The Ubuntu Packaging Guide

This guide is often one of the first things that a new Ubuntu contributor will look at. Helping make it better can have a big impact.

The actual articles can be found under the docs/ directory in rst files. Images can be placed in the docs/images/ folder.

The html, js and css files can be found under docs/_static. The theme used in these docs is the "furo" theme, which has been modified to approach a more Ubuntu-esque appearance. The furo documentation <https://github.com/pradyunsg/furo>_ has instructions on how to change most of the theme's functionality.

If adding a new article, make sure to add it to the index page for the Diataxis section it belongs in. These indexes are in docs/ and should be easy to locate. Place the file in the corresponding sub-folder in the docs/ directory, and your article should appear in both the Diataxis section page and the navigation menu on the left-hand-side of the screen.

This project is licensed under the CC-BY-SA-3.0, the full text of which can be found in COPYING.

How to build this documentation

Find the full documentation for the Ubuntu Packaging Guide <https://canonical-ubuntu-packaging-guide.readthedocs-hosted.com/en/latest/>_ at "Read the Docs".

To build this documentation on your own machine, first clone this repository: ::

git clone git@github.com:canonical/ubuntu-packaging-guide.git 

Navigate to the docs/ folder, which is inside the root directory. Now run: ::

make install

This will install the necessary packages and other dependencies, and set up the Python 3 virtual environment. Finally, use the make run command to build the documentation, serve it, and watch for changes. Other options are available and are printed to the terminal when you run make install. You can also refer to make help for a full and complete list of options.

Files are written to the _build directory.

We use the autobuild module so that any edits you make (and save) as you work will be applied and the documentation refreshed immediately.

Contributing

We welcome everyone who wants to improve the Ubuntu documentation! Whether you've found a typo, have a suggestion for improving existing content, or want to add new content, we'd love to hear from you.

You can find this git repository on GitHub <https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-packaging-guide> and Launchpad <https://code.launchpad.net/~ubuntu-packaging-guide-team/ubuntu-packaging-guide/+git/main>.

To contribute, simply choose the platform you prefer:

GitHub ^^^^^^

• Open an issue and describe your problem <https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-packaging-guide/issues>_
• Ask a question or start a discussion <https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-packaging-guide/discussions>_
• Open a pull request to submit your fix <https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-packaging-guide/pulls>_

Launchpad ^^^^^^^^^

• Open a bug ticket <https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu-packaging-guide>_

We'll review your contribution as soon as possible, but please note that our Ubuntu maintainers often have full inboxes, so we may not get to your message immediately.

Note: We are currently in a transition phase from bazaar to git. If you spot any instructions to use bazaar to contribute, bringing them to our attention so we can fix them is a great way to start contributing!

Sphinx & reStructuredText

The guide is built using Sphinx <https://sphinx-doc.org/>_. Articles should be written in reStructuredText. The following links might be helpful:

• https://docutils.sourceforge.io/docs/user/rst/quickstart.html
• https://docutils.sourceforge.io/docs/user/rst/quickref.html

Adding a new Sphinx extension ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

In general, there are two places you will need to update to add new extensions.

• docs/conf.py - add the name of the extension to the extensions config parameter
• docs/.sphinx/requirements.txt - add the name of the extension to the bottom of the list

The documentation for most Sphinx extensions will tell you what text to add to the conf.py file. ::

extensions = [ 'm2r2', 'sphinx_copybutton', 'sphinx_design', ]

Translating

We use Sphinx l10n module and Gettext for translating Ubuntu Packaging Guide.

Some notes about translating the guide:

• Some formatting is part of reStructuredText and should not be changed, including emphasis (which uses asterisks or underscores), paragraph ending before a code block (::) and double backtick quotes (``````).

• This guide uses email-style reStructuredText links. If you see a link in the text like::

  Translatable link text <LinkReference_>_

  Then replace the link text with your translations, but keep the LinkReference unchanged (even if it is in English). The same applies if URL is used instead of LinkReference.

To test your translation, use make BUILDER-LANGUAGE command (for example, make html-it will build HTML docs in Italian language).