etc/RELEASE-NOTES-0.5.txt

                               Apache Forrest 0.5
                                 Release Notes

                         http://xml.apache.org/forrest/
                          ============================

1) Introduction
---------------

This document describes the 0.5 release of Apache Forrest, how to get started,
known bugs and any other issues.  Please send all feedback to
forrest-dev@xml.apache.org

2) Status
---------

Significant progress has been made in the seven months since Forrest 0.4.  New
features include:

    * 70%-300% faster, thanks to the new command-line interface in Cocoon
    * Ability to generate a single PDF/HTML of the entire site
    * New flexible tab/menu system [1]
    * Numerous skin improvements, including Javascript-controlled menus,
      handling of <abstract> and <version>, configurable mini-toc depth,
      menu tooltips, and a new pure CSS variant of standard skin.
    * DTD improvements (v11 replaced with v12, and v20 in development)
    * Rudimentary Docbook support
    * Wiki support [2]
    * Improved PDF output

Under the hood, the monolithic sitemap has been divided into functional
categories and logical layers, with the aim of making Forrest sites easier to
maintain, and new features easier to add [3].

The full list of changes is viewable at:
  http://xml.apache.org/forrest/changes.html

An Upgrade Guide is available at:
  http://xml.apache.org/forrest/upgrade_05.html

A summary of open issues is at:
  http://xml.apache.org/forrest/forrest-issues.html


[1] - http://xml.apache.org/forrest/linking.html
[2] - Demo at http://www.apache.org/~jefft/forrest/samples/wikirenderer-site/
[3] - http://xml.apache.org/forrest/sitemap-ref.html


3) What is Forrest?
-------------------

Forrest is an XML standards-oriented project documentation framework based on
Apache Cocoon, providing XSLT stylesheets and schemas, images and other
resources. Forrest uses these to render the XML source content into a website
via command-line, robot, or a dynamic web application.  For more details,
please see the website at http://xml.apache.org/forrest/

4) Requirements
---------------

- The Forrest binary distribution requires a Java Runtime Environment (1.2 or
  higher) installed.  This can be obtained from
  http://java.sun.com/j2se/downloads.html

- The Forrest source distribution requires a Java Development Kit (1.2 or
  higher) to build, obtainable from the same URL.

Ant is not required: Forrest uses its own stripped-down, souped-up Ant in
tools/ant/


5) Installing Forrest
---------------------

Depending on which distribution you downloaded, one of these sections will
apply to you.

o 5.1) Source distribution
  ------------------------

  The source distribution contains static Forrest resources (skins, XSLTs,
  images, schemas), source code and Forrest's own website.

  - To build the Forrest binary distribution, type:

    build.bat    (Windows)
    ./build.sh   (Unix)

    (if Ant 1.5+ is installed, typing 'ant' works just as well)

    A binary distribution will be built in build/dist/shbat Add the path to
    build/dist/shbat/bin to your PATH environment variable, and you have
    Forrest installed.  Windows users (esp. 95/98) may need to set FORREST_HOME
    to point to the build/dist/shbat directory.

o 5.2) Binary distribution
  ------------------------

  The binary distribution contains a static reusable Forrest ready for use.
  
  - Copy somewhere permanent, like /usr/local/forrest or c:\forrest.
    Support for installation on Windows systems into directories containing
    spaces is very new, please report back on your success or failure.

  - Windows users should set the FORREST_HOME environment variable to point to
    where Forrest is installed.
  - Add $FORREST_HOME/bin (Unix) or %FORREST_HOME%\bin (Windows) to the system
    PATH environment variable.


6) Getting Started
------------------


Having installed Forrest, here is a little test sequence to validate that
everything works, and to get you started.  For more information, see
http://xml.apache.org/forrest/your-project.html

 - Type 'forrest -projecthelp'.  This should list the available Forrest
   commands.
   NOTE: use the 'forrest.bat' version when running under Cygwin!

 - Create an empty directory somewhere, and change cd to it.

   [ e.g. mkdir /tmp/mysite ; cd /tmp/mysite ]

 - Type 'forrest seed'.  This will create a template site in the current
   directory, ready for you to edit or render.

 - (optional) Edit the XML content in src/documentation/content/xdocs
   Have a look around, familiarize yourself with the structure.

 - In your new project root [ e.g. /tmp/mysite ],  type 'forrest validate'.
   This will check that all XML files are valid.  Actually Forrest does this
   automatically for the next step, but we're proud of our validation :)

 - In the project root, type 'forrest' or 'forrest site'.  This will generate
   HTML for your project in build/site

 - (optional) Type 'forrest run'.  This starts up an internal webserver
   displaying the project contents rendered at runtime.  Point your browser at
   http://localhost:8888/ to see your site.  Edits to files in build/webapps
   are instantly rendered.  See the site docs for more info on how to exploit
   this capability.


7) Issue tracking
-----------------

If you notice what appears to be a bug, please report it on Forrest's JIRA bug
tracking installation:

  http://issues.cocoondev.org/

Known issues are summarized at:

  http://xml.apache.org/forrest/forrest-issues.html

(a nice example of RSS syndication)


8) Feedback
-----------

Feedback, feature suggestions, bugs and any other issues can be discussed on
the forrest-dev@xml.apache.org mailing list.



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$Revision: 1.3 $ $Date: 2003/09/20 06:26:04 $