docbook-apps

  • 1.  Docbook XSLT 2.0

    Posted 10-20-2025 05:40

    Hi,

     

    I need to move away from 1.0 of XSLT but still need to stick with PDF and xslTNG is not a viable option for me atm (mainly issues with internal process of acquiring a CSS formatter but also the majority of my front matter is in FO and will need to be refactored). Therefore, as an interim solution,  I am working on a customisation layer of DocBook XSLT 2.0 for FO output and want to align with the latest stable base.

     

    I have been reviewing the DocBook XSLT 2.0 stylesheets and noticed something I would like to clarify. The latest tagged release on GitHub - docbook/xslt20-stylesheets 2.6.0 - dates from 2020. However, the CDN at https://cdn.docbook.org/release/xsl20/current/xslt/base/fo/ appears to contain newer content (e.g. a more complete autotoc.xsl module dated 2023).

     

    Can anyone (Norm I guess) confirm whether the CDN "current" tree represents an official but untagged update beyond 2.6.0 or an intermediate build not yet formally released. Either way, is there  a packaged .zip/.tar.gz available?

     

    Thanks in advance,

    Nick



  • 2.  RE: Docbook XSLT 2.0

    Posted 10-20-2025 05:46

    Test reply, please ignore Nick. 



    ------------------------------
    David Pawson
    Royal National Institute for the Blind
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Docbook XSLT 2.0

    Posted 10-20-2025 05:48
    Test reply via email
    (Sorry Nick. docbook-apps is ... odd atm).

    regards


    --
    Dave Pawson
    XSLT XSL-FO FAQ.
    Docbook FAQ.



    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Docbook XSLT 2.0

    Posted 10-21-2025 00:53

    You should be able to get the DocBook XSLT 1.0 stylesheets to work with recent versions of Saxon as long as you don't need to generate an olink database. Creating that olink.db file uses an old Saxon 6.5 extension (saxon:output) to do what we now use xsl:result-document for. If you're using Saxon PE/EE, you might even be able to generate the olink database: https://www.saxonica.com/html/documentation12/extensions/instructions/output.html

    If you rely on the Saxon 6.5 extensions that are bundled with DocBook XSLT 1.0 stylesheets, you might have some work to do.

    Regards,

    David



    ------------------------------
    David Cramer
    Public View
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Docbook XSLT 2.0

    Posted 10-21-2025 04:25

    Hi Dave,

     

    I have very recently started to build some basic documents using Saxon-HE 12.9 with version 1.79.1 of the stylesheets/my customisation layer through maven - I have not tried with olink yet – but if I move to version 2.0 of the stylesheets, the olink database disappears anyway.  Moreover, there are things in Version 2.0 of XSLT that I cannot do in version 1.0. One such issue is xrefs; so for my many requirements documents, I intend to have a common database of requirements, still use xrefs in documents but remove relevant Xincludes (to reduce repetition across documents), and then use multi-document ID resolution during the build, to resolve references and generate text.

     

    I am sure version 2.0 will bring other improvements; I already have some promising results but there are some obvious gaps in the GitHub version, that I think may be filled by the CDN version. Hence my question.

     

    Regards

     

    Nick




    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Docbook XSLT 2.0

    Posted 10-21-2025 15:04
    On 20.10.2025 11:40, wood via OASIS wrote:
    > I need to move away from 1.0 of XSLT but still need to stick with PDF and xslTNG is not a viable option for me atm (mainly issues with internal process of acquiring a CSS formatter but also the majority of my front matter is in FO and will need to be refactored). Therefore, as an interim solution, I am working on a customisation layer of DocBook XSLT 2.0 for FO output and want to align with the latest stable base.

    I don't think it is good idea to use FO output from DocBook XSLT 2.0
    Stylesheets. IIRC, FO part wasn't completely finished and DocBook XSLT
    1.0 Stylesheets offer more in terms of FO output. And as development of
    DocBook XSLT 2.0 Stylesheets stopped couple years ago it is very
    unlikely that FO support will be improved.

    Why you need to move away from XSLT 1.0 for FO output?

    --
    ------------------------------------------------------------------
    Jirka Kosek e-mail: jirka@kosek.cz http://xmlguru.cz
    ------------------------------------------------------------------
    Professional XML and Web consulting and training services
    DocBook/DITA customization, custom XSLT/XSL-FO document processing
    ------------------------------------------------------------------
    Bringing you XML Prague conference http://xmlprague.cz



    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: Docbook XSLT 2.0

    Posted 10-22-2025 04:22

    Hi Jirka,

     

    I have already explained one use case in a previous post, where I believe moving to more modern version of the stylesheets could be beneficial.  However, my core requirement is to ensure I have a secure and robust toolchain; I still use maven-docbkx but as the numbers of CVEs increase against the plugin (which in the case of FOP requires more than just a dependency upgrade) and no support since 2016, I am exploring different options, while staying in maven. As part of the activity, incrementing the stylesheets was one (sensible?) consideration, especially when docbook.org states "Two actively maintained tools are the XSLT 1.0 and XSLT 2.0 stylesheets for transforming DocBook into HTML, EPUB, PDF, and a wide variety of other formats".

     

    Perhaps a caveat on the lack of development/support for the XSLT 2.0 stylesheets should be added to the sentence above to stop people "going down rabbit holes"?

     

    Cheers

     

    Nick




    Original Message


Related Content