whatis.xml

<article xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
	 xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
	 version="5.0"
	 xml:id='intro'>
<info>
<title>What is DocBook?</title>
</info>

<para>DocBook is a schema (available in several languages including
RELAX NG, SGML and XML DTDs, and W3C XML Schema)
maintained by the
<link xlink:href="mailto:docbook-tc@oasis-open.org">DocBook Technical
Committee</link>
of <link xlink:href="https://www.oasis-open.org/">OASIS</link>.
It is particularly well suited to books and papers about computer
hardware and software (though it is by no means limited to these applications).
</para>
<para>
Because it is a large and robust schema, and because its main
structures correspond to the general notion of what constitutes
a “book,” DocBook has been adopted by a large and
growing community of authors writing books of all kinds. DocBook
is supported “out of the box” by a number of
commercial tools, and there is rapidly expanding support for it
in a number of free software environments. These features have
combined to make DocBook a generally easy to understand, widely
useful, and very popular schema. Dozens of organizations are using
DocBook for millions of pages of documentation, in various print
and online formats, worldwide.</para>

<section xml:id="sgmlvsxml"><title>SGML vs. XML</title>
<para>
The DocBook Technical Committee maintains both SGML and XML
versions
of the DocBook DTD and XML versions in several other languages.
To the extent that it is practical, these DTDs
are identical. There is no intentional difference between the DTDs, they
are supposed to accept the same set of documents.
</para>
</section>

<section xml:id="history"><title>A Short DocBook History</title>
<para>
DocBook has been under development since 1991.
</para>

<section xml:id="haloreilly"><title>The HaL and O'Reilly Era</title>
<para>The DocBook DTD was originally designed and implemented by HaL Computer
Systems and O'Reilly &amp; Associates around 1991. It was developed primarily
for the purpose of holding the results of <literal>troff</literal> conversion
of UNIX documentation, so that the files could be interchanged. Its design
appears to have been based partly on input from SGML interchange projects
being conducted by the UNIX International and Open Software Foundation consortia.</para>
<para>When DocBook V1.1 was published, its revision and maintenance began
being discussed in earnest in the Davenport Group, a forum created by O'Reilly
for computer documentation producers. V1.2 was influenced strongly by Novell
and Digital.</para>
<para>In 1994, the Davenport Group became an officially chartered entity responsible
for DocBook's maintenance; DocBook V1.2.2 was published simultaneously. The
founding sponsors of this incarnation of Davenport included the following:
</para>

<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Jon Bosak, Novell</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Dale Dougherty, O'Reilly &amp; Associates</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Ralph Ferris, Fujitsu OSSI</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Dave Hollander, Hewlett-Packard</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Eve Maler, Digital Equipment Corporation</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Murray Maloney, SCO</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Conleth O'Connell, HaL Computer Systems</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Nancy Paisner, Hitachi Computer Products</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Mike Rogers, SunSoft</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Jean Tappan, Unisys</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>

</section>

<section xml:id="davenport"><title>The Davenport Era</title>
<para>Under the auspices of the Davenport Group, the DocBook DTD began to
take on a larger scope: It was now being used by a much wider audience, and
for new purposes, such as direct authoring with SGML-aware tools and publishing
directly to paper. As the largest users of DocBook, Novell and Sun tended
to have heavy influence on the design.</para>
<para>In order to help users manage change, the new Davenport charter established
the following rules for DocBook releases:</para>

<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Minor versions (<quote>point releases,</quote> such as V2.2)
could add to the markup model, but could not change it in a backwards-incompatible
way. For example, a new kind of list element could be added, but it would
not be acceptable for the existing itemized-list model to start requiring
two list items inside it instead of only one. Thus, any document conforming
to version <replaceable>n</replaceable>.0 would also conform to <replaceable>n</replaceable>.<replaceable>m</replaceable>.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Major versions (such as V3.0) could both add to the markup
model and make backwards-incompatible changes. However, the changes had to
have been announced in the <emphasis>previous</emphasis> major release.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Major-version introductions must be separated by at least
a year.</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>

<para>V3.0 was released in January 1997. After that time, although DocBook's
audience continued to grow, many of the stalwarts of the Davenport Group became
involved in the XML effort, and development slowed dramatically. The idea
of creating an official XML-compliant version of DocBook was discussed, but
not implemented.</para>
<para>The sponsors wanted to close out Davenport in an orderly way, but ensure
that DocBook users would be supported somehow. It was suggested that OASIS
become DocBook's new home. An OASIS DocBook Technical Committee was formed
in July, 1998, with Eduardo Gutentag of Sun as chair.</para>
</section>

<section xml:id="oasis">
<title>The OASIS Era</title>
<para>The DocBook Technical Committee of OASIS is undertaking
new DocBook development, has published an XML-compliant
version of DocBook and plans to develop an XML Schema for DocBook.</para>
</section>
</section>
</article>