The Fedora Documentation Project's custom scripts and stylesheets are stored in CVS on the cvs.fedoraproject.org CVS server. When you check out a document module from CVS, the tools are included in the module inside the docs-common/ directory. To work on existing documents in CVS, refer to Chapter 8, CVS.

The most powerful component in the Fedora Documentation Project toolbox is DocBook XML. DocBook XML is a specific scheme for authoring technical documentation using Extensible Markup Language, or XML. XML allows authors to mark pieces of content with descriptive tags. The following output is an example of DocBook XML:

<article>
  <title>A Very Short Article</title>
  <para>This very short article is a
    demonstration of DocBook XML in
    its simplest form.  Notice how the
    tags <emphasis>describe</emphasis>
    the content they surround, and how
    that content fits into the meaning
    of the text as a written work.</para>
</article>

This example article, entitled A Very Short Article, consists of only a single paragraph. The tags, or markup, surround elements of content to define the sense in which they are used. A paragraph, for example, is marked with para tags. Text that requires emphasis is marked with emphasis tags. The author does not worry about the visual formatting such as italics or font size. Fedora Documentation Project build tools automatically perform all formatting tasks.

The custom tools built by the Fedora Documentation Project render DocBook source into a variety of formats for publication and distribution. They also allow translators to create localized versions of the XML documents for Fedora users around the world. The flexibility of XML allows for a single document to be used many times for many purposes, like reusable code for a programmer.

DocBook is itself very well documented. For more information about DocBook, visit http://www.docbook.org/. The DocBook site also features complete copies of DocBook: The Definitive Guide to browse and download, the canonical source for DocBook information.

Contributors who use the Microsoft Windows operating system can still make use of DocBook tools. For more information, refer to http://www.codeproject.com/winhelp/docbook_howto.asp.