


A2X(1)                                                     A2X(1)


NAME
       a2x - A toolchain manager for AsciiDoc (converts Asciidoc text files to
       other file formats)

SYNOPSIS
       a2x [OPTIONS] SOURCE_FILE

DESCRIPTION
       A DocBook toolchain manager that translates an AsciiDoc text file
       SOURCE_FILE to PDF, EPUB, DVI, PS, LaTeX, XHTML (single page or
       chunked), man page, HTML Help or plain text formats using asciidoc(1)
       and other applications (see REQUISITES section). SOURCE_FILE can also
       be a DocBook file with an .xml extension.

OPTIONS
       -a, --attribute=ATTRIBUTE
           Set asciidoc(1) attribute value (shortcut for --asciidoc-opts="-a
           ATTRIBUTE" option). This option may be specified more than once.

       --asciidoc-opts=ASCIIDOC_OPTS
           Additional asciidoc(1) options. This option may be specified more
           than once.

       --conf-file=CONF_FILE
           Load configuration file. See CONF FILES section.

       -D, --destination-dir=PATH
           Output directory. Defaults to SOURCE_FILE directory.

       -d, --doctype=DOCTYPE
           DocBook document type: article, manpage or book. Default document
           type is article unless the format is manpage (in which case it
           defaults to manpage).

       -f, --format=FORMAT
           Output formats: chunked, docbook, dvi, epub, htmlhelp, manpage, pdf
           (default), ps, tex, text, xhtml.

       -h, --help
           Print command-line syntax and program options to stdout.

       --icons
           Use admonition or navigation icon images in output documents. The
           default behavior is to use text in place of icons.

       --icons-dir=PATH
           A path (relative to output files) containing admonition and
           navigation icons. Defaults to images/icons. The --icons option is
           implicit if this option is used.

       -k, --keep-artifacts
           Do not delete temporary build files.

       --lynx



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A2X(1)                                                     A2X(1)


           Use lynx(1) to generate text formatted output. The default behavior
           is to use w3m(1).

       -L, --no-xmllint
           Do not check asciidoc output with xmllint(1).

       ---epubcheck
           Check EPUB output with epubcheck(1).

       -n, --dry-run
           Do not do anything just print what would have been done.

       -r, --resource=PATH
           If PATH refers to a directory recursively search it for required
           resource files. If PATH refers to a file add it to the list of
           required resource files. This option may be specified more than
           once.

       -m, --resource-manifest=FILE

           FILE contains a list resources (one per line). Manifest FILE
           entries are treated just like --resource option arguments.

       --stylesheet=STYLESHEET
           The file name of the docbook-xsl CSS stylesheet file. Defaults to
           docbook-xsl.css. The stylesheet must reside in a valid resource
           file location. Applies to HTML formats: xhtml, epub, chunked,
           htmlhelp formats.

       -v, --verbose
           Print operational details to stderr. A second -v option applies the
           verbose option to toolchain commands.

       --version
           Print program version to stdout.

       --xsltproc-opts=XSLTPROC_OPTS
           Additional xsltproc(1) options. This option may be specified more
           than once.

       --xsl-file=XSL_FILE
           Override the built-in XSL stylesheet with the custom XSL stylesheet
           XSL_FILE.

       --fop
           Use FOP to generate PDFs. The default behavior is to use
           dblatex(1). The --fop option is implicit if this option is used.

       --fop-opts=FOP_OPTS
           Additional fop(1) options. If this option is specified FOP is used
           to generate PDFs. This option may be specified more than once.

       --dblatex-opts=DBLATEX_OPTS
           Additional dblatex(1) options. This option may be specified more



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A2X(1)                                                     A2X(1)


           than once.

       Options can also be set in the AsciiDoc source file. If SOURCE_FILE
       contains a comment line beginning with // a2x: then the remainder of
       the line will be treated as a2x command-line options. Options spanning
       multiple such comment lines will be concatenated. Zero or more white
       space characters can appear between the leading // and a2x:.
       Command-line options take precedence over options set in the source
       file. Example usage:

           // a2x default options.
           //    a2x: -dbook --epubcheck
           // Suppress revision history in dblatex outputs.
           //    a2x: --dblatex-opts "-P latex.output.revhistory=0"

OUTPUT FILES
       Output files are written to the directory specified by the
       --destination-dir option. If no --destination-dir option is set output
       files are written to the SOURCE_FILE directory.

       Output files have the same name as the SOURCE_FILE but with an
       appropriate file name extension: .html for xhtml; .epub for epub; .hhp
       for htmlhelp; .pdf for pdf; .text for text, .xml for docbook. By
       convention manpages have no .man extension (man page section number
       only). Chunked HTML directory names have a .chunked extension; chunked
       HTML Help directory names have a .htmlhelp extension.

       Same named existing files are overwritten.

       In addition to generating HTML files the xhtml, epub, chunked and
       htmlhelp formats ensure resource files are copied to their correct
       destination directory locations.

RESOURCES
       Resources are files (typically CSS and images) that are required by
       HTML based outputs (xhtml, epub, chunked, htmlhelp formats). a2x scans
       the generated HTML files and builds a list of required CSS and image
       file. Additional resource files can be specified explicitly using the
       --resource option.

       a2x searches for resources in the following locations in the following
       order:

        1. The SOURCE_FILE directory.

        2. Directories specified by --resource and --resource-manifest options
           (recursively).

        3. The asciidoc(1) images and stylesheets configuration file
           directories (recursively).

        4. The destination directory.

       When a resource is found it is copied to the correct relative



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A2X(1)                                                     A2X(1)


       destination directory. Missing destination sub-directories are created
       automatically.

EXAMPLES
       a2x -f pdf doc/source-highlight-filter.txt
           Generates doc/source-highlight-filter.pdf file.

       a2x -f xhtml -D ../doc --icons -r ../images team.txt
           Creates HTML file ../doc/team.html, uses admonition icons and
           searches ../images for any missing resources.

       a2x -f manpage doc/asciidoc.1.txt
           Generate doc/asciidoc.1 manpage.

REQUISITES
       a2x uses the following programs:

       o    Asciidoc: http://www.methods.co.nz/asciidoc/

       o    xsltproc: (all formats except text): http://xmlsoft.org/XSLT/

       o    DocBook XSL Stylesheets (all formats except text):
           http://docbook.sourceforge.net/projects/xsl/

       o    dblatex (pdf, dvi, ps, tex formats):
           http://dblatex.sourceforge.net/

       o    FOP (pdf format -- alternative PDF file generator):
           http://xmlgraphics.apache.org/fop/

       o    w3m (text format): http://w3m.sourceforge.net/index.en.html

       o    Lynx (text format -- alternative text file generator):
           http://lynx.isc.org/

       o    epubcheck (epub format -- EPUB file validator):
           http://code.google.com/p/epubcheck/

       See also the latest README file.

CONF FILES
       A configuration file contains executable Python code that overrides the
       global configuration parameters in a2x.py. Optional configuration files
       are loaded in the following order:

        1.  a2x.conf from the directory containing the a2x.py executable.

        2.  a2x.conf from the AsciiDoc global configuration directory. Skip
           this step if we are executing a locally installed (non system wide)
           copy.

        3.  a2x.conf from the AsciiDoc $HOME/.asciidoc configuration
           directory.




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A2X(1)                                                     A2X(1)


        4. The CONF_FILE specified in the --conf-file option.

       Here are the default configuration file option values:

           # Optional environment variable dictionary passed to
           # executing programs. If set to None the existing
           # environment is used.
           ENV = None

           # External executables.
           ASCIIDOC = 'asciidoc'
           XSLTPROC = 'xsltproc'
           DBLATEX = 'dblatex'         # pdf generation.
           FOP = 'fop'                 # pdf generation (--fop option).
           W3M = 'w3m'                 # text generation.
           LYNX = 'lynx'               # text generation (if no w3m).
           XMLLINT = 'xmllint'         # Set to '' to disable.
           EPUBCHECK = 'epubcheck'     # Set to '' to disable.
           # External executable default options.
           ASCIIDOC_OPTS = ''
           DBLATEX_OPTS = ''
           FOP_OPTS = ''
           XSLTPROC_OPTS = ''

BUGS
       See the AsciiDoc distribution BUGS file.

AUTHOR
       Written by Stuart Rackham, <srackham@gmail.com>

RESOURCES
       SourceForge: http://sourceforge.net/projects/asciidoc/

       Main web site: http://www.methods.co.nz/asciidoc/

COPYING
       Copyright (C) 2002-2010 Stuart Rackham. Free use of this software is
       granted under the terms of the MIT license.



















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