Automating DITA Builds (DITA Europe 2013)

Expensive solutions are not necessary to automatically publish XML content to PDF or HTML-based formats. There are many ways to automate the process and a range of open source tools and scripting solutions can be used.

This presentation covers several approaches to automated XML publishing and provides simple examples for lightweight continuous integration from scheduled builds to watched folders and commit hooks to more complex hosted systems.

Presented November 18, 2013 in Munich at DITA Europe http://www.infomanagementcenter.com/DITAeurope/2013/.

Transcript

1. Automating DITA Builds Lightweight Continuous Integration for Documentation Projects infotexture Information Architecture & Content Strategy Roger W. Fienhold Sheen
2. Agenda Part I — Background & Concepts 1. Introduction 2. Motivation & Benefits 3. Continuous Integration Principles 4. Prerequisites 5. Automation Approaches Part II — Automation Examples Q & A 2
3. Summary Expensive solutions are not necessary to automatically publish XML content to PDF or HTML-based formats. There are many ways to automate the process and a range of open source tools and scripting solutions can be used. This session covers several approaches to automated XML publishing and provides simple examples for lightweight continuous integration from scheduled builds to watched folders and commit hooks to more complex hosted systems. Examples illustrate the alternatives using a sample DITA publication, version control systems such as Subversion and Git, and solutions such as Jenkins. 3
4. Introduction Documentation teams can borrow software development techniques to regularly publish even minor changes. By building the entire publication with each change, authors can easily verify the impact of their changes on the final document and find errors more quickly. This approach reduces the need for repetitive manual tasks, allowing authors to focus on content and improve document quality. About Roger Roger is an independent Information Architect based in Potsdam, Germany. He provides consulting services to start-ups and global corporations, advising clients on content re-use strategies, XML-based publication processes and authoring environments, version control solutions and organizing information with a sound structure that helps users find what they need. 4
5. Motivation & Benefits Why Automate? — Why Use XML if You Don’t? Automated publishing is one of the strongest arguments for an XML-based toolchain. Let’s face it: many find the XML authoring user experience tedious, so we better get something out of it – if you’re pressing buttons when you need a PDF, there are easier ways… Let computers do what they do best so humans have more time for their part Latest drafts are available to all stakeholders for immediate verification Quicker time-to-market (even final docs can be published instantly) Why Use Continuous Integration? Avoid embarrassment: Authors find their own mistakes before others do Synchronize documentation release cycle w/ software lifecycle (build the documentation whenever the software is built) Improve quality (can’t commit code that breaks build) 5
6. Continuous Integration Principles “…daily builds are a minimum. A fully automated process that allows you to build several times a day is both achievable and well worth the effort.” – Martin Fowler Single repository with all documentation dependencies (check out & build) Test before committing (rule out unintended side effects) Commit related changes (granular changes are easier to roll back) Commit often (small chunks integrate better than monolithic pieces) Automated build process (producing deliverables w/o manual intervention) Visible results of latest build provide accountability (who’s to blame) Permanent access to the latest deliverables enables ongoing testing Automated deployment ensures customer access to the latest version 6
7. Prerequisites – What You’ll Need Version-control system (Subversion, Git, Mercurial, etc.) Familiarity with: Ant DITA Open Toolkit Command-line scripting (UNIX shell scripts, Windows batch files) Build file that defines all target output formats DITA-OT packages include sample Ant build scripts in /samples/ant_sample/ . <?xml  version="1.0"  encoding="UTF-­‐8"  ?> <project  name="@PROJECT.NAME@_xhtml"  default="@DELIVERABLE.NAME@2xhtml"  basedir=".">    <property  name="dita.dir"  location="${basedir}${file.separator}..${file.separator}.."/>    <target  name="@DELIVERABLE.NAME@2xhtml">        <ant  antfile="${dita.dir}${file.separator}build.xml">            <property  name="args.input"  location="@DITA.INPUT@"/>            <property  name="output.dir"  location="@OUTPUT.DIR@"/>            <property  name="transtype"  value="xhtml"/>        </ant>    </target> </project>     7
8. Automation Approaches — Overview 1. Scheduled builds – build at certain times 2. Watched folders – build when something happens 3. Version control scripts/hooks – build on or before checkin Subversion examples Git example: commit hooks 4. Dedicated Continuous Integration solutions – CI servers & services 8
9. Part II – Automation Examples 9
10. Scheduled Builds Automatically build output in regular intervals (daily/nightly/hourly, etc.) with a system service or launch dæmon. Advantages Easy to set up using on-board utilities available with your operating system Minimum solution, “gateway drug” to more granular automation Makes sense when changes are infrequent, but regular Potential Issues Generated output may no longer reflect the actual state of source files May need to wait for the next build in order to see results Less useful when changes are sporadic, but occasionally high in volume Options Linux cron , Mac OS X launchd , Windows Task Scheduler 10
11. Mac OS X launchd Sample — Hourly Builds To run your build every hour, save a file like this in ~/Library/LaunchAgents : <?xml  version="1.0"  encoding="UTF-­‐8"?> <!DOCTYPE  plist  PUBLIC  "-­‐//Apple//DTD  PLIST  1.0//EN"  "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-­‐1.0.dtd"> <plist  version="1.0">    <dict>        <key>Label</key>        <string>net.infotexture.autobuild_hourly</string>        <key>ProgramArguments</key>        <array>            <string>/bin/bash</string>            <string>/Users/username/projectdir/scripts/run-­‐dita-­‐build.sh</string>        </array>        <key>RunAtLoad</key>        <true/>        <key>StartInterval</key>            <!-­‐-­‐  ◄  Start  job  in  regular  intervals  -­‐-­‐>        <integer>3600</integer>              <!-­‐-­‐  ◄  Start  every  3600  seconds  (1  h)  -­‐-­‐>    </dict> </plist>     See the launchd man page or the tutorial at launchd.info for an explanation of the available options. If you prefer a more guided approach, utilities like Lingon or LaunchControl provide a user interface and debugging tools for launch scripts. 11
12. Mac OS X launchd Sample — Daily Builds For a daily build that runs at midnight, replace the StartInterval key and following integer with a StartCalendarInterval and a dictionary of integers that starts the job at 00:00: <plist  version="1.0"><!-­‐-­‐    <dict>        <key>Label</key>        <string>net.infotexture.autobuild_midnight</string>        <key>ProgramArguments</key>        <array>            <string>/bin/bash</string>            <string>/Users/username/projectdir/scripts/run-­‐dita-­‐build.sh</string>        </array>        <key>RunAtLoad</key>        <true/>-­‐-­‐>        <key>StartCalendarInterval</key><!-­‐-­‐  ◄  Start  job  at  specified  times  -­‐-­‐>        <dict>            <key>Hour</key>            <integer>0</integer>                    <!-­‐-­‐  ◄  Start  at  midnight  (00:00)  -­‐-­‐>            <key>Minute</key>            <integer>0</integer>        </dict> <!-­‐-­‐</dict> </plist>-­‐-­‐>     12
13. Mac OS X launchd Sample — Build Hourly from 9:00 AM Or combine these approaches to run your build at 9 AM and every hour thereafter: <plist  version="1.0"><!-­‐-­‐    <dict>        <key>Label</key>        <string>net.infotexture.autobuild_workdays</string>        <key>ProgramArguments</key>        <array>            <string>/bin/bash</string>            <string>/Users/username/projectdir/scripts/run-­‐dita-­‐build.sh</string>        </array>        <key>RunAtLoad</key>        <true/>-­‐-­‐>        <key>StartCalendarInterval</key><!-­‐-­‐  ◄  Start  job  at  specified  times  -­‐-­‐>        <dict>            <key>Hour</key>            <integer>9</integer>                    <!-­‐-­‐  ◄  Start  at  09:00  AM  -­‐-­‐>            <key>Minute</key>            <integer>0</integer>        </dict>        <key>StartInterval</key>            <!-­‐-­‐  ◄  Start  job  in  regular  intervals  -­‐-­‐>        <integer>3600</integer>              <!-­‐-­‐  ◄  Start  every  3600  seconds  (1  h)  -­‐-­‐> <!-­‐-­‐</dict> </plist>-­‐-­‐>     13
14. Windows Task Scheduler On Windows, use Accessories > System Tools > Task Scheduler to create a new scheduled task with a trigger that begins the task on a schedule and an action that starts a program (your build script): Creating a scheduled task 14
15. Watched Folders Use a “sentinel” to monitor your source and generate output when files change. Popular among web developers who maintain code in one format and deliver in another (Less/Sass → CSS, JavaScript minification). Development utilities like CodeKit or Marked make this easy. Many LaTeX tools provide this for PDFs. Advantages More flexible than scheduled builds Output reflects current source files Good when little things change often in odd intervals HTML builds quickly, always up-to-date & available for verification Opportunity for DITA tool vendors — bundle a folder-watcher for live preview. 15
16. Potential Issues More difficult to set up, may require third-party tools Can be performance intensive if many things change at once (quiet periods and throttling options are essential) Options OS X Folder Actions (works if files added/removed, not if existing change) Hazel — All-purpose automation utility & folder watcher for Mac Windows alternatives like Belvedere, etc. Our XML-based friend launchd Linux: incrond – inotify cron (incron) daemon Dedicated folder watcher utilities such as entr, Guard, Watchr 16
17. Hazel Easy to set up basic rules (Date Last Modified is after Date Last Matched) May match often with basic rules (requires adjustment to throttle) (Touching 10 files in a folder builds 10x — Git branch switching is deadly) Sample Hazel rule 17
18. Mac OS X launchd Sample A launch dæmon can also be used to watch folders for changes and build output. Set a ThrottleInterval to limit build frequency if necessary: <?xml  version="1.0"  encoding="UTF-­‐8"?> <!DOCTYPE  plist  PUBLIC  "-­‐//Apple//DTD  PLIST  1.0//EN"  "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-­‐1.0.dtd"> <plist  version="1.0">    <dict>        <key>KeepAlive</key>        <false/>        <key>Label</key>        <string>net.infotexture.autobuild_watcher</string>        <key>ProgramArguments</key>        <array>            <string>/bin/bash</string>            <string>/Users/username/projectdir/scripts/run-­‐dita-­‐build.sh</string>              <!-­‐-­‐  ◄  Run  this…  -­‐-­‐>        </array>        <key>ThrottleInterval</key>        <integer>300</integer>    <!-­‐-­‐  ◄  if  at  least  300  seconds  (5m)  have  passed  since  last  build,  AND…  -­‐-­‐>        <key>WatchPaths</key>        <array>            <string>/Users/username/projectdir/dita-­‐src</string>    <!-­‐-­‐  ◄  …if  any  files  here  have  changed  -­‐-­‐>        </array>    </dict> </plist>     18
19. Version Control Hooks Generate output each time you interact with the version control system, either before you commit or after each checkin. The terms and options differ between systems & client software, but most version control systems offer a mechanism to “hook” into a stage of the workflow and perform a pre-defined action like running a build script. Hooks are enabled by modifying sample hook templates provided with the system. Replace the template content with a command that runs your DITA build. Advantages Pre-commit hooks serve to verify the input and prevent broken code from being permanently recorded – and preserving your shame for posterity! Build output before committing and reject the changes if build fails. Post-commit actions can be used to generate output for every valid change and typically do not modify the contents of the repository. 19
20. Potential Issues Can be tricky to set up, policies may require system administator assistance Commits are slower, as version control system waits for build to finish Strict regime can prevent checkins if something’s wrong Options Subversion Some clients provide a user interface for client-side commit actions The hooks subdirectory of a Subversion repository contains templates such as pre-­‐commit.tmpl and post-­‐commit.tmpl . Remove .tmpl to enable. Git On UNIX-based systems, sample Git hooks are typically found in /usr/share/git-­‐core/templates/hooks . Modify a copy of pre-­‐commit.sample and save the result to your local repository as .git/hooks/pre-­‐commit . 20
21. Sample pre-­‐commit Hook #!/bin/sh     #     #  Get  the  absolute  path  of  the  `.git/hooks`  directory     export  GIT_HOOKS=`cd  "\`dirname  "\\\`readlink  "$0"  ||  echo  $0\\\`"\`"  &&  pwd`     #  Set  the  absolute  path  of  the  build  directory     export  BUILD_FILES="$GIT_HOOKS/../../build-­‐files/"     #  Set  the  absolute  path  of  the  DITA  home  directory     export  DITA_HOME="$BUILD_FILES/../bin/dita-­‐ot/"     #  Set  the  absolute  path  of  the  DITA  home  directory  again  (weird,  but  necessary)     export  DITA_DIR="$BUILD_FILES/../bin/dita-­‐ot/"     #  Execute  the  build  script  in  the  shell  that  is  provided  by  the  DITA  start  script     echo  "$BUILD_FILES/build_html.sh"  |  "$DITA_HOME/startcmd.sh"     #  Display  OS  X  system  notification  via  <https://github.com/alloy/terminal-­‐notifier>     echo  'HTML  build  succeeded.  Committing…'  |  /usr/local/bin/terminal-­‐notifier  -­‐sound  default     #  Exit  with  status  of  last  command     exit  $? 21
22. Cornerstone Commit Actions The Cornerstone Subversion client for Mac includes user interface options for Subversion commit hooks, allowing users to associate their own scripts with commit actions, independent of the repository configuration: Cornerstone Commit Actions 22
23. Bypassing Commit Hooks Some clients and systems allow you to circumvent commit hooks if necessary: $  git  commit  -­‐-­‐no-­‐verify     Atlassian’s free SourceTree client for Git & Mercurial provides an option to bypass hooks on the commit sheet: Bypassing hooks with SourceTree 23
24. Dedicated CI Solutions If your developers use continuous integration tools to run automated tests and build software binaries whenever they update their code, you may be able to use the same solution to build your DITA deliverables too. Advantages Leverage existing corporate infrastructure & developer expertise Do more than just build output: provide access to drafts on intranet for internal review & signoff integrate documentation into the final software installers publish to company website for immediate public access Potential Issues Builds/tests typically trigger on push, so bad commits are public Dedicated server not necessarily required, but often advisable May require support from developers and/or IT staff 24
25. Options CruiseControl – the original solution from ThoughtWorks (now open source) Jenkins (formerly known as Hudson) – cross-platform open source CI server Travis – hosted CI service used to build and test projects hosted at GitHub (including the DITA Open Toolkit) Sample Jenkins Job View Sample Jenkins job 25
26. Sample Jenkins Script #!/bin/bash     if  [  "$1"  ==  "ci"  ];  then            echo  "Continuous  integration  check  for  branch  $2"            RET=0    set  +e  #  if  one  command  fails  then  exit    #  Run  documentation  build  script,  which  sets  up  the  DITA-­‐OT  environment  &  runs  Ant  tasks  to  build  output        bash  build-­‐files/build.sh    BRANCH=$(basename  $GIT_BRANCH)    #  Clean  &  re-­‐create  target  output  directory  before  moving  the  new  generated  output        rm  -­‐r  /var/www/$BRANCH/manual        mkdir  /var/www/$BRANCH/manual    #  Copy  all  `output`  subfolders  to  Web  server  "as-­‐is"        cp  -­‐r  output/*  /var/www/$BRANCH/manual            exit  $RET     elif  [  "$1"  ==  "nightly"  ];  then            echo  "Nightly  check  for  branch  $2"            RET=0                    #make  ||  RET=1            exit  $RET     else            echo  "Unknown  parameter:  $1"  &&  exit  1     fi     26
27. Alternatives Even systems that are not intended for automated publishing (or which require the purchase of an expensive add-on or server component) can often be automated via GUI scripting solutions. Sikuli – open-source project from the User Interface Design Group at MIT Fake – web automation tool that “allows you to run (and re-run) fake interactions with the web” — useful for web-based CMS & DITA editors, etc. 27
28. References & Resources Further Reading http://www.martinfowler.com/articles/continuousIntegration.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuous_integration Selected Tools 1. launchd – http://launchd.info 2. Lingon (launchd GUI) – http://www.peterborgapps.com/lingon 3. LaunchControl (debugger) – http://www.soma-zone.com/LaunchControl 4. Hazel (folder watcher for Mac) – http://www.noodlesoft.com/hazel.php 5. CruiseControl (original CI server) – http://cruisecontrol.sourceforge.net 6. Jenkins (most? popular CI server) – http://jenkins-ci.org 7. Travis (hosted CI for GitHub projects) – http://travis-ci.com 8. Sikuli (cross-platform GUI scripting) – http://www.sikuli.org 9. Fake (Web automation for Mac) – http://fakeapp.com 28
29. Thank You! Updates For updates, comments and the latest code samples, visit http://infotexture.net/2013/11/automating-dita-builds/. Contact E-mail roger@infotexture.net or connect on GitHub, LinkedIn or Twitter @infotexture. 29