docbook-xml & centralized catalogs

[Mark Johnson <mark@phy.duke.edu>]

More details and potential deviation from spec...

The points I need to make:

A. Only one (merged) centralized catalog needed for docbook xml derived
stuff

2. It's name shouldn't contain absolute version number

iii. How does it get there?

Details -
------

A. ONE centralized catalog for most docbook xml dtds
--------------------------------------
FYI: every docbook xml dtd I'm packaging is somehow derived from the
V4.1.2 XML dtd in the docbook-xml package. Therefore, it doesn't make
sense (to me, anyway) to put a centralized catalog in /etc/sgml/ for
each of these dtds. 

This is especially true for the non-flattened ones like website.dtd and
jrefentry.dtd, which are literally assembled on the fly from the V4.1.2
via customization layers. If these non-flattened dtds can't find the
main dbV4.1.2 dtd, they'll be useless.

Solution: Only use one centralized catalog for all this stuff. 
             (Somebody please flog me if I'm missing something obvious.)

2. We need to name it.
----------------
The spec says to call it 
    xml-docbook-4.1.cat 
but there are a number of 4.X dtds referred to here and there. And the X
varies slightly.

Solution: call it xml-docbook-4.X.cat

iii. How does it get there?
------------------
IMHO, it would make sense for docbook-xml to put it there. 

The policy could be something like: 
   * First one in get/has to bring the centralized catalog with it.
   * DTD packages that depend on the first one in must put their entries
in 
     its centralized catalog. (Or why depend?)

Maybe you perl dudes can write (or think about) install scripts that do
the following:

Packages which depend on the central-catalog-bringing dtd automatically
have their catalog data put in the centralized catalog of the dtd
package on which they depend. AND - here's the tricky part - The
subpackages should NOT have to know the name of the centralized
catalog!! Got that?


Cheers,
Mark

-- 
_____________________________________

Mark Johnson
Senior Lecturing Fellow
111 Physics Bldg., Box 90305
Department of Physics 
Duke University
Durham, NC 27708-0305
(919) 660-2504  Fax: (919) 660-2525