Skribilo is a free document production tool that takes a structured document representation as its input and renders that document in a variety of output formats: HTML for on-line browsing, and Lout and LaTeX for high-quality hard copies.
The input document can use Skribilo's markup language to provide information about the document's structure, which is similar to HTML or LaTeX and does not require expertise. Alternatively, it can use a simpler, ``markup-less'' format that borrows from Emacs' outline mode and from other conventions used in emails, Usenet and text.
Last but not least, Skribilo can be thought of as a complete document programming framework for the Scheme programming language that may be used to automate a variety of document generation tasks. Skribilo uses GNU Guile 1.8 as the underlying Scheme implementation.
Releases are available from the download area.
Skribilo is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public Licence, version 2 or later. In order to use Skribilo, you need the following pieces of software:
The user manual is available in the following formats:
Here is a live example: the source code of this web page, colored using Skribilo's computer program coloring features.
1: ;;; 2: ;;; Skribilo's Wonderful Website. 3: ;;; 4: 5: (use-modules (skribilo ast) 6: (skribilo engine) 7: (skribilo source lisp) 8: (skribilo package html-navtabs)) 9: 10: (define (html-tabs n e) 11: ;; Create one "navigation tab" for each chapter. 12: (let ((doc (ast-document n))) 13: (map handle 14: (container-search-down (lambda (n) 15: (is-markup? n 'chapter)) 16: doc)))) 17: 18: 19: (let ((html (find-engine 'html))) 20: (if (engine? html) 21: (begin 22: ;; Customizing the HTML output... 23: (engine-custom-set! html 'css "skribilo.css") 24: (engine-custom-set! html 'html-navtabs-produce-css? #f) 25: (engine-custom-set! html 'html-navtabs html-tabs)))) 26: 27: 28: 29: ;;; 30: ;;; List of useful URLs. 31: ;;; 32: 33: (define (wikipedia/markup . body) 34: (ref :url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markup_language" 35: :text body)) 36: 37: (define (wikipedia/markup-less . body) 38: (ref :url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightweight_markup_language" 39: :text body)) 40: 41: (define (wikipedia/esperanto . body) 42: (ref :url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto" 43: :text body)) 44: 45: (define (scheme . body) 46: (ref :url "http://schemers.org/" :text body)) 47: 48: (define (guile . body) 49: (ref :url "http://www.gnu.org/software/guile/guile.html" :text body)) 50: 51: (define (r6rs . body) 52: (ref :url "http://r6rs.org/" :text body)) 53: 54: (define (latex . body) 55: (ref :url "http://www.latex-project.org/" :text body)) 56: 57: (define (context . body) 58: (ref :url "http://www.pragma-ade.nl/" :text body)) 59: 60: (define (lout . body) 61: (ref :url "http://lout.sf.net/" :text body)) 62: 63: (define (ploticus . body) 64: (ref :url "http://ploticus.sf.net/" :text body)) 65: 66: (define (guile-lib . body) 67: (ref :url "http://home.gna.org/guile-lib/" :text body)) 68: 69: (define (freedom . body) 70: (ref :url "http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html" :text body)) 71: 72: (define (gpl . body) 73: (ref :url "http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html" :text body)) 74: 75: (define (emacs/outline . body) 76: (ref :url "http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Outline-Mode.html" 77: :text body)) 78: 79: (define (skribilo-ml . body) 80: (ref :url "http://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/skribilo-users" 81: :text body)) 82: 83: (define (git . body) 84: (ref :url "http://git.or.cz/" :text body)) 85: 86: (define (skribe* . body) 87: (ref :url "http://www-sop.inria.fr/mimosa/fp/Skribe/" :text body)) 88: 89: (define (scribe . body) 90: (ref :url "http://www-sop.inria.fr/mimosa/fp/Scribe/" :text body)) 91: 92: (define (bigloo . body) 93: (ref :url "http://www-sop.inria.fr/mimosa/fp/Bigloo/" :text body)) 94: 95: (define (stklos . body) 96: (ref :url "http://www.stklos.org/" :text body)) 97: 98: (define %user-sui 99: ;; Location of the User Manual's SUI file. 100: "doc/user.sui") 101: 102: 103: ;;; 104: ;;; The website. 105: ;;; 106: 107: (document :title [Skribilo: The Ultimate Document Programming Framework] 108: :author #f 109: :keywords '("Skribilo" "document programming" 110: "document formatting" "authoring" 111: "Scheme" "Guile" 112: "Skribe" "Lout" "LaTeX" "HTML") 113: 114: (mark "intro") 115: 116: (p [Skribilo is a ,(freedom [free]) document production tool that 117: takes a structured document representation as its input and renders that 118: document in a variety of output formats: HTML for on-line browsing, and 119: ,(lout [Lout]) and ,(latex [LaTeX]) for high-quality hard copies.]) 120: 121: (p [The input document can use Skribilo's ,(wikipedia/markup [markup 122: language]) to provide information about the document's structure, which 123: is similar to HTML or ,(latex [LaTeX]) and does not require expertise. 124: Alternatively, it can use a simpler, ``,(wikipedia/markup-less 125: [markup-less])'' format that borrows from ,(emacs/outline [Emacs' 126: outline mode]) and from other conventions used in emails, Usenet and 127: text.]) 128: 129: (p [Last but not least, Skribilo can be thought of as a complete 130: ,(emph [document programming framework]) for the ,(scheme [Scheme 131: programming language]) that may be used to automate a variety of 132: document generation tasks. Skribilo uses ,(guile [GNU Guile]) 1.8 as 133: the underlying Scheme implementation.]) 134: 135: 136: (chapter :title [Features] :number #f :file #f 137: 138: (itemize 139: (item [Output in a ,(ref :skribe %user-sui :ident "engines" 140: :text [variety of formats]): HTML, XML, ,(lout [Lout]), ,(latex 141: [LaTeX]), ,(context [ConTeXt]).]) 142: (item [Input using ,(skribe* [Skribe])'s ,(ref :skribe 143: %user-sui :ident "skribe-syntax" :text [markup]) (see ,(ref :mark "self" 144: :text [this example])) or using free form, markup-less text and 145: conventions similar to those used in ,(ref :skribe %user-sui :ident 146: "outline-syntax" :text [Emacs' outline mode]).]) 147: (item [Packages are available to produce: ,(ref :skribe 148: %user-sui :ident "slides" :text [slides]) (overhead transparencies), 149: ,(ref :skribe %user-sui :ident "pie-charts" :text [pie charts]), ,(ref 150: :skribe %user-sui :ident "equations" :text [equation formatting]), ,(ref 151: :skribe %user-sui :ident "programs" :text [syntax highlighting of 152: computer programs]), and others.]) 153: (item [,(ref :skribe %user-sui :chapter "Bibliographies" :text 154: [Bibliography management]), i.e., BibTeX on steroids thanks to the 155: programmability brought by ,(scheme [Scheme]).]) 156: (item [Use of a proper module system (currently that of ,(guile 157: [Guile])) rather than ,(tt [load])-style interactions.]) 158: (item [And much more! :-)]))) 159: 160: (chapter :title [Availability] :number #f :file #f 161: 162: (p [Releases are available from the ,(ref :text [download area] 163: :url "http://dl.sv.nongnu.org/releases/skribilo/").]) 164: 165: (p [Skribilo is distributed under the terms of the ,(gpl [GNU 166: General Public Licence]), version 2 or later. In order to use Skribilo, 167: you need the following pieces of software: 168: 169: ,(itemize 170: (item [,(guile [GNU Guile]) 1.8.3 or later;]) 171: (item [,(ref :url "http://www.nongnu.org/guile-reader/" 172: :text [Guile-Reader]) 0.3 or later;]) 173: (item [either ,(lout [Lout]) (3.31 or later), ,(latex [LaTeX]) or 174: ,(context [ConTeXt]) to produce hard copies (PostScript/PDF);]) 175: (item [optionally, ,(ploticus [Ploticus]) to produce pie charts 176: (alternatively, ,(lout [Lout]) can be used for that purpose).]))])) 177: 178: (chapter :title [Documentation] :number #f :file #f ;; FIXME: Do it! 179: 180: (p [The user manual is available in the following formats: 181: 182: ,(itemize 183: (item (ref :text [HTML] :url "doc/user.html")) 184: (item (ref :text [PDF] :url "doc/user.pdf")))])) 185: 186: (chapter :title [Example] :number #f :file #f 187: 188: (p [Here is a live example: the source code of this web page, 189: colored using Skribilo's computer program coloring features.]) 190: 191: (mark "self") 192: (tt (prog 193: (source :language skribe 194: :file "index.skb")))) 195: 196: (chapter :title [Mailing List] :number #f :file #f 197: :ident "mailing-list" 198: 199: (p [If you want to complain or tell how bright and shinning your 200: life has become since you discovered Skribilo, then go ahead and 201: subscribe to the ,(skribilo-ml [,(tt [skribilo-users]) mailing list])! 202: If you want to suggest improvements, that's also where they should go!])) 203: 204: (chapter :title [Development] :number #f :file #f 205: 206: (p [Development is done using the ,(git [Git]) distributed 207: revision control system. You can fetch a copy of the source code 208: repository using the following incantation: 209: 210: ,(frame :class "code-excerpt" :border #f :margin #f 211: (code [git-clone git://git.sv.gnu.org/skribilo.git])) 212: 213: You can then happily hack on your side and eventually promote your 214: changes ,(ref :ident "mailing-list" :text [on the mailing-list]).]) 215: 216: (p [The repository can also be ,(ref :url 217: "http://git.sv.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=skribilo.git;a=summary" :text 218: [browsed on-line]).]) 219: 220: (p [A tentative list of milestones and to-do items is in the ,(ref 221: :url "http://git.sv.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=skribilo.git;a=blob;f=TODO" :text 222: [,(tt [TODO]) file]).])) 223: 224: (chapter :title [History] :number #f :file #f 225: 226: (p [Skribilo is a direct descendant of ,(skribe* [Skribe]), a 227: document production tool written by Manuel Serrano for ,(bigloo 228: [Bigloo]) and ported to ,(stklos [STkLos]) by Erick Gallesio. 229: Development of ,(skribe* [Skribe]) started around 2003 as a successor of 230: Manuel's previous documentation system named ,(scribe [Scribe]).]) 231: 232: (p [Skribilo derives from Skribe 1.2d but it differs in a number 233: of ways: 234: 235: ,(itemize 236: (item [It contains new packages (pie charts, equation formatting) 237: and a new engine (the ,(lout [Lout]) engine).]) 238: (item [Symmetrically to the notion of engine (rendering back-ends), 239: Skribilo has the concept of ,(emph [readers]). A reader is the part 240: that reads an input document in a specific syntax and returns an 241: abstract syntax tree understandable by the core mechanisms. Skribilo 242: currently comes with two readers: one that implements the standard 243: Skribe syntax, and one that reads free form text with annotations 244: similar to those found in ,(emacs/outline [Emacs' outline mode]).]) 245: (item [It's been reworked to be used as a framework or library, 246: rather than as a stand-alone program. As a result, the logical 247: separation of modules has been improved, the globally shared state has 248: been significantly reduced, and ,(ref :url 249: "http://srfi.schemers.org/srfi-35/srfi-35.html" :text [SRFI-35 250: exceptions]) are used rather than plain ,(tt [error]) or ,(tt [exit]) 251: calls. The idea is to expose ,(emph [all the core mechanisms]) of 252: Skribilo to the user, thereby blurring the border between the user 253: program or document and the core of the system.]) 254: (item [Although Skribilo only runs on ,(guile [GNU Guile]), care was 255: taken to use mostly portable APIs (,(ref :url "http://srfi.schemers.org/" 256: :text [SRFIs])) so that the code is intelligible to most Scheme 257: programmers.]))])) 258: 259: (chapter :title [Related Links] :number #f :file #f 260: 261: (itemize 262: (item [,(skribe* [Skribe]), the father of Skribilo. Its 263: predecessor is ,(scribe [Scribe]) and their goals were expressed in 264: ,(ref :url "http://www-sop.inria.fr/mimosa/fp/Scribe/doc/scribe.html" 265: :text (it [the Scribe white paper])) by Manuel Serrano and Érick 266: Gallesio. Their 2005 Journal of Functional Programming (JFP) article 267: entitled ,(ref :url 268: "http://www-sop.inria.fr/mimosa/Manuel.Serrano/publi/jfp05/article.html" 269: :text (it [Skribe: A Functional Authoring Language])) provides further 270: insight.]) 271: (item [Andy Wingo's ,(ref :url 272: "http://wingolog.org/software/guile-lib/texinfo/" :text [STexi]) (,(ref 273: :text [Texinfo] :url "http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/") as 274: S-expressions), available in ,(guile-lib [Guile-lib]). The purely 275: functional ,(ref :text (tt [fold-layout]) :url 276: "http://home.gna.org/guile-lib/doc/ref/sxml.fold/") operator is also 277: very interesting.]) 278: (item [,(ref :url "http://okmij.org/ftp/Scheme/SXML.html" 279: :text [SXML]), XML as S-expressions. Oleg Kiselyov's discussion of 280: ,(ref :text [implementation strategies for a purely functional SXML 281: tree] :url "http://okmij.org/ftp/Scheme/parent-pointers.txt") is a good 282: source of inspiration.]) 283: (item [,(ref :url 284: "http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/dorai/mistie/mistie.html" :text 285: [Mistie]), a ``programmable filter'' in Scheme (for MzScheme) that 286: allows the definition of filters from one markup language to another 287: one.]) 288: (item [,(ref :url "http://www.it.usyd.edu.au/~jeff/nonpareil/" 289: :text [Nonpareil]), Jeff Kingston's much anticipated successor to ,(lout 290: [Lout]), both being purely functional document formatting 291: systems/languages. Although Nonpareil is more ambitious than Skribilo, 292: the document entitled ,(it [Nonpareil Document Formatting]) shows 293: interesting similarities between both systems: separation of document 294: syntax and programming syntax (``readers'' and Scheme in Skribilo), 295: representation of document structure separated from the representation 296: of a laid out document (Nonpareil's ,(it [doc]) objects resemble 297: Skribilo's ,(tt [<ast>]) objects; its ,(it [scene]) objects have no 298: equivalent in Skribilo since Skribilo doesn't address text layout by 299: itself). It also includes interesting discussions about text selection 300: and document traversal (Nonpareil's ,(it [doc]) objects have no parent 301: pointers, unlike Skribilo's ,(tt [<ast>])).]) 302: (item [Good ol' ,(ref :url 303: "http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/" :text [GNU Texinfo]) abstracts 304: the various kinds of back-ends very well (in particular its 305: cross-reference-related commands).]) 306: (item [,(ref :url 307: "http://www.coyotos.org/docs/osdoc/osdoc.html" :text [OSDoc]), a 308: derivative of ,(ref :url "http://docbook.org/" :text [Docbook]).]) 309: (item [Systems that produce documents in various formats from 310: (almost) markup-less input text: ,(ref :url "http://txt2tags.sf.net/" 311: :text [txt2tags]), ,(ref :url 312: "http://os.inf.tu-dresden.de/~nf2/files/GOSH/" :text [GOSH]), ,(ref :url 313: "http://mercnet.pt/plaindoc/pd.html" :text [PlainDoc]), ,(ref :url 314: "http://www.methods.co.nz/asciidoc/" :text [AsciiDoc]), and many 315: others.]))) 316: 317: (chapter :title [The Name] :number #f :file #f 318: 319: (p [Skribilo is an ,(wikipedia/esperanto [Esperanto]) noun, which 320: literally means ,(ref :url 321: "http://www.reta-vortaro.de/revo/art/skrib.html#skrib.0ilo" :text [``a 322: tool to write'']) (prefix ``,(ref :url 323: "http://www.reta-vortaro.de/revo/art/skrib.html" :text [skrib])'' 324: relates to writing, while suffix ``,(ref :text [-ilo] :url 325: "http://www.reta-vortaro.de/revo/art/il.html")'' designates a tool). 326: Interestingly, ``,(skribe* [skribe])'', which is the name of the tool 327: Skribilo is based on, is an adverb meaning ``writing'' in 328: ,(wikipedia/esperanto [Esperanto]).]))) 329: 330: 331: ;;; Local Variables: 332: ;;; coding: latin-1 333: ;;; ispell-local-dictionary: "american" 334: ;;; End: 335: 336: ;;; arch-tag: fd51e0ce-d99f-4b70-8b92-9afbcfcf8855
If you want to complain or tell how bright and shinning your life has become since you discovered Skribilo, then go ahead and subscribe to the skribilo-users mailing list! If you want to suggest improvements, that's also where they should go!
Development is done using the Git distributed revision control system. You can fetch a copy of the source code repository using the following incantation:
git-clone git://git.sv.gnu.org/skribilo.git |
The repository can also be browsed on-line.
A tentative list of milestones and to-do items is in the TODO file.
Skribilo is a direct descendant of Skribe, a document production tool written by Manuel Serrano for Bigloo and ported to STkLos by Erick Gallesio. Development of Skribe started around 2003 as a successor of Manuel's previous documentation system named Scribe.
Skribilo derives from Skribe 1.2d but it differs in a number of ways:
Skribilo is an Esperanto noun, which literally means ``a tool to write'' (prefix ``skrib'' relates to writing, while suffix ``-ilo'' designates a tool). Interestingly, ``skribe'', which is the name of the tool Skribilo is based on, is an adverb meaning ``writing'' in Esperanto.