Writing I-Ds and RFCs Using Pandoc and a Bit of XML
RFC 7328

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Independent Submission                                         R. Gieben
Request for Comments: 7328                                        Google
Category: Informational                                      August 2014
ISSN: 2070-1721

          Writing I-Ds and RFCs Using Pandoc and a Bit of XML

Abstract

   This document presents a technique for using a Markdown syntax
   variant, called Pandoc, and a bit of XML (as defined in RFC 2629) as
   a source format for documents that are Internet-Drafts (I-Ds) or
   RFCs.

   The goal of this technique (which is called Pandoc2rfc) is to let an
   author of an I-D focus on the main body of text without being
   distracted too much by XML tags; however, it does not alleviate the
   need to typeset some files in XML.

Status of This Memo

   This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is
   published for informational purposes.

   This is a contribution to the RFC Series, independently of any other
   RFC stream.  The RFC Editor has chosen to publish this document at
   its discretion and makes no statement about its value for
   implementation or deployment.  Documents approved for publication by
   the RFC Editor are not a candidate for any level of Internet
   Standard; see Section 2 of RFC 5741.

   Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
   and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
   http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7328.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2014 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
   (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
   publication of this document.  Please review these documents
   carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
   to this document.

Gieben                        Informational                     [Page 1]
RFC 7328                       Pandoc2rfc                    August 2014

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  Pandoc to RFC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
     2.1.  Dependencies  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   3.  Building an Internet-Draft  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   4.  Supported Features  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   5.  Unsupported Features and Limitations  . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
   6.  Pandoc Style  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     6.1.  Figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     6.2.  Tables  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     6.3.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     6.4.  Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
   7.  Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
   8.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
   9.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
     9.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
     9.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
   Appendix A.  Cheat Sheet  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10

1.  Introduction

   This document presents a technique for using a Markdown [Markdown]
   syntax variant, called Pandoc [Pandoc], and a bit of XML [RFC2629] as
   a source format for documents that are Internet-Drafts (I-Ds) or
   RFCs.

   The goal of this technique is to let an author of an I-D focus on the
   main body of text without being distracted too much by XML tags;
   however, it does not alleviate the need to typeset some files in XML.

   Pandoc is a format that is almost plain text and therefore
   particularly well suited for editing RFC-like documents.  The syntax
   itself is a superset of the syntax championed by Markdown.

2.  Pandoc to RFC

   Pandoc's syntax is easy to learn and write, and it can be translated
   to numerous output formats, including, but not limited to: HTML,
   EPUB, (plain) Markdown, and DocBook XML.

   Pandoc2rfc allows authors to write in Pandoc syntax that is then
   transformed to XML and given to xml2rfc.  The conversions are, in a
   way, amusing, as we start off with (almost) plain text, use elaborate
   XML, and end up with plain text again.

Gieben                        Informational                     [Page 2]
RFC 7328                       Pandoc2rfc                    August 2014

             +-------------------+   pandoc   +---------+
             | ALMOST PLAIN TEXT |   ------>  | DOCBOOK |
             +-------------------+     1      +---------+
                           |                       |
             non-existent  |                     2 | xsltproc
               faster way  |                       |
                           v                       v
                   +------------+    xml2rfc  +---------+