'\" t
.\"     Title: a2x
.\"    Author: [see the "AUTHOR" section]
.\" Generator: DocBook XSL Stylesheets v1.79.1 <http://docbook.sf.net/>
.\"      Date: 04/27/2020
.\"    Manual: \ \&
.\"    Source: \ \&
.\"  Language: English
.\"
.TH "A2X" "1" "04/27/2020" "\ \&" "\ \&"
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.nh
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.\" * MAIN CONTENT STARTS HERE *
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.SH "NAME"
a2x \- A toolchain manager for AsciiDoc (converts Asciidoc text files to other file formats)
.SH "SYNOPSIS"
.sp
\fBa2x\fR [\fIOPTIONS\fR] \fISOURCE_FILE\fR
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
.sp
A DocBook toolchain manager that translates an AsciiDoc text file \fISOURCE_FILE\fR to PDF, EPUB, DVI, PS, LaTeX, XHTML (single page or chunked), man page, HTML Help or plain text formats using \fIasciidoc(1)\fR and other applications (see REQUISITES section)\&. \fISOURCE_FILE\fR can also be a DocBook file with an \&.xml extension\&.
.SH "OPTIONS"
.PP
\fB\-a, \-\-attribute\fR=\fIATTRIBUTE\fR
.RS 4
Set asciidoc(1) attribute value (shortcut for
\fB\-\-asciidoc\-opts\fR=\fI"\-a ATTRIBUTE"\fR
option)\&. This option may be specified more than once\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-\-asciidoc\-opts\fR=\fIASCIIDOC_OPTS\fR
.RS 4
Additional
\fIasciidoc(1)\fR
options\&. This option may be specified more than once\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-\-conf\-file\fR=\fICONF_FILE\fR
.RS 4
Load configuration file\&. See
CONF FILES section\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-D, \-\-destination\-dir\fR=\fIDESTINATION_DIR\fR
.RS 4
Output directory\&. Defaults to
\fISOURCE_FILE\fR
directory\&. This option is only applicable to HTML and manpage based output formats (\fIchunked\fR,
\fIepub\fR,
\fIhtmlhelp\fR,
\fIxhtml\fR,
\fImanpage\fR)\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-d, \-\-doctype\fR=\fIDOCTYPE\fR
.RS 4
DocBook document type:
\fIarticle\fR,
\fImanpage\fR
or
\fIbook\fR\&. Default document type is
\fIarticle\fR
unless the format is
\fImanpage\fR
(in which case it defaults to
\fImanpage\fR)\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-b, \-\-backend\fR=\fIBACKEND\fR
.RS 4
\fIBACKEND\fR
is the name of an installed backend plugin\&. When this option is specified
\fIa2x\fR
attempts to load a file name
\fIa2x\-backend\&.py\fR
from the
\fIBACKEND\fR
plugin directory\&. It then converts the
\fISOURCE_FILE\fR
to a
\fIBACKEND\fR
formatted output file using a global function defined in
\fIa2x\-backend\&.py\fR
called
\fIto_BACKEND\fR\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-f, \-\-format\fR=\fIFORMAT\fR
.RS 4
Output formats:
\fIchunked\fR,
\fIdocbook\fR,
\fIdvi\fR,
\fIepub\fR,
\fIhtmlhelp\fR,
\fImanpage\fR,
\fIpdf\fR
(default),
\fIps\fR,
\fItex\fR,
\fItext\fR,
\fIxhtml\fR\&. The AsciiDoc
\fIa2x\-format\fR
attribute value is set to
\fIFORMAT\fR\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-h, \-\-help\fR
.RS 4
Print command\-line syntax and program options to stdout\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-\-icons\fR
.RS 4
Use admonition or navigation icon images in output documents\&. The default behavior is to use text in place of icons\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-\-icons\-dir\fR=\fIPATH\fR
.RS 4
A path (relative to output files) containing admonition and navigation icons\&. Defaults to
images/icons\&. The
\fI\-\-icons\fR
option is implicit if this option is used\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-k, \-\-keep\-artifacts\fR
.RS 4
Do not delete temporary build files\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-\-lynx\fR
.RS 4
Use
\fIlynx(1)\fR
(actually: the text\-based browser defined by the
LYNX
config variable) when generating text formatted output\&. The default behavior is to use
\fIw3m(1)\fR
(actually: the text\-based browser defined by the
W3M
config variable)\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-L, \-\-no\-xmllint\fR
.RS 4
Do not check asciidoc output with
\fIxmllint(1)\fR\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-\-\-epubcheck\fR
.RS 4
Check EPUB output with
\fIepubcheck(1)\fR\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-n, \-\-dry\-run\fR
.RS 4
Do not do anything just print what would have been done\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-r, \-\-resource\fR=\fIRESOURCE_SPEC\fR
.RS 4
Specify a resource\&. This option may be specified more than once\&. See the
\fBRESOURCES\fR
section for more details\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-m, \-\-resource\-manifest\fR=\fIFILE\fR
.RS 4
\fIFILE\fR
contains a list resources (one per line)\&. Manifest
\fIFILE\fR
entries are formatted just like
\fB\-\-resource\fR
option arguments\&. Environment variables and tilde home directories are allowed\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-\-stylesheet\fR=\fISTYLESHEET\fR
.RS 4
A space delimited list of one or more CSS stylesheet file names that are used to style HTML output generated by DocBook XSL Stylesheets\&. Defaults to
\fIdocbook\-xsl\&.css\fR\&. The stylesheets are processed in list order\&. The stylesheets must reside in a valid
resource file
location\&. Applies to HTML formats:
\fIxhtml\fR,
\fIepub\fR,
\fIchunked\fR,
\fIhtmlhelp\fR
formats\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-v, \-\-verbose\fR
.RS 4
Print operational details to stderr\&. A second
\fB\-v\fR
option applies the verbose option to toolchain commands\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-\-version\fR
.RS 4
Print program version to stdout\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-\-xsltproc\-opts\fR=\fIXSLTPROC_OPTS\fR
.RS 4
Additional
\fIxsltproc(1)\fR
options\&. This option may be specified more than once\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-\-xsl\-file\fR=\fIXSL_FILE\fR
.RS 4
Override the built\-in XSL stylesheet with the custom XSL stylesheet
\fIXSL_FILE\fR\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-\-fop\fR
.RS 4
Use FOP to generate PDFs\&. The default behavior is to use
\fIdblatex(1)\fR\&. The
\fI\-\-fop\fR
option is implicit if the
\fI\-\-fop\-opts\fR
option is used\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-\-fop\-opts\fR=\fIFOP_OPTS\fR
.RS 4
Additional
\fIfop(1)\fR
options\&. If this option is specified FOP is used to generate PDFs\&. This option may be specified more than once\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-\-dblatex\-opts\fR=\fIDBLATEX_OPTS\fR
.RS 4
Additional
\fIdblatex(1)\fR
options\&. This option may be specified more than once\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-\-backend\-opts\fR=\fIBACKEND_OPTS\fR
.RS 4
Options for the backend plugin specified by the
\fI\-\-backend\fR
option\&. This option may be specified more than once\&.
.RE
.sp
Options can also be set in the AsciiDoc source file\&. If \fISOURCE_FILE\fR contains a comment line beginning with \fB// a2x:\fR then the remainder of the line will be treated as \fIa2x\fR command\-line options\&. For example:
.sp
.if n \{\
.RS 4
.\}
.nf
// a2x default options\&.
//    a2x: \-dbook \-\-epubcheck
// Suppress revision history in dblatex outputs\&.
//    a2x: \-\-dblatex\-opts "\-P latex\&.output\&.revhistory=0"
.fi
.if n \{\
.RE
.\}
.sp
.RS 4
.ie n \{\
\h'-04'\(bu\h'+03'\c
.\}
.el \{\
.sp -1
.IP \(bu 2.3
.\}
Options spanning multiple such comment lines will be concatenated\&.
.RE
.sp
.RS 4
.ie n \{\
\h'-04'\(bu\h'+03'\c
.\}
.el \{\
.sp -1
.IP \(bu 2.3
.\}
Zero or more white space characters can appear between the leading
\fB//\fR
and
\fBa2x:\fR\&.
.RE
.sp
.RS 4
.ie n \{\
\h'-04'\(bu\h'+03'\c
.\}
.el \{\
.sp -1
.IP \(bu 2.3
.\}
Command\-line options take precedence over options set in the source file\&.
.RE
.SH "OUTPUT FILES"
.sp
Output files are written to the directory specified by the \fB\-\-destination\-dir\fR option\&. If no \fB\-\-destination\-dir\fR option is set output files are written to the \fISOURCE_FILE\fR directory\&.
.sp
Output files have the same name as the \fISOURCE_FILE\fR but with an appropriate file name extension: \&.html for \fIxhtml\fR; \&.epub for \fIepub\fR; \&.hhp for \fIhtmlhelp\fR; \&.pdf for \fIpdf\fR; \&.text for \fItext\fR, \&.xml for \fIdocbook\fR\&. By convention manpages have no \&.man extension (man page section number only)\&. Chunked HTML directory names have a \&.chunked extension; chunked HTML Help directory names have a \&.htmlhelp extension\&.
.sp
Same named existing files are overwritten\&.
.sp
In addition to generating HTML files the \fIxhtml\fR, \fIepub\fR, \fIchunked\fR and \fIhtmlhelp\fR formats ensure resource files are copied to their correct destination directory locations\&.
.SH "RESOURCES"
.sp
Resources are files (typically CSS and images) that are required by HTML based outputs (\fIxhtml\fR, \fIepub\fR, \fIchunked\fR, \fIhtmlhelp\fR formats)\&. \fIa2x\fR scans the generated HTML files and builds a list of required CSS and image files\&. Additional resource files can be specified explicitly using the \fB\-\-resource\fR option\&.
.sp
\fIa2x\fR searches for resource files in the following locations in the following order:
.sp
.RS 4
.ie n \{\
\h'-04' 1.\h'+01'\c
.\}
.el \{\
.sp -1
.IP "  1." 4.2
.\}
The
\fISOURCE_FILE\fR
directory\&.
.RE
.sp
.RS 4
.ie n \{\
\h'-04' 2.\h'+01'\c
.\}
.el \{\
.sp -1
.IP "  2." 4.2
.\}
Resource directories specified by the
\fB\-\-resource\fR
option (searched recursively)\&.
.RE
.sp
.RS 4
.ie n \{\
\h'-04' 3.\h'+01'\c
.\}
.el \{\
.sp -1
.IP "  3." 4.2
.\}
Resource directories specified by the
\fB\-\-resource\-manifest\fR
option (searched recursively in the order they appear in the manifest file)\&.
.RE
.sp
.RS 4
.ie n \{\
\h'-04' 4.\h'+01'\c
.\}
.el \{\
.sp -1
.IP "  4." 4.2
.\}
The stock
images
and
stylesheets
directories in the
\fIasciidoc(1)\fR
configuration files directories (searched recursively)\&.
.RE
.sp
.RS 4
.ie n \{\
\h'-04' 5.\h'+01'\c
.\}
.el \{\
.sp -1
.IP "  5." 4.2
.\}
The destination directory\&.
.RE
.sp
When a resource file is found it is copied to the correct relative destination directory\&. Missing destination sub\-directories are created automatically\&.
.sp
There are two distinct mechanisms for specifying additional resources:
.sp
.RS 4
.ie n \{\
\h'-04' 1.\h'+01'\c
.\}
.el \{\
.sp -1
.IP "  1." 4.2
.\}
A resource directory which will be searched recursively for missing resource files\&.
.RE
.sp
.RS 4
.ie n \{\
\h'-04' 2.\h'+01'\c
.\}
.el \{\
.sp -1
.IP "  2." 4.2
.\}
A resource file which will be copied to the output destination directory\&.
.RE
.sp
Resources are specified with \fB\-\-resource\fR option values which can be one of the following formats:
.sp
.if n \{\
.RS 4
.\}
.nf
<resource_dir>
<resource_file>[=<destination_file>]
\&.<ext>=<mimetype>
.fi
.if n \{\
.RE
.\}
.sp
Where:
.PP
<resource_dir>
.RS 4
Specifies a directory (absolute or relative to the
\fISOURCE_FILE\fR) which is searched recursively for missing resource files\&. To eliminate ambiguity the
<resource_dir>
name should end with a directory separator character\&.
.RE
.PP
<resource_file>
.RS 4
Specifies a resource file (absolute or relative to the
\fISOURCE_FILE\fR) which will be copied to
<destination_file>\&. If
<destination_file>
is not specified then it is the same as the
<resource_file>\&.
.RE
.PP
<destination_file>
.RS 4
Specifies the destination of the copied source file\&. The
<destination_file>
path is relative to the destination directory (absolute paths are not allowed)\&. The location of the destination directory depends on the output
\fIFORMAT\fR
(see the
\fBOUTPUT FILES\fR
section for details):
.PP
chunked, htmlhelp
.RS 4
The chunked output directory\&.
.RE
.PP
epub
.RS 4
The archived
OEBPS
directory\&.
.RE
.PP
xhtml
.RS 4
The output
\fBDESTINATION_DIR\fR\&.
.RE
.RE
.PP
\&.<ext>=<mimetype>
.RS 4
When adding resources to EPUB files the mimetype is inferred from the
<destination file>
extension, if the mimetype cannot be guessed an error occurs\&. The
\&.<ext>=<mimetype>
resource syntax can be used to explicitly set mimetypes\&.
<ext>
is the file name extension,
<mimetype>
is the corresponding MIME type\&.
.RE
.sp
Resource option examples:
.sp
.if n \{\
.RS 4
.\}
.nf
\-\-resource \&.\&./images/
\-\-resource doc/README\&.txt=README\&.txt
\-\-resource ~/images/tiger\&.png=images/tiger\&.png
\-\-resource \&.ttf=application/x\-font\-ttf
.fi
.if n \{\
.RE
.\}
.SH "EXAMPLES"
.PP
a2x \-f pdf doc/source\-highlight\-filter\&.txt
.RS 4
Generates
doc/source\-highlight\-filter\&.pdf
file\&.
.RE
.PP
a2x \-f xhtml \-D \&.\&./doc \-\-icons \-r \&.\&./images/ team\&.txt
.RS 4
Creates HTML file
\&.\&./doc/team\&.html, uses admonition icons and recursively searches the
\&.\&./images/
directory for any missing resources\&.
.RE
.PP
a2x \-f manpage doc/asciidoc\&.1\&.txt
.RS 4
Generate
doc/asciidoc\&.1
manpage\&.
.RE
.SH "REQUISITES"
.sp
\fIa2x\fR uses the following programs:
.sp
.RS 4
.ie n \{\
\h'-04'\(bu\h'+03'\c
.\}
.el \{\
.sp -1
.IP \(bu 2.3
.\}
\fBAsciidoc\fR:
http://asciidoc\&.org/
.RE
.sp
.RS 4
.ie n \{\
\h'-04'\(bu\h'+03'\c
.\}
.el \{\
.sp -1
.IP \(bu 2.3
.\}
\fBxsltproc\fR: (all formats except text):
http://xmlsoft\&.org/XSLT/
.RE
.sp
.RS 4
.ie n \{\
\h'-04'\(bu\h'+03'\c
.\}
.el \{\
.sp -1
.IP \(bu 2.3
.\}
\fBDocBook XSL Stylesheets\fR
(all formats except text):
http://docbook\&.sourceforge\&.net/projects/xsl/
.RE
.sp
.RS 4
.ie n \{\
\h'-04'\(bu\h'+03'\c
.\}
.el \{\
.sp -1
.IP \(bu 2.3
.\}
\fBdblatex\fR
(pdf, dvi, ps, tex formats):
http://dblatex\&.sourceforge\&.net/
.RE
.sp
.RS 4
.ie n \{\
\h'-04'\(bu\h'+03'\c
.\}
.el \{\
.sp -1
.IP \(bu 2.3
.\}
\fBFOP\fR
(pdf format \(em alternative PDF file generator):
http://xmlgraphics\&.apache\&.org/fop/
.RE
.sp
.RS 4
.ie n \{\
\h'-04'\(bu\h'+03'\c
.\}
.el \{\
.sp -1
.IP \(bu 2.3
.\}
\fBw3m\fR
(text format):
http://w3m\&.sourceforge\&.net/index\&.en\&.html
.RE
.sp
.RS 4
.ie n \{\
\h'-04'\(bu\h'+03'\c
.\}
.el \{\
.sp -1
.IP \(bu 2.3
.\}
\fBLynx\fR
(text format \(em alternative text file generator):
http://lynx\&.isc\&.org/
.RE
.sp
.RS 4
.ie n \{\
\h'-04'\(bu\h'+03'\c
.\}
.el \{\
.sp -1
.IP \(bu 2.3
.\}
\fBepubcheck\fR
(epub format \(em EPUB file validator):
http://code\&.google\&.com/p/epubcheck/
.RE
.sp
See also the latest README file\&.
.SH "CONF FILES"
.sp
A configuration file contains executable Python code that overrides the global configuration parameters in a2x\&.py\&. Optional configuration files are loaded in the following order:
.sp
.RS 4
.ie n \{\
\h'-04' 1.\h'+01'\c
.\}
.el \{\
.sp -1
.IP "  1." 4.2
.\}
a2x\&.conf
from the directory containing the
\fIa2x\&.py\fR
executable\&.
.RE
.sp
.RS 4
.ie n \{\
\h'-04' 2.\h'+01'\c
.\}
.el \{\
.sp -1
.IP "  2." 4.2
.\}
a2x\&.conf
from the AsciiDoc global configuration directory\&. Skip this step if we are executing a locally installed (non system wide) copy\&.
.RE
.sp
.RS 4
.ie n \{\
\h'-04' 3.\h'+01'\c
.\}
.el \{\
.sp -1
.IP "  3." 4.2
.\}
a2x\&.conf
from the AsciiDoc
$HOME/\&.asciidoc
configuration directory\&.
.RE
.sp
.RS 4
.ie n \{\
\h'-04' 4.\h'+01'\c
.\}
.el \{\
.sp -1
.IP "  4." 4.2
.\}
The
\fICONF_FILE\fR
specified in the
\fI\-\-conf\-file\fR
option\&.
.RE
.sp
Here are the default configuration file option values:
.sp
.if n \{\
.RS 4
.\}
.nf
# Optional environment variable dictionary passed to
# executing programs\&. If set to None the existing
# environment is used\&.
ENV = None

# External executables\&.
ASCIIDOC = \*(Aqasciidoc\*(Aq
XSLTPROC = \*(Aqxsltproc\*(Aq
DBLATEX = \*(Aqdblatex\*(Aq         # pdf generation\&.
FOP = \*(Aqfop\*(Aq                 # pdf generation (\-\-fop option)\&.
W3M = \*(Aqw3m\*(Aq                 # primary text file generator\&.
LYNX = \*(Aqlynx\*(Aq               # alternate text file generator\&.
XMLLINT = \*(Aqxmllint\*(Aq         # Set to \*(Aq\*(Aq to disable\&.
EPUBCHECK = \*(Aqepubcheck\*(Aq     # Set to \*(Aq\*(Aq to disable\&.
# External executable default options\&.
ASCIIDOC_OPTS = \*(Aq\*(Aq
BACKEND_OPTS = \*(Aq\*(Aq
DBLATEX_OPTS = \*(Aq\*(Aq
FOP_OPTS = \*(Aq\*(Aq
LYNX_OPTS = \*(Aq\-dump\*(Aq
W3M_OPTS = \*(Aq\-dump \-cols 70 \-T text/html \-no\-graph\*(Aq
XSLTPROC_OPTS = \*(Aq\*(Aq
.fi
.if n \{\
.RE
.\}
.sp
Note, that it is possible to redefine W3M and LYNX to use different text\-based browsers, e\&.g\&. \fIlinks\fR: http://links\&.twibright\&.com/ or \fIelinks\fR: http://elinks\&.or\&.cz/\&. LYNX_OPTS and W3M_OPTS can be used to pass options to the selected browser\&. If these are defined they override the respective defaults listed above (so don\(cqt forget to include the \fI\-dump\fR option in your definition: this is mandatory at least with \fIw3m\fR, \fIlynx\fR, \fIlinks\fR, and \fIelinks\fR in order to send the formatted text to stdout)\&.
.SH "BUGS"
.sp
See the AsciiDoc distribution BUGS file\&.
.SH "AUTHOR"
.sp
a2x was originally written by Stuart Rackham\&. Many people have contributed to it\&.
.SH "RESOURCES"
.sp
SourceForge: http://sourceforge\&.net/projects/asciidoc/
.sp
Main web site: http://asciidoc\&.org/
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.sp
asciidoc(1)
.SH "COPYING"
.sp
Copyright (C) 2002\-2011 Stuart Rackham\&. Free use of this software is granted under the terms of the MIT license\&.