SDF - The Author-friendly Markup Language
Description: A free documentation tool for generating HTML, PostScript, Windows Help, PDF, LaTeX, man pages, SGML, RTF, MIF, POD, GNU info and plain text, all from a single source. Minimises time and effort by supporting rule-based generation of hypertext, formatting, indexing, etc. The SDF language is easy to read, powerful and easy to embed in most programming languages.
Keywords: word processing, desktop publishing, literate programming, embedded documentation, Perl, Delphi, C, C++, Java, FrameMaker, authoring, intranet, free software

|  | `S i m p l e` `D o c u m e n t` `F o r m a t`
What is it ? |  | SDF is a freely available documentation system designed and developed by Ian Clatworthy, with help from many others. Based on a simple, readable markup language, SDF generates high quality output in multiple formats, all derived from a single document source. Supported output formats include HTML, PostScript, PDF, man pages, POD, LaTeX, SGML, MIMS HTX and F6 help, MIF, RTF, Windows help and plain text. If you want to: publish documents or reports on the Web or in multiple formats maintain a large documentation suite using rule-based formatting and hypertext generation embed documentation in source code or pretty print source code then SDF may be for you.
What does it need to run ? |  | Perl 5.003 or later. For generating PostScript, the freely available pod2ps program or SGML-Tools and LaTeX packages. Alternatively, you need a word processor which can import MIF or RTF - Adobe's FrameMaker is preferred. For generating PDF, Adobe's Acrobat is recommended. For generating Windows Help files, a help compiler is required.
Where can I get it ? |  | The current version is 2.001beta1, released 29-Oct-98. You can download the latest release from http://www.mincom.com/mtr/sdf/download.html in a variety of formats. SDF templates are also available.
Support ? |  | An on-line bug database provides information on known bugs and requested enhancements. Any problems with the software or the documentation can be reported to the mailing list sdf-bugs@mincom.com. For general queries, mail sdf-users@mincom.com. To subscribe to either list, send a message to factotum@mincom.com with subscribe sdf-bugs or subscribe sdf-users as the message body.
More Info |  | Document Catalog Frequently Asked Questions Overview Paper | Sample Showcase Resource Center Latest News

Questions about these pages? Send some mail to sdf-bugs@mincom.com.