We try to generate high quality documentation for {website}[{pve}], and choose to use AsciiDoc as base format.
The basic idea is to generate high quality manual pages, and assemble them into a complete book, called Proxmox VE Administration Guide. So we have one source, and generate several documents from that. It is also possible to generate printable PDF files, or ebook formats (.epub).
When possible, we provide scripts to extract API definitions, configuration or command line options from the source code.
To simplify the documentation task, we keep all Documentation within this repository. It is possible to generate the docs without installing any additional Proxmox packages with:
make index
To update the auto-generate API definitions use:
make update
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Note
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you need a fully installed development environment for that. |
We generate a development package called pve-doc-generator, which is used by other Proxmox VE package to generate manual pages at package build time.
Another package called pve-docs is used to publish generated .html and .pdf files on our web servers. You can generate those Debian packages using:
make deb
Common Macro definition in attributes.txt
asciidoc allows us to define common macros, which can then be
referred to using {macro}. We try to use this mechanism to improve
consistency. For example, we defined a macro called pve, which
expands to "Proxmox VE".
For URLs which are used more than once, two macros should be defined:
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{name-url}, which just contains the http(s) URL -
{name}, which contains the complete link including the canonical description
For example, the macro {forum-url} expands to {forum-url}, and the macro
{forum} expands to {forum}.
The plan is to add more such definitions for terms which are used more than once.
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Warning
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When asciidoc encounters a misspelled macro name, it will silently drop the containing line! |
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Warning
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Never use macros in document titles or the “NAME” section of man pages,
as these get parsed before the attributes.txt file gets included.
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We generate the command line synopsis for all manual pages automatically. We can do that, because we have a full declarative definition of the {pve} API. I added those generated files (*-synopsis.adoc) to the git repository, so that it is possible to build the documentation without having a fully installed {pve} development environment.
asciidoc uses a fairly simple markup syntax for formatting content. The following basic principles should be followed throughout our documentation.
Sections are formatted using ‘two-line titles’, by adding a line of the appropriate characters and of the same length as the section title below the title text:
Level 0 (top level): ====================== Level 1: ---------------------- Level 2: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Level 3: ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Level 4 (bottom level): ++++++++++++++++++++++
Section titles should always be preceded by two empty lines. Each word in a title should be capitalized except for “articles, coordinating conjunctions, prepositions, and the word to in infinitives unless they appear as the first or last word of a title” (see Mayfield Electronic Handbook of Technical & Scientific Writing).
Numbered lists should be created using the implicit numbering format:
. First level .. Second level . First level again
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First level
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Second level
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First level again
Bulleted lists should be created using the * symbol:
* First level ** Second level * First level again
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First level
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Second level
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First level again
Labeled lists should be used to make lists of key-value style text more readable, such as command line parameters or configuration options:
First Label Text:: Element text paragraph Second Label Text:: Another element text paragraph.
- First Label Text
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Element text paragraph
- Second Label Text
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Another element text paragraph.
[horizontal] First Label Text:: Element text paragraph Second Label Text:: Another element text paragraph.
creates
| First Label Text |
Element text paragraph |
| Second Label Text |
Another element text paragraph. |
The FAQ section uses a special questions and answers style for labeled lists.
asciidoc offers a wide range of default text styles:
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Emphasized text: created using 'text', used for emphasizing words and phrases
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Monospaced text: created using `text`, used for command / program names, file paths, in-line commands, option names and values -
Strong text: created using *text*, used for emphasizing concepts or names when first introduced in a section.
There are also different built-in block styles that are used in our documentation:
Complete paragraphs can be included literally by prepending each of their lines with whitespace. Use this for formatting complete commands on their own line, such as:
pct set ID -option value
By surrounding a paragraph with lines containing at least four '-' characters, its content is formatted as listing. Use this for formatting file contents or command output.
Specially highlighted notes, warnings and important information
can be created by starting a paragraph with NOTE:, WARNING: or
IMPORTANT::
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Note
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this is a note |
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Warning
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this is warning |
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Important
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this is important information |
For each of these blocks (including lists and paragraphs), a block header can be defined by prepending the block with a ‘.’ character and the header text:
.Title of List * First element * Second element * Third element
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First element
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Second element
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Third element
For example, block headers can be used to add file names/paths to file content listings.
Copyright © 2016 Proxmox Server Solutions Gmbh
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the LICENSE file.