DocBook on FreeBSD: the minimalist article template

A week ago I wrote an article concerting installing and running tools for DocBook-to-PDF conversion using Apache FOP.

Today I am going to show you the smallest working example of a DocBook document.

<!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.2//EN"
 "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.2/docbookx.dtd">
<article>
<para>
 This document is targeted at me.
</para>
</article>

That's all!

P.S. As I mentioned earlier in this blog, if you want to get formatting objects (FO) from this file (let's call it howto.xml), use xmlto:

xmlto fo howto.xml

This will produce the next FO:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<fo:root xmlns:fo="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Format" font-family="serif,Symbol,ZapfDingbats" font-size="10pt" text-align="justify" line-height="normal" font-selection-strategy="character-by-character" line-height-shift-adjustment="disregard-shifts" writing-mode="lr-tb" language="en"><fo:layout-master-set><fo:simple-page-master master-name="blank" page-width="215.9mm" page-height="279.4mm" margin-top="0.5in" margin-bottom="0.5in" margin-left="1in" margin-right="1in"><fo:region-body display-align="center" margin-bottom="0.5in" margin-top="0.5in" region-name="blank-body"/><fo:region-before region-name="xsl-region-before-blank" extent="0.4in" display-align="before"/><fo:region-after region-name="xsl-region-after-blank" extent="0.4in" display-align="after"/></fo:simple-page-master><fo:simple-page-master master-name="titlepage-first" page-width="215.9mm" page-height="279.4mm" margin-top="0.5in" margin-bottom="0.5in" margin-left="1in" margin-right="1in"><fo:region-body margin-bottom="0.5in" margin-top="0.5in" column-gap="12pt" column-count="1"/><fo:region-before region-name="xsl-region-before-first" extent="0.4in" display-align="before"/><fo:region-after region-name="xsl-region-after-first" extent="0.4in" display-align="after"/></fo:simple-page-master><fo:simple-page-master master-name="titlepage-odd" page-width="215.9mm" page-height="279.4mm" margin-top="0.5in" margin-bottom="0.5in" margin-left="1in" margin-right="1in"><fo:region-body margin-bottom="0.5in" margin-top="0.5in" column-gap="12pt" column-count="1"/><fo:region-before region-name="xsl-region-before-odd" extent="0.4in" display-align="before"/><fo:region-after region-name="xsl-region-after-odd" extent="0.4in" display-align="after"/></fo:simple-page-master><fo:simple-page-master master-name="titlepage-even" page-width="215.9mm" page-height="279.4mm" margin-top="0.5in" margin-bottom="0.5in" margin-left="1in" margin-right="1in"><fo:region-body margin-bottom="0.5in" margin-top="0.5in" column-gap="12pt" column-count="1"/><fo:region-before region-name="xsl-region-before-even" extent="0.4in" display-align="before"/><fo:region-after region-name="xsl-region-after-even" extent="0.4in" display-align="after"/></fo:simple-page-master><fo:simple-page-master master-name="lot-first" page-width="215.9mm" page-height="279.4mm" margin-top="0.5in" margin-bottom="0.5in" margin-left="1in" margin-right="1in"><fo:region-body margin-bottom="0.5in" margin-top="0.5in" column-gap="12pt" column-count="1"/><fo:region-before region-name="xsl-region-before-first" extent="0.4in" display-align="before"/><fo:region-after region-name="xsl-region-after-first" extent="0.4in" display-align="after"/></fo:simple-page-master><fo:simple-page-master master-name="lot-odd" page-width="215.9mm" page-height="279.4mm" margin-top="0.5in" margin-bottom="0.5in" margin-left="1in" margin-right="1in"><fo:region-body margin-bottom="0.5in" margin-top="0.5in" column-gap="12pt" column-count="1"/><fo:region-before region-name="xsl-region-before-odd" extent="0.4in" display-align="before"/><fo:region-after region-name="xsl-region-after-odd" extent="0.4in" display-align="after"/></fo:simple-page-master><fo:simple-page-master master-name="lot-even" page-width="215.9mm" page-height="279.4mm" margin-top="0.5in" margin-bottom="0.5in" margin-left="1in" margin-right="1in"><fo:region-body margin-bottom="0.5in" margin-top="0.5in" column-gap="12pt" column-count="1"/><fo:region-before region-name="xsl-region-before-even" extent="0.4in" display-align="before"/><fo:region-after region-name="xsl-region-after-even" extent="0.4in" display-align="after"/></fo:simple-page-master><fo:simple-page-master master-name="front-first" page-width="215.9mm" page-height="279.4mm" margin-top="0.5in" margin-bottom="0.5in" margin-left="1in" margin-right="1in"><fo:region-body margin-bottom="0.5in" margin-top="0.5in" column-gap="12pt" column-count="1"/><fo:region-before region-name="xsl-region-before-first" extent="0.4in" display-align="before"/><fo:region-after region-name="xsl-region-after-first" extent="0.4in" display-align="after"/></fo:simple-page-master><fo:simple-page-master master-name="front-odd" page-width="215.9mm" page-height="279.4mm" margin-top="0.5in" margin-bottom="0.5in" margin-left="1in" margin-right="1in"><fo:region-body margin-bottom="0.5in" margin-top="0.5in" column-gap="12pt" column-count="1"/><fo:region-before region-name="xsl-region-before-odd" extent="0.4in" display-align="before"/><fo:region-after region-name="xsl-region-after-odd" extent="0.4in" display-align="after"/></fo:simple-page-master><fo:simple-page-master master-name="front-even" page-width="215.9mm" page-height="279.4mm" margin-top="0.5in" margin-bottom="0.5in" margin-left="1in" margin-right="1in"><fo:region-body margin-bottom="0.5in" margin-top="0.5in" column-gap="12pt" column-count="1"/><fo:region-before region-name="xsl-region-before-even" extent="0.4in" display-align="before"/><fo:region-after region-name="xsl-region-after-even" extent="0.4in" display-align="after"/></fo:simple-page-master><fo:simple-page-master master-name="body-first" page-width="215.9mm" page-height="279.4mm" margin-top="0.5in" margin-bottom="0.5in" margin-left="1in" margin-right="1in"><fo:region-body margin-bottom="0.5in" margin-top="0.5in" column-gap="12pt" column-count="1"/><fo:region-before region-name="xsl-region-before-first" extent="0.4in" display-align="before"/><fo:region-after region-name="xsl-region-after-first" extent="0.4in" display-align="after"/></fo:simple-page-master><fo:simple-page-master master-name="body-odd" page-width="215.9mm" page-height="279.4mm" margin-top="0.5in" margin-bottom="0.5in" margin-left="1in" margin-right="1in"><fo:region-body margin-bottom="0.5in" margin-top="0.5in" column-gap="12pt" column-count="1"/><fo:region-before region-name="xsl-region-before-odd" extent="0.4in" display-align="before"/><fo:region-after region-name="xsl-region-after-odd" extent="0.4in" display-align="after"/></fo:simple-page-master><fo:simple-page-master master-name="body-even" page-width="215.9mm" page-height="279.4mm" margin-top="0.5in" margin-bottom="0.5in" margin-left="1in" margin-right="1in"><fo:region-body margin-bottom="0.5in" margin-top="0.5in" column-gap="12pt" column-count="1"/><fo:region-before region-name="xsl-region-before-even" extent="0.4in" display-align="before"/><fo:region-after region-name="xsl-region-after-even" extent="0.4in" display-align="after"/></fo:simple-page-master><fo:simple-page-master master-name="back-first" page-width="215.9mm" page-height="279.4mm" margin-top="0.5in" margin-bottom="0.5in" margin-left="1in" margin-right="1in"><fo:region-body margin-bottom="0.5in" margin-top="0.5in" column-gap="12pt" column-count="1"/><fo:region-before region-name="xsl-region-before-first" extent="0.4in" display-align="before"/><fo:region-after region-name="xsl-region-after-first" extent="0.4in" display-align="after"/></fo:simple-page-master><fo:simple-page-master master-name="back-odd" page-width="215.9mm" page-height="279.4mm" margin-top="0.5in" margin-bottom="0.5in" margin-left="1in" margin-right="1in"><fo:region-body margin-bottom="0.5in" margin-top="0.5in" column-gap="12pt" column-count="1"/><fo:region-before region-name="xsl-region-before-odd" extent="0.4in" display-align="before"/><fo:region-after region-name="xsl-region-after-odd" extent="0.4in" display-align="after"/></fo:simple-page-master><fo:simple-page-master master-name="back-even" page-width="215.9mm" page-height="279.4mm" margin-top="0.5in" margin-bottom="0.5in" margin-left="1in" margin-right="1in"><fo:region-body margin-bottom="0.5in" margin-top="0.5in" column-gap="12pt" column-count="1"/><fo:region-before region-name="xsl-region-before-even" extent="0.4in" display-align="before"/><fo:region-after region-name="xsl-region-after-even" extent="0.4in" display-align="after"/></fo:simple-page-master><fo:simple-page-master master-name="index-first" page-width="215.9mm" page-height="279.4mm" margin-top="0.5in" margin-bottom="0.5in" margin-left="1in" margin-right="1in"><fo:region-body margin-bottom="0.5in" margin-top="0.5in" column-gap="12pt" column-count="2"/><fo:region-before region-name="xsl-region-before-first" extent="0.4in" display-align="before"/><fo:region-after region-name="xsl-region-after-first" extent="0.4in" display-align="after"/></fo:simple-page-master><fo:simple-page-master master-name="index-odd" page-width="215.9mm" page-height="279.4mm" margin-top="0.5in" margin-bottom="0.5in" margin-left="1in" margin-right="1in"><fo:region-body margin-bottom="0.5in" margin-top="0.5in" column-gap="12pt" column-count="2"/><fo:region-before region-name="xsl-region-before-odd" extent="0.4in" display-align="before"/><fo:region-after region-name="xsl-region-after-odd" extent="0.4in" display-align="after"/></fo:simple-page-master><fo:simple-page-master master-name="index-even" page-width="215.9mm" page-height="279.4mm" margin-top="0.5in" margin-bottom="0.5in" margin-left="1in" margin-right="1in"><fo:region-body margin-bottom="0.5in" margin-top="0.5in" column-gap="12pt" column-count="2"/><fo:region-before region-name="xsl-region-before-even" extent="0.4in" display-align="before"/><fo:region-after region-name="xsl-region-after-even" extent="0.4in" display-align="after"/></fo:simple-page-master><fo:page-sequence-master master-name="titlepage"><fo:repeatable-page-master-alternatives><fo:conditional-page-master-reference master-reference="blank" blank-or-not-blank="blank"/><fo:conditional-page-master-reference master-reference="titlepage-first" page-position="first"/><fo:conditional-page-master-reference master-reference="titlepage-odd" odd-or-even="odd"/><fo:conditional-page-master-reference odd-or-even="even" master-reference="titlepage-odd"/></fo:repeatable-page-master-alternatives></fo:page-sequence-master><fo:page-sequence-master master-name="lot"><fo:repeatable-page-master-alternatives><fo:conditional-page-master-reference master-reference="blank" blank-or-not-blank="blank"/><fo:conditional-page-master-reference master-reference="lot-first" page-position="first"/><fo:conditional-page-master-reference master-reference="lot-odd" odd-or-even="odd"/><fo:conditional-page-master-reference odd-or-even="even" master-reference="lot-odd"/></fo:repeatable-page-master-alternatives></fo:page-sequence-master><fo:page-sequence-master master-name="front"><fo:repeatable-page-master-alternatives><fo:conditional-page-master-reference master-reference="blank" blank-or-not-blank="blank"/><fo:conditional-page-master-reference master-reference="front-first" page-position="first"/><fo:conditional-page-master-reference master-reference="front-odd" odd-or-even="odd"/><fo:conditional-page-master-reference odd-or-even="even" master-reference="front-odd"/></fo:repeatable-page-master-alternatives></fo:page-sequence-master><fo:page-sequence-master master-name="body"><fo:repeatable-page-master-alternatives><fo:conditional-page-master-reference master-reference="blank" blank-or-not-blank="blank"/><fo:conditional-page-master-reference master-reference="body-first" page-position="first"/><fo:conditional-page-master-reference master-reference="body-odd" odd-or-even="odd"/><fo:conditional-page-master-reference odd-or-even="even" master-reference="body-odd"/></fo:repeatable-page-master-alternatives></fo:page-sequence-master><fo:page-sequence-master master-name="back"><fo:repeatable-page-master-alternatives><fo:conditional-page-master-reference master-reference="blank" blank-or-not-blank="blank"/><fo:conditional-page-master-reference master-reference="back-first" page-position="first"/><fo:conditional-page-master-reference master-reference="back-odd" odd-or-even="odd"/><fo:conditional-page-master-reference odd-or-even="even" master-reference="back-odd"/></fo:repeatable-page-master-alternatives></fo:page-sequence-master><fo:page-sequence-master master-name="index"><fo:repeatable-page-master-alternatives><fo:conditional-page-master-reference master-reference="blank" blank-or-not-blank="blank"/><fo:conditional-page-master-reference master-reference="index-first" page-position="first"/><fo:conditional-page-master-reference master-reference="index-odd" odd-or-even="odd"/><fo:conditional-page-master-reference odd-or-even="even" master-reference="index-odd"/></fo:repeatable-page-master-alternatives></fo:page-sequence-master></fo:layout-master-set><fo:page-sequence xmlns:axf="http://www.antennahouse.com/names/XSL/Extensions" hyphenate="true" master-reference="body" language="en" format="1" initial-page-number="1" force-page-count="no-force" hyphenation-character="-" hyphenation-push-character-count="2" hyphenation-remain-character-count="2"><fo:static-content flow-name="xsl-region-before-first"><fo:block font-family="serif,Symbol,ZapfDingbats" margin-left="0pt"><fo:table table-layout="fixed" width="100%" border-bottom-width="0.5pt" border-bottom-style="solid" border-bottom-color="black"><fo:table-column column-number="1" column-width="proportional-column-width(1)"/><fo:table-column column-number="2" column-width="proportional-column-width(1)"/><fo:table-column column-number="3" column-width="proportional-column-width(1)"/><fo:table-body><fo:table-row block-progression-dimension.minimum="14pt"><fo:table-cell text-align="start" display-align="before" relative-align="baseline"><fo:block><fo:block/></fo:block></fo:table-cell><fo:table-cell text-align="center" display-align="before" relative-align="baseline"><fo:block><fo:block/></fo:block></fo:table-cell><fo:table-cell text-align="right" display-align="before" relative-align="baseline"><fo:block><fo:block/></fo:block></fo:table-cell></fo:table-row></fo:table-body></fo:table></fo:block></fo:static-content><fo:static-content flow-name="xsl-region-before-odd"><fo:block font-family="serif,Symbol,ZapfDingbats" margin-left="0pt"><fo:table table-layout="fixed" width="100%" border-bottom-width="0.5pt" border-bottom-style="solid" border-bottom-color="black"><fo:table-column column-number="1" column-width="proportional-column-width(1)"/><fo:table-column column-number="2" column-width="proportional-column-width(1)"/><fo:table-column column-number="3" column-width="proportional-column-width(1)"/><fo:table-body><fo:table-row block-progression-dimension.minimum="14pt"><fo:table-cell text-align="start" display-align="before" relative-align="baseline"><fo:block><fo:block/></fo:block></fo:table-cell><fo:table-cell text-align="center" display-align="before" relative-align="baseline"><fo:block><fo:block/></fo:block></fo:table-cell><fo:table-cell text-align="right" display-align="before" relative-align="baseline"><fo:block><fo:block/></fo:block></fo:table-cell></fo:table-row></fo:table-body></fo:table></fo:block></fo:static-content><fo:static-content flow-name="xsl-region-before-even"><fo:block font-family="serif,Symbol,ZapfDingbats" margin-left="0pt"><fo:table table-layout="fixed" width="100%" border-bottom-width="0.5pt" border-bottom-style="solid" border-bottom-color="black"><fo:table-column column-number="1" column-width="proportional-column-width(1)"/><fo:table-column column-number="2" column-width="proportional-column-width(1)"/><fo:table-column column-number="3" column-width="proportional-column-width(1)"/><fo:table-body><fo:table-row block-progression-dimension.minimum="14pt"><fo:table-cell text-align="start" display-align="before" relative-align="baseline"><fo:block><fo:block/></fo:block></fo:table-cell><fo:table-cell text-align="center" display-align="before" relative-align="baseline"><fo:block><fo:block/></fo:block></fo:table-cell><fo:table-cell text-align="right" display-align="before" relative-align="baseline"><fo:block><fo:block/></fo:block></fo:table-cell></fo:table-row></fo:table-body></fo:table></fo:block></fo:static-content><fo:static-content flow-name="xsl-region-before-blank"><fo:block font-family="serif,Symbol,ZapfDingbats" margin-left="0pt"><fo:table table-layout="fixed" width="100%" border-bottom-width="0.5pt" border-bottom-style="solid" border-bottom-color="black"><fo:table-column column-number="1" column-width="proportional-column-width(1)"/><fo:table-column column-number="2" column-width="proportional-column-width(1)"/><fo:table-column column-number="3" column-width="proportional-column-width(1)"/><fo:table-body><fo:table-row block-progression-dimension.minimum="14pt"><fo:table-cell text-align="start" display-align="before" relative-align="baseline"><fo:block><fo:block/></fo:block></fo:table-cell><fo:table-cell text-align="center" display-align="before" relative-align="baseline"><fo:block><fo:block/></fo:block></fo:table-cell><fo:table-cell text-align="right" display-align="before" relative-align="baseline"><fo:block><fo:block/></fo:block></fo:table-cell></fo:table-row></fo:table-body></fo:table></fo:block></fo:static-content><fo:static-content flow-name="xsl-footnote-separator"><fo:block><fo:leader color="black" leader-pattern="rule" leader-length="1in"/></fo:block></fo:static-content><fo:static-content flow-name="blank-body"><fo:block text-align="center"/></fo:static-content><fo:static-content flow-name="xsl-region-after-first"><fo:block font-family="serif,Symbol,ZapfDingbats" margin-left="0pt"><fo:table table-layout="fixed" width="100%" border-top-width="0.5pt" border-top-style="solid" border-top-color="black"><fo:table-column column-number="1" column-width="proportional-column-width(1)"/><fo:table-column column-number="2" column-width="proportional-column-width(1)"/><fo:table-column column-number="3" column-width="proportional-column-width(1)"/><fo:table-body><fo:table-row block-progression-dimension.minimum="14pt"><fo:table-cell text-align="start" display-align="after" relative-align="baseline"><fo:block><fo:block/></fo:block></fo:table-cell><fo:table-cell text-align="center" display-align="after" relative-align="baseline"><fo:block><fo:block><fo:page-number/></fo:block></fo:block></fo:table-cell><fo:table-cell text-align="end" display-align="after" relative-align="baseline"><fo:block><fo:block/></fo:block></fo:table-cell></fo:table-row></fo:table-body></fo:table></fo:block></fo:static-content><fo:static-content flow-name="xsl-region-after-odd"><fo:block font-family="serif,Symbol,ZapfDingbats" margin-left="0pt"><fo:table table-layout="fixed" width="100%" border-top-width="0.5pt" border-top-style="solid" border-top-color="black"><fo:table-column column-number="1" column-width="proportional-column-width(1)"/><fo:table-column column-number="2" column-width="proportional-column-width(1)"/><fo:table-column column-number="3" column-width="proportional-column-width(1)"/><fo:table-body><fo:table-row block-progression-dimension.minimum="14pt"><fo:table-cell text-align="start" display-align="after" relative-align="baseline"><fo:block><fo:block/></fo:block></fo:table-cell><fo:table-cell text-align="center" display-align="after" relative-align="baseline"><fo:block><fo:block><fo:page-number/></fo:block></fo:block></fo:table-cell><fo:table-cell text-align="end" display-align="after" relative-align="baseline"><fo:block><fo:block/></fo:block></fo:table-cell></fo:table-row></fo:table-body></fo:table></fo:block></fo:static-content><fo:static-content flow-name="xsl-region-after-even"><fo:block font-family="serif,Symbol,ZapfDingbats" margin-left="0pt"><fo:table table-layout="fixed" width="100%" border-top-width="0.5pt" border-top-style="solid" border-top-color="black"><fo:table-column column-number="1" column-width="proportional-column-width(1)"/><fo:table-column column-number="2" column-width="proportional-column-width(1)"/><fo:table-column column-number="3" column-width="proportional-column-width(1)"/><fo:table-body><fo:table-row block-progression-dimension.minimum="14pt"><fo:table-cell text-align="start" display-align="after" relative-align="baseline"><fo:block><fo:block/></fo:block></fo:table-cell><fo:table-cell text-align="center" display-align="after" relative-align="baseline"><fo:block><fo:block><fo:page-number/></fo:block></fo:block></fo:table-cell><fo:table-cell text-align="end" display-align="after" relative-align="baseline"><fo:block><fo:block/></fo:block></fo:table-cell></fo:table-row></fo:table-body></fo:table></fo:block></fo:static-content><fo:static-content flow-name="xsl-region-after-blank"><fo:block font-family="serif,Symbol,ZapfDingbats" margin-left="0pt"><fo:table table-layout="fixed" width="100%" border-top-width="0.5pt" border-top-style="solid" border-top-color="black"><fo:table-column column-number="1" column-width="proportional-column-width(1)"/><fo:table-column column-number="2" column-width="proportional-column-width(1)"/><fo:table-column column-number="3" column-width="proportional-column-width(1)"/><fo:table-body><fo:table-row block-progression-dimension.minimum="14pt"><fo:table-cell text-align="start" display-align="after" relative-align="baseline"><fo:block><fo:block/></fo:block></fo:table-cell><fo:table-cell text-align="center" display-align="after" relative-align="baseline"><fo:block><fo:block><fo:page-number/></fo:block></fo:block></fo:table-cell><fo:table-cell text-align="end" display-align="after" relative-align="baseline"><fo:block><fo:block/></fo:block></fo:table-cell></fo:table-row></fo:table-body></fo:table></fo:block></fo:static-content><fo:flow flow-name="xsl-region-body"><fo:block id="idp31030500"><fo:block font-family="sans-serif,Symbol,ZapfDingbats"/></fo:block><fo:block space-before.optimum="1em" space-before.minimum="0.8em" space-before.maximum="1.2em">
 This document is targeted at me.
</fo:block></fo:flow></fo:page-sequence></fo:root>

As we seeing, FO is an intermediate format before compiling it to PDF. Styling must be applied to FO before. I'm going to get how to do this and describe it for you after my vacation if I don't become totally deaf.

Sources

1. An article template // https://supportweb.cs.bham.ac.uk/docs/tutorials/docsystem/build/tutorials/docbooksys/segmentedhtml/ch08s03.html.