1 .. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
2 .. International License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
3 .. Copyright 2017 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved.
7 This guide describes how to create documentation for the Open Network
8 Automation Platform (ONAP). ONAP projects create a variety of
9 content depending on the nature of the project. For example projects
10 delivering a platform component may have different types of content than
11 a project that creates libraries for a software development kit.
12 The content from each project may be used together as a reference for
13 that project and/or be used in documents that are tailored to a specific
14 user audience and tasks they are performing.
16 Much of the content in this document is derived from similar
17 documentation processes used in other Linux Foundation
18 Projects including OPNFV and Open Daylight.
23 ONAP documentation is stored in git repositories, changes are managed
24 with gerrit reviews, and published documents generated when there is a
25 change in any source used to build the documentation.
27 Authors create source for documents in reStructured Text (RST) that is
28 rendered to HTML and published on Readthedocs.io.
29 The developer Wiki or other web sites can reference these rendered
30 documents directly allowing projects to easily maintain current release
33 Why reStructuredText/Sphinx?
34 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
36 In the past, standard documentation methods included ad-hoc Word documents,
37 PDFs, poorly organized Wikis, and other, often closed, tools like
38 Adobe FrameMaker. The rise of DevOps, Agile, and Continuous Integration,
39 however, created a paradigm shift for those who care about documentation
42 1. Documentation must be tightly coupled with code/product releases.
43 In many cases, particularly with open-source products, many different
44 versions of the same code can be installed in various production
45 environments. DevOps personnel must have access to the correct version
48 2. Resources are often tight, volunteers scarce. With a large software base
49 like ONAP, a small team of technical writers, even if they are also
50 developers, cannot keep up with a constantly changing, large code base.
51 Therefore, those closest to the code should document it as best they can,
52 and let professional writers edit for style, grammar, and consistency.
54 Plain-text formatting syntaxes, such as reStructuredText, Markdown,
55 and Textile, are a good choice for documentation because:
57 a. They are editor agnostic
59 b. The source is nearly as easy to read as the rendered text
61 c. Documentation can be treated exactly as source code is (e.g. versioned,
62 diff'ed, associated with commit messages that can be included
65 d. Shallow learning curve
67 The documentation team chose reStructuredText largely because of Sphinx,
68 a Python-based documentation build system, which uses reStructuredText
69 natively. In a code base as large as ONAP's, cross-referencing between
70 component documentation was deemed critical. Sphinx and reStructuredText
71 have built-in functionality that makes collating and cross-referencing
72 component documentation easier.
74 Which docs should go where?
75 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
77 Frequently, developers ask where documentation should be created. Should
78 they always use reStructuredText/Sphinx? Not necessarily. Is the wiki
79 appropriate for anything at all? Yes.
81 It's really up to the development team. Here is a simple rule:
83 The more tightly coupled the documentation is to a particular version
84 of the code, the more likely it is that it should be stored with the
85 code in reStructuredText.
87 The doc team encourages component teams to store as much documentation
88 as reStructuredText as possible because:
90 1. It is easier to edit component documentation for grammar,
91 spelling, clarity, and consistency.
93 2. A consistent formatting syntax across components will allow
94 flexibility in producing different kinds of output.
96 3. It is easier to re-organize the documentation.
98 4. Wiki articles tend to grow in size and not maintained making it hard
99 to find current information.
103 A top level master document structure is used to organize all
104 documents created by ONAP projects and this resides in the gerrit doc
105 repository. Complete documents or guides may reside here and
106 reference parts of source for documentation from other project
107 repositories. Other ONAP projects will provide content that
108 is referenced from this structure.
118 │ │ ├── how-to-use-docs
131 All documentation for project repositories should be structured and stored
132 in or below `<your_project_repo>/docs/` directory as Restructured Text.
133 ONAP jenkins jobs that verify and merge documentation are triggered by
134 RST file changes in the top level docs directory and below.
138 All contributions to the ONAP project are done in accordance with the
139 ONAP licensing requirements. Documentation in ONAP is contributed
140 in accordance with the `Creative Commons 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/>`_ license.
141 All documentation files need to be licensed using the text below.
142 The license may be applied in the first lines of all contributed RST
147 .. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
148 .. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
149 .. Copyright YEAR ONAP or COMPANY or INDIVIDUAL
151 These lines will not be rendered in the html and pdf files.
153 When there are subsequent, significant contributions to a source file
154 from a different contributor, a new copyright line may be appended
155 after the last existing copyright line.