Dovecot Documentation

This repository contains documentation displayed at https://doc.dovecot.org/.

Building

Initialize your python 3 virtualenv environment

 $ python3 -m venv venv/sphinx
 $ . venv/sphinx/bin/activate
 $ pip install -r requirements.txt

Create HTML version of documentation (output in _build) by running:

make html

Formatting

Common Setting Parameters

There are 3 Dovecot sphinx directives for documenting settings:

"dovecot_core" for Core settings
"dovecot_plugin" for Core plugin settings
"pigeonhole" for Pigeonhole settings (both core and plugin)

These directives share the following parameters/usage.

Format:

.. <directive name>:setting:: <setting name>
   :added: [vX.Y.Z <reST text>]
   :changed: [vX.Y.Z <reST text>]
   :default: [<value1>, <value2>, ...]
   :domain: <domain-name>
   :hdr_only: [yes]
   :plugin: <plugin-name>
   :removed: [vX.Y.Z <reST text>]
   :seealso: [<value1>, <value2>, ...]
   :todo: [todo text]
   :values: [<value1>, <value2>, ...]

   Blah blah blah (the setting documentation) blah blah blah

The plugin setting is REQUIRED for "dovecot_plugin". It should also be used for plugin settings in "pigeonhole". (It is not used with "dovecot_core".) It is the name of the plugin that the setting lives in (e.g. quota).

The added, changed and removed settings are optional. They indicate the version the setting was added, changed, or removed. The string can contain reST that will be parsed

The default setting is optional. If set, this is used to populate the "Default" description field. If empty, <empty> is output.

The default field supports three types:

Raw text will be output as a literal (i.e. '0' will be output as 0)
Text prefixed with '!' will be output as reST text
Text prefixed with '@' will be treated as a sphinx reference. The reference domain can be indicated by adding ';' to the end of the string (e.g. '@foo;dovecot-test')

Multiple items can be defined by delimiting with a ','.

The domain setting is used to distinguish a sub-namespace within the main namespace (e.g. driver configuration for "external config" that may contain duplicate setting names as the base namespace).

The hdr_only setting is optional. If set (= yes), only the setting name and index link are created - Default/Values information is not output.

The seealso setting is optional. If set, it will display a list of related links/topics for the current setting. The syntax is the same as the default field.

The todo setting is optional. If set, it will pass the text through to the Sphinx "todo" directive.

The values setting is optional. If set, this is used to populate the "Values" description field. If empty, nothing is output.

The values field supports three types:

Raw text will be output as a literal (i.e. '0' will be output as 0)
Text prefixed with '!' will be output as reST text
Text prefixed with '@' will be treated as a Dovecot settings type reference. The allowable types are:
- string
- boolean
- size
- time
- uint
- time_msecs
- ip_addresses
- url

Multiple items can be defined by delimiting with a ','.

.. <directive name>:setting_link:: <setting name>

Output a link to the setting.

Sphinx Settings References

To reference Dovecot core settings in Sphinx, use this:

:dovecot_core:ref:`<setting_name>`

To reference a domain within core settings (e.g. SQL configuration), use this:

:dovecot_core:ref:`<domain>;<setting_name>`

To reference Dovecot core plugin settings in Sphinx, use this:

:dovecot_plugin:ref:`<setting_name>`

To reference Pigeonhole settings in Sphinx, use this:

:pigeonhole:ref:`<setting_name>`

Events

Dovecot-specific directives should be used to create event documentation.

There are two helper functions that allow you to define inheritable field "groups" that an event can include by reference:

.. dovecot_event:field_global::

   :field <field_name> <field_modification>: <field_description (reST)>
   :field ...: ...
   ...

.. dovecot_event:field_group:: <group_identifier>
   :inherit: <group_identifier>

   :field <field_name> <field_modification>: <field_description (reST)>
   :field ...: ...
   ...

Events are defined using the dovecot_core:event directive:

.. dovecot_core:event:: <event_name>
   :added: [vX.Y.Z <reST text>]
   :changed: [vX.Y.Z <reST text>]
   :inherit: [<group_identifier>[, <group_identifier>, ...]]
   :plugin: <plugin-name>
   :removed: [vX.Y.Z <reST text>]

   :field <field_name>[ <field_modification>]: <field_description (reST)>
   :field ...: ...
   ...

   ...Event description (reST)...

Field modifications current consist of the following type:

@added;vX.Y.Z = Version the field was added

Sphinx Event References

To reference Dovecot events in Sphinx, use this:

:dovecot_core:ref:`<event_name>`