Processing DocBook XSL with PHP

[Larry Garfield <larry@garfieldtech.com>]

Hi all.  I have a DocBook / DocBook XSL project that I've been maintaining for 
a number of years.  The build toolchain is the usual Java/Apache suspects: 
Saxon, Xerces, XIncluder, ant.  Unfortunately, it seems every time I sneeze I 
run into some sort of brokenness with class paths or something not being the 
right version or who knows what else, and not being a Java person it always 
takes me forever to fix it.  This time rather than trying to fix it I want to 
try replacing it.

Has anyone here used PHP for processing DocBook?  PHP 5 supports native XSL 
transformations[1], and apparently can process XInclude statements[2].  It 
also sometimes has EXSLT support[3].  Googling, I've found a few references 
to some people processing DocBook with PHP, but nothing on how they actually 
did it.  All of the PHP/XSLT stuff I've found is trivial intro code examples.

The main things I need are:

- XInclude support.
- Multi-file output.  Right now I'm using the <?dbhtml ?> directive to control 
that, but I am willing to change that if it makes it easier/possible.
- Something that involves fewer than 15 components that break every time it 
rains. :-)

Does anyone have any practical experience they are able to share?  This is all 
offline processing on my own system.

-- 
Larry Garfield			AIM: LOLG42
larry@garfieldtech.com		ICQ: 6817012

"If nature has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of 
exclusive property, it is the action of the thinking power called an idea, 
which an individual may exclusively possess as long as he keeps it to 
himself; but the moment it is divulged, it forces itself into the possession 
of every one, and the receiver cannot dispossess himself of it."  -- Thomas 
Jefferson