docbook2X

docbook2X is a software package that converts DocBook documents into the traditional Unix man page format and the GNU Texinfo format.

It is free software under a MIT-style license.

Notable features include table support for man pages, internationalization support, and easy customization of the output using XSLT. (Easy, because unlike other converters, the docbook2X stylesheets are written in a modular way, and the character escaping and whitespace issues with the man-page and Texinfo formats are encapsulated away from the user.)

(SourceForge Project page)

Download

The latest release of docbook2X is version 0.8.8. This was released on March 3, 2007. See the change log for what's new since the last version.

You can find it (and older versions of docbook2X) at the SourceForge download pages.

The Debian GNU/Linux distribution also has a docbook2X package. However, it is still based on the older 0.8.3 release.

There is also a docbook2man-sgmlspl package available which only contains the older SGML-based DocBook–to–man-pages converter that you might have been using. I will not be updating this package again; I highly recommend you switch to the new version of docbook2X, which supports both XML and SGML.

Online documentation

You can also read the online documentation for the latest release.

There are also detailed instructions on building and installing it on your system. That document also lists other software that docbook2X depends on which you must install first before docbook2X.

Online demonstration

You can convert small DocBook refentry pages to man pages online right in your Web browser.

Screen shots

CVS

You can view the CVS repository here; or it can be accessed directly with:

  pserver:anonymous@cvs.sourceforge.net:
    /cvsroot/docbook2x

There is no password, and the modules are docbook2X and docbook2man-sgmlspl.

Mailing list

The mailing list “docbook2X-discuss” is for any docbook2X development discussion and user support. You can read the archives with Gmane.