Re: [docbook] SGML support

[Frans Englich <frans.englich@telia.com>]

On Monday 20 December 2004 21:58, Norman Walsh wrote:
> At the DocBook TC meeting this month, I took an action to point out
> that our current plans for DocBook V5.0 will probably have less
> support for SGML than the current DocBook V4.x line.
>
> Our plan of record is to work with a RELAX NG schema from which we
> will generate a W3C XML Schema and an XML DTD. The DTD is not likely
> to have much in the way of parameterization. It's going to be a
> "compiled" product much more than a "source" product. This is a
> consequence of the fact that we're taking advantage of some of the
> expressive power of RELAX NG. The DTD will be significantly "looser"
> than the schema.
>
> The current 4.X line only supports SGML in a few small ways: it
> supports some forms of tag minimization and a few inclusions and
> exclusions. It's not clear to me that there's value in trying to
> preserve this support in the V5.0 line.
>
> The TC would very much like the community's feedback on these plans.

KDE, one of the desktop environments, uses Docbook heavily for all application 
documentation(help browsers and so forth). The current system have been there 
for long and leans towards SGML.

While I don't speak for KDE, I personally see clear obstacles because of not 
using XML, and there is a pressure towards XML. KDE is soon to start a new 
major version(binary compatibility is broken and other large changes), and if 
Docbook 5.0 arrived in a suitable timeframe, KDE would probably start the 
major work of switching, I estimate.

From my perspective, I do not at all mind dropped SGML support, and welcome 
the new Docbook version. Also, it wouldn't hurt if it didn't take too long to 
arrive.


Cheers,

		Frans