Sec: Unclassified - Desktop Starter Guide Xinclude Changes

[Stoffers, Robert LAC]

Hi,

I've made a few major changes to the Desktop Starter Guide that everyone should be aware of.

1. Chapters (and some sections) have been split into their own .xml files
2. These chapters are linked into the Desktop Starter Guide using xincludes
3. Some changes to the make file were necessary to allow the <xref> tags to function properly after the split
  - These changes include creating the necessary .db files which after you "make dg" will be found in the same directory as the Desktop guide, these may be moved to their own folder for ease of use/neatness some time in the future
  - This also makes the Makefile more complicated, I will work on simplifying it soon
4. There is an olink file in the root, this may be removed soon too (I've just been experimenting with a few things)

There are a number of reasons behind the change, these include:

1. Makes our documents much more modular in nature, things can be split up however we want
2. Once I am done setting this up you should be able to validate any of the .xml files of the desktop guide separately, which makes it much easier to find errors and fix them
3. Easier to work on each chapter/section with an editor, easier to patch without messing up lots of work
4. Although there will be several files initially for translation, only files that change will need to be retranslated leaving everything else in tact
5. Xincludes are suppose to replace using entities to include pages in the latest versions of Docbook

If anyone is interested I have a few links at home that describe usage and benefits, if anyone has any questions feel free to ask.

Regards,

Robert Stoffers