Re: [Fwd: [Fwd: First Open Source Documentation Summit at the O'Reilly Open Source Convention]]

[Gary Lawrence Murphy <garym@canada.com>]

>>>>> "S" == Sebastian Rahtz <sebastian.rahtz@computing-services.oxford.ac.uk> sheds some sanity on the situation and writes:

    S> my POV is that I want to use TeX to format my XML documents, at
    S> least until/unless FOP ever gets good enough to replace it. I
    S> will use my not-inconsiderable TeX knowledge and experience to
    S> that aim - but lets all play the same game. Is there any future
    S> in DSSSL? If not, lets not waste time on jadetex any more. if
    S> you think there *is* a future in DSSSL, someone convince me....

I don't think anyone is defending DSSSL's future; we are just
expressing that same desire you state, for a means to transform
DocBook files into printable pages, and speculating that the shortest
path is through using TeX/LaTeX as the intermediate format.  

How this is done, whether by DSSSL, by replacing or hacking at
jadetex, or by some XML/XSL method is not really important, we just
need to print documents and be assured the printed format is worthy of
public presentation.

That raises the question: What is the _shortest_ path to DB->Print?

Are there _any_ free XSL tools mature enough for real-world use?  What
is xmltex and is it sufficient to transform a 700-page book? Is the
answer in Xalan or Xerces or one of those other questionably
pronounceable java tools? ;) Do we really want to re-invent the
very mature typesetting features of TeX?

I am certain I am not alone in this.  I'd gladly migrate my DSLs to
XSLs if I could find the documents and the tools, but even Norm's book
sidesteps how to affect these basic transformations.

As an aside, is it a requirement that a DB->Print may need to
accommodate the LaTeX stylesheets required by many academic and trade
publishers?  That may be another good reason to consider real-LaTeX as
the intermediate form.

-- 
Gary Lawrence Murphy <garym@teledyn.com> TeleDynamics Communications Inc
Business Innovations Through Open Source Systems: http://www.teledyn.com
"Computers are useless.  They can only give you answers."(Pablo Picasso)


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