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  <section id="documentation">
<h1>Documentation<a class="headerlink" href="#documentation" title="Permalink to this heading"></a></h1>
<p>Documentation for LightGBM is generated using <a class="reference external" href="https://www.sphinx-doc.org/">Sphinx</a>
and <a class="reference external" href="https://breathe.readthedocs.io/">Breathe</a>, which works on top of <a class="reference external" href="https://www.doxygen.nl/index.html">Doxygen</a> output.</p>
<p>List of parameters and their descriptions in <a class="reference external" href="./Parameters.html">Parameters.rst</a>
is generated automatically from comments in <a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/microsoft/LightGBM/blob/master/include/LightGBM/config.h">config file</a>
by <a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/microsoft/LightGBM/blob/master/helpers/parameter_generator.py">this script</a>.</p>
<p>After each commit on <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">master</span></code>, documentation is updated and published to <a class="reference external" href="https://lightgbm.readthedocs.io/">Read the Docs</a>.</p>
<section id="build">
<h2>Build<a class="headerlink" href="#build" title="Permalink to this heading"></a></h2>
<p>It is not necessary to re-build this documentation while modifying LightGBM’s source code.
The HTML files generated using <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Sphinx</span></code> are not checked into source control.
However, you may want to build them locally during development to test changes.</p>
<section id="docker">
<h3>Docker<a class="headerlink" href="#docker" title="Permalink to this heading"></a></h3>
<p>The most reliable way to build the documentation locally is with Docker, using <a class="reference external" href="https://hub.docker.com/r/readthedocs/build">the same images Read the Docs uses</a>.</p>
<p>Run the following from the root of this repository to pull the relevant image and run a container locally.</p>
<div class="highlight-sh notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>docker<span class="w"> </span>run<span class="w"> </span><span class="se">\</span>
<span class="w">    </span>--rm<span class="w"> </span><span class="se">\</span>
<span class="w">    </span>--user<span class="o">=</span><span class="m">0</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="se">\</span>
<span class="w">    </span>-v<span class="w"> </span><span class="k">$(</span><span class="nb">pwd</span><span class="k">)</span>:/opt/LightGBM<span class="w"> </span><span class="se">\</span>
<span class="w">    </span>--env<span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">C_API</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="nb">true</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="se">\</span>
<span class="w">    </span>--env<span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">CONDA</span><span class="o">=</span>/opt/miniforge<span class="w"> </span><span class="se">\</span>
<span class="w">    </span>--env<span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">READTHEDOCS</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="nb">true</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="se">\</span>
<span class="w">    </span>--workdir<span class="o">=</span>/opt/LightGBM/docs<span class="w"> </span><span class="se">\</span>
<span class="w">    </span>--entrypoint<span class="o">=</span><span class="s2">&quot;&quot;</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="se">\</span>
<span class="w">    </span>readthedocs/build:ubuntu-20.04-2021.09.23<span class="w"> </span><span class="se">\</span>
<span class="w">    </span>/bin/bash<span class="w"> </span>build-docs.sh
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>When that code completes, open <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">docs/_build/html/index.html</span></code> in your browser.</p>
<div class="admonition note">
<p class="admonition-title">Note</p>
<p>The navigation in these locally-built docs does not link to the local copy of the R documentation. To view the local version of the R docs, open <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">docs/_build/html/R/index.html</span></code> in your browser.</p>
</div>
</section>
<section id="without-docker">
<h3>Without Docker<a class="headerlink" href="#without-docker" title="Permalink to this heading"></a></h3>
<p>You can build the documentation locally without Docker. Just install Doxygen and run in <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">docs</span></code> folder</p>
<div class="highlight-sh notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>pip<span class="w"> </span>install<span class="w"> </span>breathe<span class="w"> </span>sphinx<span class="w"> </span><span class="s1">&#39;sphinx_rtd_theme&gt;=0.5&#39;</span>
make<span class="w"> </span>html
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Note that this will not build the R documentation.
Consider using common R utilities for documentation generation, if you need it.
Or use the Docker-based approach described above to build the R documentation locally.</p>
<p>Optionally, you may also install <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">scikit-learn</span></code> and get richer documentation for the classes in <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Scikit-learn</span> <span class="pre">API</span></code>.</p>
<p>If you faced any problems with Doxygen installation or you simply do not need documentation for C code, it is possible to build the documentation without it:</p>
<div class="highlight-sh notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>pip<span class="w"> </span>install<span class="w"> </span>sphinx<span class="w"> </span><span class="s1">&#39;sphinx_rtd_theme&gt;=0.5&#39;</span>
<span class="nb">export</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">C_API</span><span class="o">=</span>NO<span class="w"> </span><span class="o">||</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nb">set</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">C_API</span><span class="o">=</span>NO
make<span class="w"> </span>html
</pre></div>
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