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| 1 | <h1>Subtext, a layered document preperation system</h1> | ||
| 2 | <p>This repo contains the source of my groff-aesthetic document preparator | ||
| 3 | <code>subtext</code>. | ||
| 4 | It's unique in that it's an | ||
| 5 | <code>awk(1p)</code> | ||
| 6 | script that compiles a source file to a | ||
| 7 | shell script that you can pipe to | ||
| 8 | <code>sh(1p)</code>.</p> | ||
| 9 | <p>Doing things in this multi-layered way allows me to | ||
| 10 | <ul><li>Build a rich writing environment using only off-the-shelf POSIX tools</li> | ||
| 11 | <li>Use the same input to generate multiple outputs</li> | ||
| 12 | <li>A cool third thing</li></ul> | ||
| 13 | so I can truly write-once, run anywhere | ||
| 14 | (or whatever the kids are saying these days). | ||
| 15 | Plus, it looks kinda like | ||
| 16 | <code>roff(1)</code> | ||
| 17 | without having to remember all the arcane two-letter requests and macros.</p> | ||
| 18 | |||
| 19 | <h2>Quickstart</h2> | ||
| 20 | <p>An easy and quick way to start with <code>subtext</code> is to build this README: | ||
| 21 | <pre><code>make readme</code></pre> | ||
| 22 | Of course, I'd recommend reading readme.st in this repo | ||
| 23 | to get a feel for the syntax as well. | ||
| 24 | I've tried to use all the ways to inject control codes to illustrate it.</p> | ||
| 25 | <p>However, this | ||
| 26 | <em>quick start</em> | ||
| 27 | is not really a good explanation of what's going on. | ||
| 28 | For that, keep reading.</p> | ||
| 29 | |||
| 30 | <h2>The layers of subtext, the subtextual layers</h2> | ||
| 31 | <p>There are three main layers of <code>subtext</code>: the | ||
| 32 | <b>awk</b> | ||
| 33 | layer, | ||
| 34 | <b>shell</b> | ||
| 35 | layer, | ||
| 36 | and, for lack of something better to call it, the | ||
| 37 | <b>text</b> | ||
| 38 | layer. | ||
| 39 | These layers don't really reflect the order of expansions, | ||
| 40 | but rather how I think they feel to the user | ||
| 41 | and how they're reflected in syntax. | ||
| 42 | <code>subtext</code> | ||
| 43 | is inherently a line-based markup language, | ||
| 44 | and each of these layers has its own line marker.</p> | ||
| 45 | |||
| 46 | <h3>Awk layer: <code>%</code></h3> | ||
| 47 | <p>The first thing that happens to any <code>subtext</code> source file is a pass through | ||
| 48 | <code>subtext.awk</code>. | ||
| 49 | While this awk script passes most things through to the next layers, | ||
| 50 | there are two special directives at this layer you can use:</p> | ||
| 51 | <dl><dt><code>%</code></dt> | ||
| 52 | <dd>Comment the current line. | ||
| 53 | <code>%</code> | ||
| 54 | only works at the start of a line for comments.</dd> | ||
| 55 | <dt><code>%so FILE</code></dt> | ||
| 56 | <dd>Insert FILE verbatim at the line where this directive appears. | ||
| 57 | FILE is searched in <code>$ST_SOPATH</code>, | ||
| 58 | which by default is the current directory.</dd></dl> | ||
| 59 | <p>I went ahead and reserved <code>%</code>-lines for future directives | ||
| 60 | that need to be done at awk-time.</p> | ||
| 61 | |||
| 62 | <h3>Shell layer: <code>#</code></h3> | ||
| 63 | |||
| 64 | <i>todo</i> | ||
| 65 | |||
| 66 | <h3>Text layer: <code>.</code></h3> | ||
| 67 | |||
| 68 | <i>todo</i> | ||
| 69 | |||
| 70 | <h2>Contributing</h2> | ||
| 71 | <p>Send me an email or whatever :) | ||
| 72 | This project is licensed under the BSD-3 license. | ||
| 73 | See COPYING for details.</p> | ||