Dblatex Configuration File

Configuration File Format
Configuration Paths

A master configuration file, also called a specification file, can be used to list all the customizations and options to apply. Such a file is passed by using the option -S config_file.

Configuration File Format

The format of the file is the following:

  • Every comment starts with a “#”, and is ignored.

  • The file must contain one parameter by line.

  • The format of a parameter is the following:

    <keyword>: <value>
       
  • Every parameter is mapped to an option that can be passed to dblatex.

  • An unknown parameter is silently ignored (the whole line is dropped).

  • The parameters defining a path (a file or a directory) can take absolute or relative paths. A relative path must be defined from the specification file itself. For instance, a specification file under /the/spec/directory/ with a parameter describing the file ../where/this/file/is/myfile points to /the/spec/where/this/file/is/myfile.

The following table lists the supported parameters and the corresponding command line option.

KeywordValueCorresponding optionDescription
TexInputsDirectories--texinputsDefines extra path to add to TEXINPUTS
TexStyleLatex package name--texstyleDefines the LaTeX style package to use.
TexPostScript file name--texpostDefines the LaTeX post process script to use.
XslParamParameter file name-pDefines the parameter file to use.
FigInputsDirectories-IDefines the extra figures path.
OptionsCommand line optionsNoneLists command options to use by default when using the tool. The options specified by the parameter are directly passed to dblatex

Here is the specification file used for this manual.

Example 4.3. User Manual Configuration File

#
# Configuration file for dblatex documentation (manual, release notes)
#
TexInputs: ../latex//
PdfInputs: ../latex/graphics
TexStyle:  docbook
XslParam:  manual.xsl
Options:   -b pdftex

Configuration Paths

By default dblatex tries to find the configuration files in the following paths, in respect of the order:

  1. The current directory

  2. $HOME/.dblatex

  3. /etc/dblatex

  4. The dblatex package configuration directories.

You can add some extra paths where to look for by setting the DBLATEX_CONFIG_FILES environment variable. The paths are separated by ":" in Unix like systems, and by ";" on Windows. These paths are used only when nothing is found in the default paths.