110 lines
5.3 KiB
Markdown
110 lines
5.3 KiB
Markdown
# Contributing to this manual {#chap-contributing}
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The [DocBook] and CommonMark sources of the NixOS manual are in the [nixos/doc/manual](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/tree/master/nixos/doc/manual) subdirectory of the [Nixpkgs](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs) repository.
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This manual uses the [Nixpkgs manual syntax](https://nixos.org/manual/nixpkgs/unstable/#sec-contributing-markup).
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You can quickly check your edits with the following:
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```ShellSession
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$ cd /path/to/nixpkgs
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$ $EDITOR doc/nixos/manual/... # edit the manual
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$ nix-build nixos/release.nix -A manual.x86_64-linux
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```
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If the build succeeds, the manual will be in `./result/share/doc/nixos/index.html`.
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There's also [a convenient development daemon](https://nixos.org/manual/nixpkgs/unstable/#sec-contributing-devmode).
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The above instructions don't deal with the appendix of available `configuration.nix` options, and the manual pages related to NixOS. These are built, and written in a different location and in a different format, as explained in the next sections.
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## Contributing to the `configuration.nix` options documentation {#sec-contributing-options}
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The documentation for all the different `configuration.nix` options is automatically generated by reading the `description`s of all the NixOS options defined at `nixos/modules/`. If you want to improve such `description`, find it in the `nixos/modules/` directory, and edit it and open a pull request.
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To see how your changes render on the web, run again:
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```ShellSession
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$ nix-build nixos/release.nix -A manual.x86_64-linux
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```
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And you'll see the changes to the appendix in the path `result/share/doc/nixos/options.html`.
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You can also build only the `configuration.nix(5)` manual page, via:
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```ShellSession
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$ cd /path/to/nixpkgs
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$ nix-build nixos/release.nix -A nixos-configuration-reference-manpage.x86_64-linux
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```
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And observe the result via:
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```ShellSession
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$ man --local-file result/share/man/man5/configuration.nix.5
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```
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If you're on a different architecture that's supported by NixOS (check file `nixos/release.nix` on Nixpkgs' repository) then replace `x86_64-linux` with the architecture. `nix-build` will complain otherwise, but should also tell you which architecture you have + the supported ones.
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## Contributing to `nixos-*` tools' manpages {#sec-contributing-nixos-tools}
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The manual pages for the tools available in the installation image can be found in Nixpkgs by running (e.g for `nixos-rebuild`):
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```ShellSession
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$ git ls | grep nixos-rebuild.8
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```
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Man pages are written in [`mdoc(7)` format](https://mandoc.bsd.lv/man/mdoc.7.html) and should be portable between mandoc and groff for rendering (except for minor differences, notably different spacing rules.)
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For a preview, run `man --local-file path/to/file.8`.
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Being written in `mdoc`, these manpages use semantic markup. This following subsections provides a guideline on where to apply which semantic elements.
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### Command lines and arguments {#ssec-contributing-nixos-tools-cli-and-args}
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In any manpage, commands, flags and arguments to the *current* executable should be marked according to their semantics. Commands, flags and arguments passed to *other* executables should not be marked like this and should instead be considered as code examples and marked with `Ql`.
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- Use `Fl` to mark flag arguments, `Ar` for their arguments.
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- Repeating arguments should be marked by adding an ellipsis (spelled with periods, `...`).
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- Use `Cm` to mark literal string arguments, e.g. the `boot` command argument passed to `nixos-rebuild`.
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- Optional flags or arguments should be marked with `Op`. This includes optional repeating arguments.
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- Required flags or arguments should not be marked.
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- Mutually exclusive groups of arguments should be enclosed in curly brackets, preferably created with `Bro`/`Brc` blocks.
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When an argument is used in an example it should be marked up with `Ar` again to differentiate it from a constant. For example, a command with a `--host name` option that calls ssh to retrieve the host's local time would signify this thusly:
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```
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This will run
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.Ic ssh Ar name Ic time
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to retrieve the remote time.
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```
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### Paths, NixOS options, environment variables {#ssec-contributing-nixos-tools-options-and-environment}
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Constant paths should be marked with `Pa`, NixOS options with `Va`, and environment variables with `Ev`.
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Generated paths, e.g. `result/bin/run-hostname-vm` (where `hostname` is a variable or arguments) should be marked as `Ql` inline literals with their variable components marked appropriately.
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- When `hostname` refers to an argument, it becomes `.Ql result/bin/run- Ns Ar hostname Ns -vm`
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- When `hostname` refers to a variable, it becomes `.Ql result/bin/run- Ns Va hostname Ns -vm`
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### Code examples and other commands {#ssec-contributing-nixos-tools-code-examples}
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In free text names and complete invocations of other commands (e.g. `ssh` or `tar -xvf src.tar`) should be marked with `Ic`, fragments of command lines should be marked with `Ql`.
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Larger code blocks or those that cannot be shown inline should use indented literal display block markup for their contents, i.e.
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```
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.Bd -literal -offset indent
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...
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.Ed
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```
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Contents of code blocks may be marked up further, e.g. if they refer to arguments that will be substituted into them:
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```
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.Bd -literal -offset indent
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{
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config.networking.hostname = "\c
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.Ar hostname Ns \c
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";
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}
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.Ed
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```
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