A tool that converts human-readable text files to roff for terminal manpages and HTML for web display.
Ronn is a tool that builds UNIX manual pages by converting simple, human-readable text files to roff format for terminal display and HTML for web publishing. It extends Markdown with syntax for manpage-specific features like definition lists and link notation, providing a modern workflow for creating traditional documentation.
Developers and technical writers who need to create and maintain UNIX manual pages for command-line tools, libraries, or formats.
Ronn simplifies the traditionally tedious process of creating manpages by replacing complex roff/mandoc/mdoc macro languages with an accessible, Markdown-based source format while preserving the structural and typographical benefits of classical manpages.
the opposite of roff
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Replaces complex roff/mandoc/mdoc macro languages with a Markdown-based format, making manpage authoring accessible as highlighted in the philosophy section.
Generates both roff for terminal display and HTML for web from a single source file, demonstrated in the examples with commands like `ronn man/ronn.5.ronn`.
Allows viewing ronn files as manpages without building intermediate files using the --man flag, streamlining the editing process as shown in the README.
Supports building output for multiple files or entire directories with commands like `ronn --roff man/*.ronn`, improving efficiency for large documentation sets.
Enforces traditional manpage format, which may be too restrictive for projects needing flexible or hierarchical documentation beyond the two-level limit mentioned in the background.
The project is from 2010 and may lack updates, leading to potential compatibility issues with modern systems or dependencies, though not explicitly stated.
Focuses solely on manpage generation with predefined HTML styling, offering fewer customization options compared to general-purpose tools like pandoc, which is suggested as an alternative.