Can I use Docutils for Python auto-documentation?
Yes, in conjunction with other projects. Docstring extraction functionality from within Docutils is still under development. There is most of a source code parsing module in docutils/readers/python/moduleparser.py. We do plan to finish it eventually. Ian Bicking wrote an initial front end for the moduleparser.py module, in sandbox/ianb/extractor/extractor.py. Ian also did some work on the Python Source Reader (docutils.readers.python) component at PyCon DC 2004. Version 2.0 of Ed Loper’s Epydoc supports reStructuredText-format docstrings for HTML output. Docutils 0.3 or newer is required. Development of a Docutils-specific auto-documentation tool will continue. Epydoc works by importing Python modules to be documented, whereas the Docutils-specific tool, described above, will parse modules without importing them (as with HappyDoc, which doesn’t support reStructuredText). The advantages of parsing over importing are security and flexibility; the disadvantage is complexity/difficulty. •
Yes, in conjunction with other projects. Docstring extraction functionality from within Docutils is still under development. There is most of a source code parsing module in docutils/readers/python/moduleparser.py. We do plan to finish it eventually. Ian Bicking wrote an initial front end for the moduleparser.py module, in sandbox/ianb/extractor/extractor.py. Ian also did some work on the Python Source Reader (docutils.readers.python) component at PyCon DC 2004. Version 2.0 of Ed Loper’s Epydoc supports reStructuredText-format docstrings for HTML output. Docutils 0.3 or newer is required. Development of a Docutils-specific auto-documentation tool will continue. Epydoc works by importing Python modules to be documented, whereas the Docutils-specific tool, described above, will parse modules without importing them (as with HappyDoc, which doesn’t support reStructuredText). The advantages of parsing over importing are security and flexibility; the disadvantage is complexity/difficulty.
