Octave Forge

Okay, this is weird. It seems I can reply to other people from my
standard mail account (soren _at_ hauberg _dot_ org), but I can't start
new threads. Anyway, I have tried twice to send the following message:

Hi All,
  I think most of us agrees that we need the release process of
Octave-Forge to change, such that individual package maintainers can
release whenever they feel like that. To achieve this we need support
for generating HTML pages for individual packages that contain the help
texts of the functions in the package. The current programs for
generating HTML pages is written in perl, python, shell, Make, and
possibly other languages. It is also very hardcoded for the current
setup, which makes it hard to modify.
  So, I'm proposing a new package [1] for generating HTML pages. The
functions therein are all written in Octave, and are quite general. So,
hopefully people can easily hack the functions, and use them for other
purposes then generating web pages for Octave-Forge.

Søren

[1] http://hauberg.org/wiki/doku.php?id=generate_html



lør, 27 09 2008 kl. 14:45 +0200, skrev Søren Hauberg:
> Hi,
>   Sorry about the noise, but I've sent a mail to this list some hours
> ago, and doesn't seem to get through. So, I'm just checking if it is
> related to my standard mail account, or to SourceForge. Again, sorry
> about the noise...
> 
> Søren
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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> _______________________________________________
> Octave-dev mailing list
> Octave-dev@...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/octave-dev

I've updated the package to simplify a few things, by letting the
package manager do some more heavy-lifting. The functions can now also
produce output in a format suitable for http://www.octave.org (i.e. with m4
headers).

Søren

lør, 27 09 2008 kl. 15:15 +0200, skrev Søren Hauberg:
> Okay, this is weird. It seems I can reply to other people from my
> standard mail account (soren _at_ hauberg _dot_ org), but I can't start
> new threads. Anyway, I have tried twice to send the following message:
> 
> Hi All,
>   I think most of us agrees that we need the release process of
> Octave-Forge to change, such that individual package maintainers can
> release whenever they feel like that. To achieve this we need support
> for generating HTML pages for individual packages that contain the help
> texts of the functions in the package. The current programs for
> generating HTML pages is written in perl, python, shell, Make, and
> possibly other languages. It is also very hardcoded for the current
> setup, which makes it hard to modify.
>   So, I'm proposing a new package [1] for generating HTML pages. The
> functions therein are all written in Octave, and are quite general. So,
> hopefully people can easily hack the functions, and use them for other
> purposes then generating web pages for Octave-Forge.
> 
> Søren
> 
> [1] http://hauberg.org/wiki/doku.php?id=generate_html
> 
> 
> 
> lør, 27 09 2008 kl. 14:45 +0200, skrev Søren Hauberg:
> > Hi,
> >   Sorry about the noise, but I've sent a mail to this list some hours
> > ago, and doesn't seem to get through. So, I'm just checking if it is
> > related to my standard mail account, or to SourceForge. Again, sorry
> > about the noise...
> > 
> > Søren
> > 
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's challenge
> > Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win great prizes
> > Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the world
> > http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/
> > _______________________________________________
> > Octave-dev mailing list
> > Octave-dev@...
> > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/octave-dev
> 
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's challenge
> Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win great prizes
> Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the world
> http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/
> _______________________________________________
> Octave-dev mailing list
> Octave-dev@...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/octave-dev

On 27/set/08, at 22:00, Søren Hauberg wrote:

> I've updated the package to simplify a few things, by letting the
> package manager do some more heavy-lifting. The functions can now also
> produce output in a format suitable for http://www.octave.org (i.e. with m4
> headers).
>
> Søren

Søren,
I think the idea of this package is indeed very useful!
I tried to generate help pages for some of my packages but they seem  
to fail (see output below).
Why didn't you commit the package to the svn repository? It would be  
easier to send patches if you had done so...
c.


---------8<---------
BIM
generate_package_html ("bim","~/octave/bim_help" )
stdin:10: Misplaced {.
stdin:10: Misplaced }.
error: get_first_help_sentence: couldn't run makeinfo
error: evaluating if command near line 122, column 3
error: called from `get_first_help_sentence:first_sentence_texinfo' in  
file `/Users/carlo/octave/generate_html-0.0.2/get_first_help_sentence.m'
error: evaluating assignment expression near line 57, column 14
error: evaluating switch command near line 53, column 3
error: called from `get_first_help_sentence' in file `/Users/carlo/ 
octave/generate_html-0.0.2/get_first_help_sentence.m'
error: evaluating argument list element number 3
error: evaluating if command near line 152, column 7
error: evaluating for command near line 150, column 5
error: evaluating for command near line 143, column 3
error: called from `generate_package_html' in file `/Users/carlo/ 
octave/generate_html-0.0.2/generate_package_html.m'

---------8<---------
OCS
 >> generate_package_html ("ocs","~/octave/ocs_help" )
error: get_first_help_sentence: couldn't parse texinfo
error: evaluating if command near line 106, column 5
error: evaluating if command near line 81, column 3
error: called from `get_first_help_sentence:first_sentence_texinfo' in  
file `/Users/carlo/octave/generate_html-0.0.2/get_first_help_sentence.m'
error: evaluating assignment expression near line 57, column 14
error: evaluating switch command near line 53, column 3
error: called from `get_first_help_sentence' in file `/Users/carlo/ 
octave/generate_html-0.0.2/get_first_help_sentence.m'
error: evaluating argument list element number 3
error: evaluating if command near line 152, column 7
error: evaluating for command near line 150, column 5
error: evaluating for command near line 143, column 3
error: called from `generate_package_html' in file `/Users/carlo/ 
octave/generate_html-0.0.2/generate_package_html.m'

---------8<---------
MSH
 >> generate_package_html ("msh","~/octave/msh_help" )
stdin:10: Unmatched }.
error: get_first_help_sentence: couldn't run makeinfo
error: evaluating if command near line 122, column 3
error: called from `get_first_help_sentence:first_sentence_texinfo' in  
file `/Users/carlo/octave/generate_html-0.0.2/get_first_help_sentence.m'
error: evaluating assignment expression near line 57, column 14
error: evaluating switch command near line 53, column 3
error: called from `get_first_help_sentence' in file `/Users/carlo/ 
octave/generate_html-0.0.2/get_first_help_sentence.m'
error: evaluating argument list element number 3
error: evaluating if command near line 152, column 7
error: evaluating for command near line 150, column 5
error: evaluating for command near line 143, column 3
error: called from `generate_package_html' in file `/Users/carlo/ 
octave/generate_html-0.0.2/generate_package_html.m'

man, 06 10 2008 kl. 15:23 +0200, skrev Carlo de Falco:
> I think the idea of this package is indeed very useful!
> I tried to generate help pages for some of my packages but they seem  
> to fail (see output below).

Thanks, for trying this out. It seems I'm a bit more agressive about
texinfo failures than Octave is. I've made some changes and uploaded a
new version of the package to my web page. With this, the errors are now
warnings, and your example works.

> Why didn't you commit the package to the svn repository? It would be  
> easier to send patches if you had done so...

Yeah, the reason why I'm holding back, is that I'm still not sure if my
approach is the right one. Also, I've sent a suggestion to the
maintainers list about rewriting the help system as m-files. This change
includes a lot of the same functions as this package. So, if the
suggestion is accepted, then I guess some confusion as to which version
of which function to use would appear.

Søren
> c.
> 
> 
> ---------8<---------
> BIM
> generate_package_html ("bim","~/octave/bim_help" )
> stdin:10: Misplaced {.
> stdin:10: Misplaced }.
> error: get_first_help_sentence: couldn't run makeinfo
> error: evaluating if command near line 122, column 3
> error: called from `get_first_help_sentence:first_sentence_texinfo' in  
> file `/Users/carlo/octave/generate_html-0.0.2/get_first_help_sentence.m'
> error: evaluating assignment expression near line 57, column 14
> error: evaluating switch command near line 53, column 3
> error: called from `get_first_help_sentence' in file `/Users/carlo/ 
> octave/generate_html-0.0.2/get_first_help_sentence.m'
> error: evaluating argument list element number 3
> error: evaluating if command near line 152, column 7
> error: evaluating for command near line 150, column 5
> error: evaluating for command near line 143, column 3
> error: called from `generate_package_html' in file `/Users/carlo/ 
> octave/generate_html-0.0.2/generate_package_html.m'
> 
> ---------8<---------
> OCS
>  >> generate_package_html ("ocs","~/octave/ocs_help" )
> error: get_first_help_sentence: couldn't parse texinfo
> error: evaluating if command near line 106, column 5
> error: evaluating if command near line 81, column 3
> error: called from `get_first_help_sentence:first_sentence_texinfo' in  
> file `/Users/carlo/octave/generate_html-0.0.2/get_first_help_sentence.m'
> error: evaluating assignment expression near line 57, column 14
> error: evaluating switch command near line 53, column 3
> error: called from `get_first_help_sentence' in file `/Users/carlo/ 
> octave/generate_html-0.0.2/get_first_help_sentence.m'
> error: evaluating argument list element number 3
> error: evaluating if command near line 152, column 7
> error: evaluating for command near line 150, column 5
> error: evaluating for command near line 143, column 3
> error: called from `generate_package_html' in file `/Users/carlo/ 
> octave/generate_html-0.0.2/generate_package_html.m'
> 
> ---------8<---------
> MSH
>  >> generate_package_html ("msh","~/octave/msh_help" )
> stdin:10: Unmatched }.
> error: get_first_help_sentence: couldn't run makeinfo
> error: evaluating if command near line 122, column 3
> error: called from `get_first_help_sentence:first_sentence_texinfo' in  
> file `/Users/carlo/octave/generate_html-0.0.2/get_first_help_sentence.m'
> error: evaluating assignment expression near line 57, column 14
> error: evaluating switch command near line 53, column 3
> error: called from `get_first_help_sentence' in file `/Users/carlo/ 
> octave/generate_html-0.0.2/get_first_help_sentence.m'
> error: evaluating argument list element number 3
> error: evaluating if command near line 152, column 7
> error: evaluating for command near line 150, column 5
> error: evaluating for command near line 143, column 3
> error: called from `generate_package_html' in file `/Users/carlo/ 
> octave/generate_html-0.0.2/generate_package_html.m'
> 
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's challenge
> Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win great prizes
> Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the world
> http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/
> _______________________________________________
> Octave-dev mailing list
> Octave-dev@...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/octave-dev

On 06/ott/08, at 15:38, Søren Hauberg wrote:

> man, 06 10 2008 kl. 15:23 +0200, skrev Carlo de Falco:
>> I think the idea of this package is indeed very useful!
>> I tried to generate help pages for some of my packages but they seem
>> to fail (see output below).
>
> Thanks, for trying this out. It seems I'm a bit more agressive about
> texinfo failures than Octave is. I've made some changes and uploaded a
> new version of the package to my web page. With this, the errors are  
> now
> warnings, and your example works.
>
>> Why didn't you commit the package to the svn repository? It would be
>> easier to send patches if you had done so...
>
> Yeah, the reason why I'm holding back, is that I'm still not sure if  
> my
> approach is the right one. Also, I've sent a suggestion to the
> maintainers list about rewriting the help system as m-files. This  
> change
> includes a lot of the same functions as this package. So, if the
> suggestion is accepted, then I guess some confusion as to which  
> version
> of which function to use would appear.

So if I understand, if your suggestion is accepted then your functions  
would
have to be included into octave itself rather yhen OF?
in this case I would suggest to have the HTML pages be built  
automatically by pkg.m
at the time each package is installed or rebuilt so that an user could  
have a local hypertext
with a list of installed packages and links to their html ovrview and  
function help pages,
what do you think?

> Søren

c.

man, 06 10 2008 kl. 16:05 +0100, skrev Carlo de Falco:
> So if I understand, if your suggestion is accepted then your functions  
> would
> have to be included into octave itself rather yhen OF?

Not quite, but some of the functions would. Specifically, 'makeinfo',
'get_help_text', and 'get_first_help_sentence' are needed to use my
implementation of the help system. So, some functions
('generate_package_html', 'get_html_options', and 'html_help_text')
should still be in OF. This is the reason I'm keeping the package out of
OF -- otherwise I'm afraid things will easily get very confusing.

> in this case I would suggest to have the HTML pages be built  
> automatically by pkg.m
> at the time each package is installed or rebuilt so that an user could  
> have a local hypertext
> with a list of installed packages and links to their html ovrview and  
> function help pages,
> what do you think?

Well, I think that would be very useful. Especially, if 'doc' was
changed to launch a web browser instead of an info viewer. This is the
kind of thinking that makes me think it would be great if the help
system could be rewritten as m-files, as it's much easier to implement
such features.

Søren

On 06/ott/08, at 15:38, Søren Hauberg wrote:

> Thanks, for trying this out. It seems I'm a bit more agressive about
> texinfo failures than Octave is. I've made some changes and uploaded a
> new version of the package to my web page. With this, the errors are  
> now
> warnings, and your example works.

It seems your function get_first_help_sentence still gets confused  
when the function definition is split over more than one line.
As an example have a look at the short description for the function  
"TSTbweuler" from the ocs package on the OF website
http://octave.sourceforge.net/doc/funref_ocs.html
and compare with the one produced by generate_html.
I think one solution could be to remove all occurrences of the string  
"@\n" from the help text before doing any further processing.
Thanks again for starting this package, I'll be doing more testing as  
soon as I have time.
c.

On 06/ott/08, at 17:51, Carlo de Falco wrote:

>
> On 06/ott/08, at 15:38, Søren Hauberg wrote:
>
>> Thanks, for trying this out. It seems I'm a bit more agressive about
>> texinfo failures than Octave is. I've made some changes and  
>> uploaded a
>> new version of the package to my web page. With this, the errors  
>> are now
>> warnings, and your example works.
>
> It seems your function get_first_help_sentence still gets confused  
> when the function definition is split over more than one line.
> As an example have a look at the short description for the function  
> "TSTbweuler" from the ocs package on the OF website
> http://octave.sourceforge.net/doc/funref_ocs.html
> and compare with the one produced by generate_html.
> I think one solution could be to remove all occurrences of the  
> string "@\n" from the help text before doing any further processing.
> Thanks again for starting this package, I'll be doing more testing  
> as soon as I have time.
> c.
>

The change suggested above corresponds to changing line 61 of  
get_first_help_sentence

from:
[retval, status] = first_sentence_texinfo (help_text, max_len);
to:
[retval, status] = first_sentence_texinfo (strrep(help_text,"@\n",""),  
max_len);

sorry I cannot produce a proper patch at this time.
c.

man, 06 10 2008 kl. 19:42 +0100, skrev Carlo de Falco:
> > It seems your function get_first_help_sentence still gets confused  
> > when the function definition is split over more than one line.

Ahh, I hadn't seen that syntax before. Thanks for bringing it up.

> > As an example have a look at the short description for the function  
> > "TSTbweuler" from the ocs package on the OF website
> > http://octave.sourceforge.net/doc/funref_ocs.html
> > and compare with the one produced by generate_html.
> > I think one solution could be to remove all occurrences of the  
> > string "@\n" from the help text before doing any further processing.

Yes, you are right. I've made a change that's similar to the one you
proposed. A new package has been uploaded.

Thanks a lot for looking into this,
Søren

On 06/ott/08, at 19:54, Søren Hauberg wrote:

> man, 06 10 2008 kl. 19:42 +0100, skrev Carlo de Falco:
>>> It seems your function get_first_help_sentence still gets confused
>>> when the function definition is split over more than one line.
>
> Ahh, I hadn't seen that syntax before. Thanks for bringing it up.
>
>>> As an example have a look at the short description for the function
>>> "TSTbweuler" from the ocs package on the OF website
>>> http://octave.sourceforge.net/doc/funref_ocs.html
>>> and compare with the one produced by generate_html.
>>> I think one solution could be to remove all occurrences of the
>>> string "@\n" from the help text before doing any further processing.
>
> Yes, you are right. I've made a change that's similar to the one you
> proposed. A new package has been uploaded.
>
> Thanks a lot for looking into this,
> Søren
>

Currently if a pakage is installed but not loaded  
generate_package_html marks all its functions as not implemented.
with the patch below it loads the package if it was not loaded.
c.

-----------------8<-----------------

--- generate_package_html.m	2008-10-06 20:13:48.000000000 +0100
+++ generate_package_html.m.bak	2008-10-06 20:15:13.000000000 +0100
@@ -51,23 +51,14 @@

  function generate_package_html (name, outdir = ".", options = struct  
())
    if (ischar (name))
-    [desclist, isllist] = pkg ("describe", name);
-    desc = desclist{1};
-    isloaded = isllist{1};
+    desc = pkg ("describe", name){1};
    elseif (isstruct (name))
-    [desc, isloaded] = pkg ("describe", name.name);
-    desc = desclist{1};
-    isloaded = isllist{1};
+    desc = name;
    else
      error (["generate_package_html: first input must either be the  
name of a ",
              "package, or a structure giving its description."]);
    endif

-  ## Check whether the package is loaded
-  if (!strcmpi(isloaded, "loaded"))
-    pkg("load", desc.name);
-  endif
-
    ## Create output directory if needed
    if (!exist (outdir, "dir"))
      mkdir (outdir);

man, 06 10 2008 kl. 20:18 +0100, skrev Carlo de Falco:
> Currently if a pakage is installed but not loaded  
> generate_package_html marks all its functions as not implemented.
> with the patch below it loads the package if it was not loaded.

I don't think it hurts to load a package twice, so we can just load the
package unconditionally. So, I've just added a

  pkg ("load", name)

before

  pkg ("describe", name)

Thanks,
Søren