On behalf of the extended DITA Open Toolkit development team, I'm pleased to announce that the much-discussed DITA OT 1.3 release is now available for download from the dita-ot SourceForge download page, http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=132728 .
Following are the release notes for the DITA OT 1.3 release. I would like to thank all who have participated in the public review and design for this release, and who have contributed ideas, effort and code towards its completion.
Regards,
--
Don Day
DITA Open Toolkit project lead
PS. Because good wisdom bears repeating, never change tools in the middle of a critical production cycle, and always test before you commit to any DITA OT update.
--------------------------------------------------
DITA OT release 1.3
Release 1.3 is a major release to add new functions, fulfill new
requirements, make some function enhancements and fix bugs over release
1.2.2. Available since September 28, 2006
OASIS DITA 1.1 support
Things to know about OASIS DITA 1.1 support in this release:
1. DITA-OT 1.3 provides preliminary processing support for the upcoming
OASIS DITA 1.1 specification (see
http://wiki.oasis-open.org/dita/Roadmap_for_DITA_development ).
Because the proposed OASIS DITA 1.1 DTDs and Schemas are fully
backwards compatible with the latest DITA 1.0.1 DTDs and Schemas, the
1.3 Toolkit provides the proposed 1.1 materials as the default DTDs
for processing. The XML Catalog resolution maps any references for
DITA 1.0 doctypes to the 1.1 DTDs, for example. All processing
ordinarily dependent on the 1.0 definition continues to work as
usual, and any documents that make use of the newer 1.1-based
elements or attributes will be supported with specific new processing
function (such as base support for the new <data> element). Documents
created with the proposed OASIS DITA 1.1 DTDs are the only ones ever
likely to have features that invoke the specific new 1.1-based
processing support.
Important: Because this support is based on a yet-to-be-approved
version of the proposed OASIS DITA 1.1 specification, if you choose
to investigate any1.1-based function, be aware that the 1.1
implementation in this version of the Toolkit is preliminary and very
much forward-looking. Upon final approval of the DITA 1.1 standard,
Toolkit developers will, of course, review our implementation to make
certain that it conforms to the defined level of reference
implementation.
2. Related to the DITA 1.1 preliminary implementation, the
much-discussed bookmap updates for DITA 1.1 will be provided as
override capabilities for the pdf2 FO plugin (Idiom's donation). Note
that:
* The FO demo transform code at the 1.2.2 level is still included
in the DITA 1.3 package, but is now deprecated.
* To get the FO updates for 1.3, grab the FO plug-in at its next
update, which should be shortly after the 1.3 core Toolkit code
is released.
* The updated FO plug-in will be usable with FOP as well as with
XEP.
Changes
The DITA Open Toolkit team understands the need for stability in
essential APIs in the Toolit. This verson of the toolkit provides some
strategic updates that correct some long-overdue faults in the original
implementation. Necessarily, there are some changes to note:
1. Change to build.xml: To make the DITA processing environment more
like other Ant-driven build environments, the original build.xml has
been renamed as build_demo.xml. The current build.xml in this release
is now the normal ANT script entrance for starting a transformation.
If you have created Ant tasks that tried to work around the former
build.xml architecture, those might need to be revised to take
advantage of the separated function.
2. Change to command line invocations: The "Ant refactoring" exercise
for this release has changed some previously documented Ant calls for
running demos. This change enables better use of the Ant modules for
power users who need to integrate the Toolkit into programming build
environments such as Eclipse, but the change affects some
documentation. This is a permanent change that should remain stable
from now on. Wherever you see an older instruction like
"c:\dita-ot>ant all", you now need to indicate the component that
contains the demos, so you would type "c:\dita-ot>ant all -f
build_demo.xml".
3. Separation of demo targets from formal component targets:
Another effect of the Ant refactoring is that the internal programming
targets will now be displayed when you type "ant -p". To see both
those programmings targets and the demos that are part of this
component, type "c:\dita-ot>ant -p -f build_demo.xml". To run just
one of the demos that you see in the resulting list, dita.faq for
example, type "c:\dita-ot>ant dita.faq -f build_demo.xml".
4. Classpath update to enable catalog resolver: This release now
includes the Apache catalog resolver for improved lookup of DTDs by
any of the Toolkit components. The fullpackage version of the Toolkit
sets up these variables for each session. For the regular (smaller)
version of the Toolkit, you need to include lib and
lib\resource\resolver.jar into your classpath. For example if your
CLASSPATH is like:
c:\dita-ot\lib\dost.jar
you need to change it to:
c:\dita-ot\lib;c:\dita-ot\lib\dost.jar;c:\dita-ot\lib\resolver.jar
At any time, the full version can be used like a normal installation
as long as you update the system variables either in the evironment
settings or in a batch file that sets up the shell environment.
5. License bundling: To reduce the duplication of builds on Sourceforge
in which the only difference was the license provided in each, both
the Apache and CPL licenses are included in root directory of the
Toolkit. Use the one that applies to your situation.
6. Two install options: Two download versions are now offered. The
smaller one is for updating existing installations or for reuse in
embedded applications that already provide the other processing
components--business as usual. A new package with "fullpackage" in
the name now incorporates the essential processing modules to create
a processing environment for new users and evaluators that requires
nothing more than to unzip the file into an appropriate directory and
then click on a "start" batch file. A new document in its root
directory (an output of doc/EvaluateOT.dita, "Evaluating the DITA
Open Toolkit (fullpackage version)") informs new users how to install
and use the Toolkit for the first time.
7. Other enhancements: The public design discussions that fed into the
final selection and architectures for this release are documented at
the DITA Focus Area in a topic called "DITA OT 1.3 Issues tracking"
(http://dita.xml.org/node/1282 ).
[7 Improvements]
1.Preliminary support for OASIS DITA 1.1
2.Support ICU in index sorting
3.Integrate with Eclipse
4.Refactor Ant script for easy override
5.Topicmerge reimplementation in JAVA
6.Enable XML Catalog Resolver
7.Full package distribution (was GUI/usability)
[21 SF Bugs Fixed]
1.SF Bug 1582506 Docbook cannot handle <author>
2.SF Bug 1548189 Sections should not jump to <h4> for Accessibility
reasons
3.SF Bug 1548180 Spaces dropped from index terms
4.SF Bug 1548154 XHTML index links should go to the topic
5.SF Bug 1545038 CommandLineInvoker is unfriendly towards spaces
6.SF Bug 1541055 topicref @id incorrectly uses NMTOKEN type
7.SF Bug 1530443 dost.jar relies on the incorrect behavior of Xerces
8.SF Bug 1473029 Syntax code makes overrides difficult
9.SF Bug 1470101 Metadata in topics is left out of XHTML headers
10.SF Bug 1470077 Choicetable headers create attribute inside attribute
11.SF Bug 1470057 Step template creates attributes after creating tags
12.SF Bug 1465947 <topichead> without children the whole branch to
disappear
13.SF Bug 1465941 Keywords defined in map are ignored if <topicref>
contains t
14.SF Bug 1465866 Problems in catalog-dita.txt
15.SF Bug 1460447 <morerows> not well supported in pdf tranformation.
16.SF Bug 1457187 'copy-to' doesn't actually copy files
17.SF Bug 1454835 OT renders files referenced via conref only
18.SF Bug 1427808 Should be easier to modify link attributes in XHTML
19.SF Bug 1422182 @colname renaming needs to apply to @namest and
@nameend
20.SF Bug 1417820 fo and docbook outputs can\'t handle deep topic dirs
21.SF Bug 1368997 PDF Vertical list of author redundancy
[1 SF Patch Added]
1.SF Patch 1503296 Refactor of HTMLHelp inifiles creation
[1 SF RFE Added]
1.SF RFE 1160960 Enh: Toolkit should work with both both *.dita and
*.xml
Note: SourceForge bugs, patches, and RFEs listed above can be found in
SourceForge Bugs, Patches, and RFE tracker pages:
Bugs tracker:
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=132728&atid=725074
Patches tracker:
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=132728&atid=725076
RFE tracker:
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=132728&atid=725077
Following are the release notes for the DITA OT 1.3 release. I would like to thank all who have participated in the public review and design for this release, and who have contributed ideas, effort and code towards its completion.
Regards,
--
Don Day
DITA Open Toolkit project lead
PS. Because good wisdom bears repeating, never change tools in the middle of a critical production cycle, and always test before you commit to any DITA OT update.
--------------------------------------------------
DITA OT release 1.3
Release 1.3 is a major release to add new functions, fulfill new
requirements, make some function enhancements and fix bugs over release
1.2.2. Available since September 28, 2006
OASIS DITA 1.1 support
Things to know about OASIS DITA 1.1 support in this release:
1. DITA-OT 1.3 provides preliminary processing support for the upcoming
OASIS DITA 1.1 specification (see
http://wiki.oasis-open.org/dita/Roadmap_for_DITA_development ).
Because the proposed OASIS DITA 1.1 DTDs and Schemas are fully
backwards compatible with the latest DITA 1.0.1 DTDs and Schemas, the
1.3 Toolkit provides the proposed 1.1 materials as the default DTDs
for processing. The XML Catalog resolution maps any references for
DITA 1.0 doctypes to the 1.1 DTDs, for example. All processing
ordinarily dependent on the 1.0 definition continues to work as
usual, and any documents that make use of the newer 1.1-based
elements or attributes will be supported with specific new processing
function (such as base support for the new <data> element). Documents
created with the proposed OASIS DITA 1.1 DTDs are the only ones ever
likely to have features that invoke the specific new 1.1-based
processing support.
Important: Because this support is based on a yet-to-be-approved
version of the proposed OASIS DITA 1.1 specification, if you choose
to investigate any1.1-based function, be aware that the 1.1
implementation in this version of the Toolkit is preliminary and very
much forward-looking. Upon final approval of the DITA 1.1 standard,
Toolkit developers will, of course, review our implementation to make
certain that it conforms to the defined level of reference
implementation.
2. Related to the DITA 1.1 preliminary implementation, the
much-discussed bookmap updates for DITA 1.1 will be provided as
override capabilities for the pdf2 FO plugin (Idiom's donation). Note
that:
* The FO demo transform code at the 1.2.2 level is still included
in the DITA 1.3 package, but is now deprecated.
* To get the FO updates for 1.3, grab the FO plug-in at its next
update, which should be shortly after the 1.3 core Toolkit code
is released.
* The updated FO plug-in will be usable with FOP as well as with
XEP.
Changes
The DITA Open Toolkit team understands the need for stability in
essential APIs in the Toolit. This verson of the toolkit provides some
strategic updates that correct some long-overdue faults in the original
implementation. Necessarily, there are some changes to note:
1. Change to build.xml: To make the DITA processing environment more
like other Ant-driven build environments, the original build.xml has
been renamed as build_demo.xml. The current build.xml in this release
is now the normal ANT script entrance for starting a transformation.
If you have created Ant tasks that tried to work around the former
build.xml architecture, those might need to be revised to take
advantage of the separated function.
2. Change to command line invocations: The "Ant refactoring" exercise
for this release has changed some previously documented Ant calls for
running demos. This change enables better use of the Ant modules for
power users who need to integrate the Toolkit into programming build
environments such as Eclipse, but the change affects some
documentation. This is a permanent change that should remain stable
from now on. Wherever you see an older instruction like
"c:\dita-ot>ant all", you now need to indicate the component that
contains the demos, so you would type "c:\dita-ot>ant all -f
build_demo.xml".
3. Separation of demo targets from formal component targets:
Another effect of the Ant refactoring is that the internal programming
targets will now be displayed when you type "ant -p". To see both
those programmings targets and the demos that are part of this
component, type "c:\dita-ot>ant -p -f build_demo.xml". To run just
one of the demos that you see in the resulting list, dita.faq for
example, type "c:\dita-ot>ant dita.faq -f build_demo.xml".
4. Classpath update to enable catalog resolver: This release now
includes the Apache catalog resolver for improved lookup of DTDs by
any of the Toolkit components. The fullpackage version of the Toolkit
sets up these variables for each session. For the regular (smaller)
version of the Toolkit, you need to include lib and
lib\resource\resolver.jar into your classpath. For example if your
CLASSPATH is like:
c:\dita-ot\lib\dost.jar
you need to change it to:
c:\dita-ot\lib;c:\dita-ot\lib\dost.jar;c:\dita-ot\lib\resolver.jar
At any time, the full version can be used like a normal installation
as long as you update the system variables either in the evironment
settings or in a batch file that sets up the shell environment.
5. License bundling: To reduce the duplication of builds on Sourceforge
in which the only difference was the license provided in each, both
the Apache and CPL licenses are included in root directory of the
Toolkit. Use the one that applies to your situation.
6. Two install options: Two download versions are now offered. The
smaller one is for updating existing installations or for reuse in
embedded applications that already provide the other processing
components--business as usual. A new package with "fullpackage" in
the name now incorporates the essential processing modules to create
a processing environment for new users and evaluators that requires
nothing more than to unzip the file into an appropriate directory and
then click on a "start" batch file. A new document in its root
directory (an output of doc/EvaluateOT.dita, "Evaluating the DITA
Open Toolkit (fullpackage version)") informs new users how to install
and use the Toolkit for the first time.
7. Other enhancements: The public design discussions that fed into the
final selection and architectures for this release are documented at
the DITA Focus Area in a topic called "DITA OT 1.3 Issues tracking"
(http://dita.xml.org/node/1282 ).
[7 Improvements]
1.Preliminary support for OASIS DITA 1.1
2.Support ICU in index sorting
3.Integrate with Eclipse
4.Refactor Ant script for easy override
5.Topicmerge reimplementation in JAVA
6.Enable XML Catalog Resolver
7.Full package distribution (was GUI/usability)
[21 SF Bugs Fixed]
1.SF Bug 1582506 Docbook cannot handle <author>
2.SF Bug 1548189 Sections should not jump to <h4> for Accessibility
reasons
3.SF Bug 1548180 Spaces dropped from index terms
4.SF Bug 1548154 XHTML index links should go to the topic
5.SF Bug 1545038 CommandLineInvoker is unfriendly towards spaces
6.SF Bug 1541055 topicref @id incorrectly uses NMTOKEN type
7.SF Bug 1530443 dost.jar relies on the incorrect behavior of Xerces
8.SF Bug 1473029 Syntax code makes overrides difficult
9.SF Bug 1470101 Metadata in topics is left out of XHTML headers
10.SF Bug 1470077 Choicetable headers create attribute inside attribute
11.SF Bug 1470057 Step template creates attributes after creating tags
12.SF Bug 1465947 <topichead> without children the whole branch to
disappear
13.SF Bug 1465941 Keywords defined in map are ignored if <topicref>
contains t
14.SF Bug 1465866 Problems in catalog-dita.txt
15.SF Bug 1460447 <morerows> not well supported in pdf tranformation.
16.SF Bug 1457187 'copy-to' doesn't actually copy files
17.SF Bug 1454835 OT renders files referenced via conref only
18.SF Bug 1427808 Should be easier to modify link attributes in XHTML
19.SF Bug 1422182 @colname renaming needs to apply to @namest and
@nameend
20.SF Bug 1417820 fo and docbook outputs can\'t handle deep topic dirs
21.SF Bug 1368997 PDF Vertical list of author redundancy
[1 SF Patch Added]
1.SF Patch 1503296 Refactor of HTMLHelp inifiles creation
[1 SF RFE Added]
1.SF RFE 1160960 Enh: Toolkit should work with both both *.dita and
*.xml
Note: SourceForge bugs, patches, and RFEs listed above can be found in
SourceForge Bugs, Patches, and RFE tracker pages:
Bugs tracker:
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=132728&atid=725074
Patches tracker:
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=132728&atid=725076
RFE tracker:
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=132728&atid=725077
