on a
     standard  keyboard,  a  word or group of words, or an entire
     separate sgml marked-up file. Entities allow reuse of  stan-
     dard text.

     There is no single standard  DTD , but the de facto standard
     for  the  computer  industry is the DocBook  DTD , developed
     and maintained by the Davenport Group. Within Sun, the  Sol-
     Book   DTD  ,  which is a proper subset of DocBook  DTD , is
     used when writing reference manual pages. The  SolBook   DTD
     contains  a  number of tags that are designed for the unique
     needs of the reference pages.


SolBook Elements

     Elements are defined  with  a  hierarchical  structure  that
     gives  a  structure  to  the  document.  The  following is a
     description of some of the elements from  the  SolBook   DTD
     which are used for reference pages.

  DOCTYPE
     The first line in an  SGML file that identifies the location
     of  the  DTD that is used to define the document. The <!DOC-
     TYPE string is what the
      SGML -aware  man(1) command uses to identify that a file is

     formatted in  SGML rather than  nroff(1).

  RefEntry
     The top layer element that  contains  a  reference  page  is
     <refentry>. All of the text and other tags must be contained
     within this tag.

  RefMeta
     The next tag in a reference page is  <refmeta>, which  is  a
     container for several other tags. They are:

     <refentrytitle>
           This is  the  title  of  the  reference  page.  It  is
           equivalent  to  the  name of the reference page's file
           name, without the section number extension.

     <manvolnum>
           This is the section number  that  the  reference  page
           resides  in.  The contents may be a text entity refer-
           ence.

     <refmiscinfo>
           There are one or more  <refmiscinfo> tags  which  con-
           tain meta information. Meta information is information
           about the reference page. The  <refmiscinfo>  tag  has
           the   class attribute. There are four classes that are
           routinely used.

           date  This is the date that the file  was  last  modi-
                 fied.  By  consensus  this  date is changed only
                 when  the  technical  information  on  the  page
                 changes and not simply for an editorial change.

           sectdesc
                 This is the section title of the reference page;
                 for  example   User  Commands. The value of this
                 attribute may be a text entity reference.

           software
                 This is the name of the  software  product  that
                 the   topic  discussed  on  the  reference  page
                 belongs to. For example  UNIX commands are  part
                 of  the  SunOS  x.x  release.  The value of this
                 attribute may be a text entity reference.

           arch  This is the architectural platform limitation of
                 the  subject discussed on the reference page. If
                 there are no limitations the value used is  gen-
                 eric. Other values are sparc and x86.

           copyright
                 This attribute  contains  the  Sun  Microsystems
                 copyright. Any other copyrights that may pertain
                 to the individual reference page file should  be
                 entered  as separate  <refmiscinfo> entries. The
                 value of this attribute may  be  a  text  entity
                 reference.

  RefNameDiv
     This tag contains the equivalent  information  to  the   .TH
     macro  line in an nroff(1) reference page. <refnamediv> con-
     tains three tags. These tags contain the text that is before
     and after the `-' (dash) on the NAME line.

     <refname>
           These are the names of the topics that  are  discussed
           in the file. There may be more than one  <refname> for
           a page. The first <refname> must match the name of the
           file  and  the <refentrytitle>. If there are more than
           one  <refname>  tags,  each  is  separated  by  a  `,'
           (comma).  The  comma  is generated by the publisher of
           sgml files,  so  it  should  not  be  typed.  This  is
           referred to as auto-generated text.

     <refpurpose>
           The text after the dash on the NAME line is  contained
           in  this  tag.  This  is  a  short summary of what the
           object or objects described on the reference  page  do
           or  are  used for. The dash is also auto-generated and
           should not be typed in.

     <refdiscriptor>
           In some cases the <refentrytitle> is a  general  topic
           descriptor of a group of related objects that are dis-
           cussed on the same page. In this case  the  first  tag
           after the <refnamediv> is a <refdiscriptor>. The <ref-
           name>  tags  follow.  Only  one   <refdiscriptor>   is
           allowed, and it should match the <refentrytitle>.

  RefSynopsisDiv
     The SYNOPSIS line of the reference page is contained by this
     tag.  There  is  a  <title>  that usually contains an entity
     reference. The text is the word SYNOPSIS. There are  several
     tags  within <refsynopsisdiv> that are designed specifically
     for the type of synopsis  that  is  used  in  the  different
     reference page sections. The three types are:

     <cmdsynopsis>
           Used for commands and utilities pages.

     <funcsynopsis>
           Used for programming interface pages.

     <synopsis>
           Used for pages that do not fall  into  the  other  two
           categories.

  RefSect1
     This tag is equivalent to the  .SH nroff macro. It  contains
     a  <title>  element  that is the title of the reference page
     section. Section  names  are  the  standard  names  such  as
     DESCRIPTION,  OPTIONS, PARAMETERS, SEE ALSO, and others. The
     contents of the <title> may be a text entity reference.

  RefSect2
     This tag is equivalent to the .SS nroff macro. It contains a
     <title>  element  that  contains the text of the sub-section
     heading. <refsect2> tags may also be  used  within  a  <ref-
     synopsisdiv> as a sub-section heading for the  SYNOPSIS sec-
     tion.


Block Elements

     There are a number of  block  elements  that  are  used  for
     grouping text. This is a list of some of these elements.

     <para>
           This tag is used to contain a paragraph of text.

     <variablelist>
           This tag is used to create two column lists. For exam-
           ple  descriptions for command options, where the first
           column  lists  the  option  and  the   second   column
           describes the option.

     <orderedlist>
           An list of items in a specific order.

     <itemizedlist>
           A list of items that are marked with a character  such
           as a bullet or a dash.

     <literallayout>
           Formatted program output as produced by a  program  or
           command.   This  tag  is a container for lines set off
           from the main text in which line   breaks,  tabs,  and
           leading white space are significant.

     <programlisting>
           A segment of program code.  Line  breaks  and  leading
           white space are significant.

     <table>
           This tag contains the layout and content  for  tabular
           formatting  of  information.   <table>  has a required
           <title>.

     <informaltable>
           This tag is the same as the  <table>  tag  except  the
           <title> is not required.

     <example>
           This tag contains examples of source code or usage  of
           commands.  It contains a required  <title>.

     <informalexample>
           This tag is the same as the  <example> tag except  the
           <title> is not required.


Inline Elements

     The inline elements are used for tagging text.

     <command>
           An executable program or the entry  a  user  makes  to
           execute a command.

     <function>
           A subroutine in a program or external library.

     <literal>
           Contains any literal string.

     <parameter>
           An argument passed to a computer program by a function
           or routine.

     <inlineequation>
           An untitled mathematical equation occurring in-line.

     <link>
           A hypertext link to text within a book, in the case of
           the  reference manual it is used to cross reference to
           another reference page.

     <olink>
           A hypertext link used to create  cross  references  to
           books other than the reference manual.

     <xref>
           A cross reference to another part of the  same  refer-
           ence page.


SEE ALSO

     man(1), nroff(1), man(5)


Man(1) output converted with man2html