DocBook is a markup language for technical documentation, originally intended for authoring technical documents related to computer hardware and software but which can be used for any other sort of documentation. It is maintained and standardized by the DocBook Technical Committee at OASIS (originally SGML Open).

DocBook exists as both an SGML and an XML DTD. It originally started as an SGML application, but an equivalent XML application was developed and has now replaced the SGML one for most uses. (The XML DTD started with version 4 of the SGML DTD and keeps the versioning from there.)

In the past DocBook was mostly used in the open source community only. Examples of this include the Linux Documentation Project, the GNOME and GTK+ API references, and the Linux kernel documentation. In recent years, however, its use has become more widespread. For instance, an increasing number of organizations use a DocBook documentation system for all software documentation, regardless of whether the software is released as open source. Also, several commercial documentation tools based on, or supporting, DocBook XML have become available.

Norman Walsh and the DocBook Open Repository development team maintain a set of DSSSL and XSL stylesheets for generating HTML and print (FO/PDF) output (as well as other formats, including RTF, man pages and HTML Help) from DocBook documents. Walsh is also the principal author of the book DocBook: The Definitive Guide, the official documentation of DocBook. This book is available online under the GFDL, and also as a print publication.

Sample code

<book id="simple_book">
  <title>Very simple book</title>
  <chapter id="simplechapter">
    <title>Chapter 1</title>
    <para>Hello world!</para>
  </chapter>
</book>

References

• Norman Walsh: DocBook: The Definitive Guide, O'Reilly Associates, ISBN 1-56592-580-7. Available online at [1].
• Bob Stayton: DocBook XSL: The Complete Guide, Sagehill Enterprises, ISBN 0974152129 (3rd edition). Available online at [2].
• Joe Brockmeier: DocBook Publishing - A Better Way to Create Professional Documents, Prima Tech's Linux Series, ISBN 0-7615-3331-1

See also

• List of document markup languages
• Comparison of document markup languages

External links

• DocBook.org - Official site for Norman Walsh's book DocBook: The Definitive Guide
  • DocBook Wiki - (The new wiki requires user registration to prevent automated attacks.)
• DocBook Open Repository - Official repository for the DocBook XSL and DSSSL stylesheets at SourceForge
• DocBook Repository at OASIS- Official home of DocBook DTD

• Docbook Frequently Asked Questions - DocBook FAQ, maintained by Dave Pawson
• DocBook XSL: The Complete Guide - Full text of Bob Stayton's DocBook guide

• DocBook validator, XML -> HTML/PDF transformer.
• Free DocBook Environment for Windows
• Documention with DocBook on Windows
• DocBook Newbie Guide - Guide for writing SGML documents