path: root/data/doc/sisu/org/sisu.org

#+PRIORITIES: A F E
(emacs:evil mode gifts a "vim" of enticing "alternative" powers! ;)

* General

** what is sisu?

Multiple output formats with a nod to the strengths of each output format and
the ability to cite text easily across output formats.

*** debian/control desc

documents - structuring, publishing in multiple formats and search
 SiSU is a lightweight markup based, command line oriented, document
 structuring, publishing and search framework for document collections.
 .
 With minimal preparation of a plain-text (UTF-8) file, using sisu markup syntax
 in your text editor of choice, SiSU can generate various document formats, most
 of which share a common object numbering system for locating content, including
 plain text, HTML, XHTML, XML, EPUB, OpenDocument text (ODF:ODT), LaTeX, PDF
 files, and populate an SQL database with objects (roughly paragraph-sized
 chunks) so searches may be performed and matches returned with that degree of
 granularity. Think of being able to finely match text in documents, using
 common object numbers, across different output formats and across languages if
 you have translations of the same document.  For search, your criteria is met
 by these documents at these locations within each document (equally relevant
 across different output formats and languages). To be clear (if obvious) page
 numbers provide none of this functionality. Object numbering is particularly
 suitable for "published" works (finalized texts as opposed to works that are
 frequently changed or updated) for which it provides a fixed means of reference
 of content. Document outputs can also share provided semantic meta-data.
 .
 SiSU also provides concordance files, document content certificates and
 manifests of generated output and the means to make book indexes that make use
 of its object numbering.
 .
 Syntax highlighting and folding (outlining) files are provided for the Vim and
 Emacs editors.
 .
 Dependencies for various features are taken care of in sisu related packages.
 The package sisu-complete installs the whole of SiSU.
 .
 Additional document markup samples are provided in the package
 sisu-markup-samples which is found in the non-free archive. The licenses for
 the substantive content of the marked up documents provided is that provided
 by the author or original publisher.
 .
 SiSU uses utf-8 & parses left to right. Currently supported languages:
 am bg bn br ca cs cy da de el en eo es et eu fi fr ga gl he hi hr hy ia is it
 ja ko la lo lt lv ml mr nl nn no oc pl pt pt_BR ro ru sa se sk sl sq sr sv ta
 te th tk tr uk ur us vi zh (see XeTeX polyglossia & cjk)
 .
 SiSU works well under po4a translation management, for which an administrative
 sample Rakefile is provided with sisu_manual under markup-samples.                                           j

*** multiple document formats

Text can be represented in multiple output formats with different
characteristics that are (or may be) regarded as strengths/advantages and
therefore preferred in different contexts.

Given the different strengths and characteristics of various output formats, it
makes little sense to try too hard to make different representations of a
document look the same. More interesting is have document representations that
take advantage of each given outputs strengths. As valuable if not more so is
the ability to cite, find, discuss text with ease, across the different output
formats.

For citation across output formats, SiSU uses object citation numbers.

*** document structure and document objects

SiSU breaks marked up text into document structure and objects

Document structure being the document heading hierarchy (having separated out
the document header).

**** What are document objects?
An object is an identified meaningful unit of a document, most commonly a
paragraph of text, but also for example a table, code block, verse or image.

SiSU tracks these substantive document units as document objects (and their
relationship to the document structure).

*** object citation numbers

**** What are object citation numbers?

An object citation number is a sequential number assigned to a document object.

In sisu output documents share this common object numbering system (dubbed
"object citation numbering" (ocn)) that is meaningful (machine & human readable)
across various digital outputs whether paper, screen, or database oriented,
(PDF, html, XML, EPUB, sqlite, postgresql), and across multilingual content if
prepared appropriately. This numbering system can be used to reference content
across output types.

**** Why might I want object citation numbering?

The ability to cite and quickly locate text can be invaluable if not essential.
 (whether for instruction or discussion).

In this digital & Internet age we have multiple ways to represent documents and
multiple document output formats as options with different characteristics,
strengths/advantages etc. We need a way to cite text that works and is relevant
independent of the document format used.

I want to discuss (cite) html text how do I do this?
how do I refer to / cite / discuss text in html?
Issue: html may be viewed online or printed, it is not tied to paper (as
e.g. pdf) and prints differently depending on selected font face and font size.

I want to discuss (cite) text that is available in multiple formats (e.g. pdf,
epub, html) without having to worry about the output format that is referred
to.
How do I refer to / discuss text that is available in more than one format,
uncertain of what format is preferred, used or available to my colleagues?
e.g. html and epub or pdf have rather different text representations, how do I
discuss ...

I would like to have a book index that is relevant (can be used) across multiple
output formats (e.g. pdf, epub, html)

How do I make a book index (or a concordance file) that works across multiple
output formats?

I would like to have search results indicating where in a document matches are
found and I would like it to be relevant across available output formats (e.g.
pdf, epub, html)
How do I get search results for locations of text within each relevant document

I would like to be able to discuss a text that has been translated ...
how do I find text across languages?
Where I have a nicely translated document, how do I point to or discuss with my
foreign language counterpart some detail of the text, or, how do I point my
foreign language counterpart to the text I would like to bring to his
attention.

*** "Granular" Search

Of interest is the ease of streaming documents to a relational database, at an
object (roughly paragraph) level and the potential for increased precision in
the presentation of matches that results thereby. The ability to serialize
html, LaTeX, XML, SQL, (whatever) is also inherent in / incidental to the
design.

*** Summary
SiSU information Structuring Universe
Structured information, Serialized Units    <www.sisudoc.org>   or
<www.jus.uio.no/sisu/> software for electronic texts, document collections,
books, digital libraries, and search, with "atomic search" and text positioning
system (shared text citation numbering: "ocn")
outputs include: plaintext, html, XHTML, XML, ODF (OpenDocument), EPUB, LaTeX,
PDF, SQL (PostgreSQL and SQLite)

*** SiSU Short Description

SiSU is a comprehensive future-proofing electronic document management system.
Built-in search capabilities allow you to search across multiple documents and
highlight matches in an easy-to-follow format. Paragraph numbering system
allows you to cite your electronic documents in a consistent manner across
multiple file formats. Multiple format outputs allow you to display your
documents in plain text, PDF (portrait and horizontal), OpenDocument format,
HTML, or e-book reading format (EPUB). Word mapping allows you to easily create
word indexes for your documents. Future-proofing flexibility allows you to
quickly adapt your documents to newer output formats as needed. All these and
many other features are achieved with little or no additional work on your
documents - by marking up the documents with a super simplistic markup
language, leaving the SiSU engine to handle the heavy-lifting processing.

Potential users of SiSU include individual authors who want to publish their
books or articles electronically to reach a broad audience, web publishers who
want to provide multiple channels of access to their electronic documents, or
any organizations which centrally manage a medium or large set of electronic
documents, especially governmental organizations which may prefer to keep their
documents in easily accessible yet non-proprietary formats.

SiSU is an Open Source project initiated and led by Ralph Amissah
<ralph.amissah@gmail.com> and can be contacted via mailing list
<http://lists.sisudoc.org/listinfo/sisu> at <sisu@lists.sisudoc.org>. SiSU is
licensed under the GNU General Public License.

**** notes

For less markup than the most elementary HTML you can have more.  SiSU -
Structured information, Serialized Units for electronic documents, is an
information structuring, transforming, publishing and search framework with the
following features:

(i) markup syntax: (a) simpler than html, (b) mnemonic, influenced by
mail/messaging/wiki markup practices, (c) human readable, and easily writable,

(ii) (a) minimal markup requirement, (b) single file marked up for multiple outputs,

 * documents are prepared in a single UTF-8 file using a minimalistic mnemonic
syntax. Typical literature, documents like "War and Peace" require almost no
markup, and most of the headers are optional.

 * markup is easily readable/parsed by the human eye, (basic markup is simpler
and more sparse than the most basic html), [this may also be converted to XML
representations of the same input/source document].

 * markup defines document structure (this may be done once in a header
pattern-match description, or for heading levels individually); basic text
attributes (bold, italics, underscore, strike-through etc.) as required; and
semantic information related to the document (header information, extended
beyond the Dublin core and easily further extended as required); the headers
may also contain processing instructions.

(iii) (a) multiple output formats, including amongst others: plaintext (UTF-8);
html; (structured) XML; ODF (Open Document text); EPUB; LaTeX; PDF (via LaTeX);
SQL type databases (currently PostgreSQL and SQLite). SiSU produces:
concordance files; document content certificates (md5 or sha256 digests of
headings, paragraphs, images etc.) and html manifests (and sitemaps of
content). (b) takes advantage of the strengths implicit in these very different
output types, (e.g. PDFs produced using typesetting of LaTeX, databases
populated with documents at an individual object/paragraph level, making
possible granular search (and related possibilities))

(iv) outputs share a common numbering system (dubbed "object citation
numbering" (ocn)) that is meaningful (to man and machine) across various
digital outputs whether paper, screen, or database oriented, (PDF, html, XML,
EPUB, sqlite, postgresql), this numbering system can be used to reference
content.

(v) SQL databases are populated at an object level (roughly headings,
paragraphs, verse, tables) and become searchable with that degree of
granularity, the output information provides the object/paragraph numbers which
are relevant across all generated outputs; it is also possible to look at just
the matching paragraphs of the documents in the database; [output indexing also
work well with search indexing tools like hyperesteier].

(vi) use of semantic meta-tags in headers permit the addition of semantic
information on documents, (the available fields are easily extended)

(vii) creates organised directory/file structure for (file-system) output,
easily mapped with its clearly defined structure, with all text objects
numbered, you know in advance where in each document output type, a bit of text
will be found (e.g. from an SQL search, you know where to go to find the
prepared html output or PDF etc.)... there is more; easy directory management
and document associations, the document preparation (sub-)directory may be used
to determine output (sub-)directory, the skin used, and the SQL database used,

(viii) "Concordance file" wordmap, consisting of all the words in a document
and their (text/ object) locations within the text, (and the possibility of
adding vocabularies),

(ix) document content certification and comparison considerations: (a) the
document and each object within it stamped with an sha256 hash making it
possible to easily check or guarantee that the substantive content of a document
is unchanged, (b) version control, documents integrated with time based source
control system, default RCS or CVS with use of $Id$ tag, which SiSU checks

(x) SiSU's minimalist markup makes for meaningful "diffing" of the substantive
content of markup-files,

(xi) easily skinnable, document appearance on a project/site wide, directory
wide, or document instance level easily controlled/changed,

(xii) in many cases a regular expression may be used (once in the document
header) to define all or part of a documents structure obviating or reducing
the need to provide structural markup within the document,

(xiii) prepared files may be batch process, documents produced are static files
so this needs to be done only once but may be repeated for various reasons as
desired (updated content, addition of new output formats, updated technology
document presentations/representations)

(xiv) possible to pre-process, which permits: the easy creation of standard
form documents, and templates/term-sheets, or; building of composite documents
(master documents) from other sisu marked up documents, or marked up parts,
i.e. import documents or parts of text into a main document should this be
desired

there is a considerable degree of future-proofing, output representations are
"upgradeable", and new document formats may be added.

(xv) there is a considerable degree of future-proofing, output representations
are "upgradeable", and new document formats may be added: (a) modular, (thanks
in no small part to Ruby) another output format required, write another
module.... (b) easy to update output formats (eg html, XHTML, LaTeX/PDF
produced can be updated in program and run against whole document set), (c)
easy to add, modify, or have alternative syntax rules for input, should you
need to,

(xvi) scalability, dependent on your file-system (ext3, Reiserfs, XFS,
whatever) and on the relational database used (currently Postgresql and
SQLite), and your hardware,

(xvii) only marked up files need be backed up, to secure the larger document
set produced,

(xviii) document management,

(xix) Syntax highlighting for SiSU markup is available for a number of text
editors.

(xx) remote operations: (a) run SiSU on a remote server, (having prepared sisu
markup documents locally or on that server, i.e. this solution where sisu is
installed on the remote server, would work whatever type of machine you chose
to prepare your markup documents on), (b) generated document outputs may be
posted by sisu to remote sites (using rsync/scp) (c) document source (plaintext
utf-8) if shared on the net may be identified by its url and processed locally
to produce the different document outputs.

(xxi) document source may be bundled together (automatically) with associated
documents (multiple language versions or master document with inclusions) and
images and sent as a zip file called a sisupod, if shared on the net these too
may be processed locally to produce the desired document outputs, these may be
downloaded, shared as email attachments, or processed by running sisu against
them, either using a url or the filename.

(xxii) for basic document generation, the only software dependency is Ruby, and
a few standard Unix tools (this covers plaintext, html, XML, ODF, EPUB, LaTeX).
To use a database you of course need that, and to convert the LaTeX generated
to PDF, a LaTeX processor like tetex or texlive.

as a developers tool it is flexible and extensible

*** description

SiSU ("SiSU information Structuring Universe" or "Structured information,
Serialized Units"),1 is a Unix command line oriented framework for document
structuring, publishing and search. Featuring minimalistic markup, multiple
standard outputs, a common citation system, and granular search.  Using markup
applied to a document, SiSU can produce plain text, HTML, XHTML, XML,
OpenDocument, LaTeX or PDF files, and populate an SQL database with objects2
(equating generally to paragraph-sized chunks) so searches may be performed and
matches returned with that degree of granularity (e.g. your search criteria is
met by these documents and at these locations within each document). Document
output formats share a common object numbering system for locating content.
This is particularly suitable for "published" works (finalized texts as opposed
to works that are frequently changed or updated) for which it provides a fixed
means of reference of content.  How it works

SiSU markup is fairly minimalistic, it consists of: a (largely optional)
document header, made up of information about the document (such as when it was
published, who authored it, and granting what rights) and any processing
instructions; and markup within text which is related to document structure and
typeface. SiSU must be able to discern the structure of a document, (text
headings and their levels in relation to each other), either from information
provided in the instruction header or from markup within the text (or from a
combination of both). Processing is done against an abstraction of the document
comprising of information on the document's structure and its objects,2 which
the program serializes (providing the object numbers) and which are assigned
hash sum values based on their content. This abstraction of information about
document structure, objects, (and hash sums), provides considerable flexibility
in representing documents different ways and for different purposes (e.g.
search, document layout, publishing, content certification, concordance etc.),
and makes it possible to take advantage of some of the strengths of established
ways of representing documents, (or indeed to create new ones).

1. also chosen for the meaning of the Finnish term "sisu".

2 objects include: headings, paragraphs, verse, tables, images, but not
footnotes/endnotes which are numbered separately and tied to the object from
which they are referenced.

More information on SiSU provided at: <www.sisudoc.org/sisu/SiSU>

SiSU was developed in relation to legal documents, and is strong across a wide
variety of texts (law, literature...(humanities, law and part of the social
sciences)). SiSU handles images but is not suitable for formulae/ statistics,
or for technical writing at this time.

SiSU has been developed and has been in use for several years. Requirements to
cover a wide range of documents within its use domain have been explored.

<ralph@amissah.com>
<ralph.amissah@gmail.com>
<sisu@lists.sisudoc.org>
<http://lists.sisudoc.org/listinfo/sisu>
2010
w3 since October 3 1993
** Finding
*** source
http://git.sisudoc.org/gitweb/

sisu git repo:
http://git.sisudoc.org/gitweb/?p=code/sisu.git;a=summary

sisu-markup-samples git repo:
http://git.sisudoc.org/gitweb/?p=doc/sisu-markup-samples.git;a=summary

*** mailing list
sisu at lists.sisudoc.org
http://lists.sisudoc.org/listinfo/sisu

** irc oftc #sisu

** home pages
  <http://www.sisudoc.org/>
  <http://search.sisudoc.org/>
  <http://www.jus.uio.no/sisu>

** Installing sisu

*** where you take responsibility for having the correct dependencies

Provided you have *Ruby*, *SiSU* can be run.

SiSU should be run from the directory containing your sisu marked up document
set.

This works fine so long as you already have sisu external dependencies in
place. For many operations such as html, epub, odt this is likely to be fine.
Note however, that additional external package dependencies, such as texlive
(for pdfs), sqlite3 or postgresql (for search) should you desire to use them
are not taken care of for you.

**** run off the source tarball without installation

RUN OFF SOURCE PACKAGE DIRECTORY TREE (WITHOUT INSTALLING)
..........................................................

***** 1. Obtain the latest sisu source

using git:

http://git.sisudoc.org/gitweb/?p=code/sisu.git;a=summary
http://git.sisudoc.org/gitweb/?p=code/sisu.git;a=log

  git clone git://git.sisudoc.org/git/code/sisu.git

or, identify latest available source:

https://packages.debian.org/sid/sisu
http://packages.qa.debian.org/s/sisu.html
http://qa.debian.org/developer.php?login=sisu@lists.sisudoc.org

http://sisudoc.org/sisu/archive/pool/main/s/sisu/

and download the:

  sisu_5.4.5.orig.tar.xz

using debian tool dget:

The dget tool is included within the devscripts package
https://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=devscripts
to install dget install devscripts:

  apt-get install devscripts

and then you can get it from Debian:
  dget -xu http://ftp.fi.debian.org/debian/pool/main/s/sisu/sisu_5.4.5-1.dsc

or off sisu repos
  dget -x http://www.jus.uio.no/sisu/archive/pool/main/s/sisu/sisu_5.4.5-1.dsc
or
  dget -x http://sisudoc.org/sisu/archive/pool/main/s/sisu/sisu_5.4.5-1.dsc

***** 2. Unpack the source

Provided you have *Ruby*, *SiSU* can be run without installation straight from
the source package directory tree.

Run ruby against the full path to bin/sisu (in the unzipped source package
directory tree). SiSU should be run from the directory containing your sisu
marked up document set.

  ruby ~/sisu-5.4.5/bin/sisu --html -v document_name.sst

This works fine so long as you already have sisu external dependencies in
place. For many operations such as html, epub, odt this is likely to be fine.
Note however, that additional external package dependencies, such as texlive
(for pdfs), sqlite3 or postgresql (for search) should you desire to use them
are not taken care of for you.

**** gem install (with rake)

(i) create the gemspec; (ii) build the gem (from the gemspec); (iii) install
the gem

Provided you have ruby & rake, this can be done with the single command:

  rake gem_create_build_install

to build and install sisu v5 & sisu v6, alias gemcbi

separate gems are made/installed for sisu v5 & sisu v6 contained in source.

to build and install sisu v5, alias gem5cbi:

  rake gem_create_build_install_stable

to build and install sisu v6, alias gem6cbi:

  rake gem_create_build_install_unstable

for individual steps (create, build, install) see rake options, rake -T to
specify sisu version for sisu installed via gem

  gem search sisu

  sisu _5.4.5_ --version

  sisu _6.0.11_ --version

to uninstall sisu installed via gem

  sudo gem uninstall --verbose sisu

For a list of alternative actions you may type:

  rake help

  rake -T

Rake: <http://rake.rubyforge.org/> <http://rubyforge.org/frs/?group_id=50>

**** installation with setup.rb

this is a three step process, in the root directory of the unpacked *SiSU* as
root type:

ruby setup.rb config
ruby setup.rb setup
#[as root:]
ruby setup.rb install

further information:
<http://i.loveruby.net/en/projects/setup/>
<http://i.loveruby.net/en/projects/setup/doc/usage.html>

  ruby setup.rb config && ruby setup.rb setup && sudo ruby setup.rb install

*** Debian install

*SiSU* is available off the *Debian* archives. It should necessary only to run
as root, Using apt-get:

  apt-get update

  apt get install sisu-complete

(all sisu dependencies should be taken care of)

If there are newer versions of *SiSU* upstream, they will be available by
adding the following to your sources list /etc/apt/sources.list

#/etc/apt/sources.list

deb http://www.jus.uio.no/sisu/archive unstable main non-free
deb-src http://www.jus.uio.no/sisu/archive unstable main non-free

The non-free section is for sisu markup samples provided, which contain
authored works the substantive text of which cannot be changed, and which as a
result do not meet the debian free software guidelines.

*SiSU* is developed on *Debian*, and packages are available for *Debian* that
take care of the dependencies encountered on installation.

The package is divided into the following components:

  *sisu*, the base code, (the main package on which the others depend), without
  any dependencies other than ruby (and for convenience the ruby webrick web
  server), this generates a number of types of output on its own, other
  packages provide additional functionality, and have their dependencies

  *sisu-complete*, a dummy package that installs the whole of greater sisu as
  described below, apart from sisu -examples

  *sisu-pdf*, dependencies used by sisu to produce pdf from /LaTeX/ generated

  *sisu-postgresql*, dependencies used by sisu to populate postgresql database
  (further configuration is necessary)

  *sisu-sqlite*, dependencies used by sisu to populate sqlite database

  *sisu-markup-samples*, sisu markup samples and other miscellany (under
  *Debian* Free Software Guidelines non-free)

  *SiSU* is available off Debian Unstable and Testing [link:
  <http://packages.debian.org/cgi-bin/search_packages.pl?searchon=names&subword=1&version=all&release=all&keywords=sisu>]
  [^1] install it using apt-get, aptitude or alternative *Debian* install tools.

** sisu markup                                                  :sisu:markup:

*** sisu markup

#% structure - headings, levels
  * headings (A-D, 1-3)
    * inline
      'A~ ' NOTE title level
      'B~ ' NOTE optional
      'C~ ' NOTE optional
      'D~ ' NOTE optional
      '1~ ' NOTE chapter level
      '2~ ' NOTE optional
      '3~ ' NOTE optional
      '4~ ' NOTE optional :consider:
  * node
    * parent
    * children

#% font face NOTE open & close marks, inline within paragraph
  * emphasize '*{ ... }*' NOTE configure whether bold italics or underscore, default bold
  * bold '!{ ... }!'
  * italics '/{ ... }/'
  * underscore '_{ ... }_'
  * superscript '^{ ... }^'
  * subscript ',{ ... },'
  * strike '-{ ... }-'
  * add '+{ ... }+'
  * monospace '#{ ... }#'
#% para NOTE paragraph controls are at the start of a paragraph
  * a para is a block of text separated from others by an empty line
  * indent
    * default, all '_1 ' up to '_9 '
    * first line hang '_1_0 '
    * first line indent further '_0_1 '
  * bullet
    [levels 1-6]
      '_* '
      '_1* '
      '_2* '
  * numbered list
    [levels 1-3]
      '# '

#% blocks NOTE text blocks that are not to be treated in the way that ordinary paragraphs would be
  * code
    * [type of markup if any]
  * poem
  * group
  * alt
  * tables
#% boxes
  NOTE grouped text with code block type color & possibly default image, warning, tip, red, blue etc. decide [NB N/A not implemented]

#% notes NOTE inline within paragraph at the location where the note reference is to occur
  * footnotes '~{ ... }~'
  * [bibliography] [NB N/A not implemented]

#% links, linking
  * links - external, web, url
  * links - internal

#% images [multimedia?]
  * images
  * [base64 inline] [N/A not implemented]

#% object numbers
  * ocn (object numbers)
    automatically attributed to substantive objects, paragraphs, tables, blocks, verse (unless exclude marker provided)

#% contents
  * toc (table of contents)
    autogenerated from structure/headings information
  * index (book index)
    built from hints in newline text following a paragraph and starting with ={} has identifying rules for main and subsidiary text

#% breaks
  * line break ' \\ ' inline
  * page break, column break ' -\\- ' start of line, breaks a column, starts a new column, if using columns, else breaks the page, starts a new page.
  * page break, page new ' =\\= ' start of line, breaks the page, starts a new page.
  * horizontal '-..-' start of line, rule page (break) line across page (dividing paragraphs)

#% book type index

#% comment
  * comment

#% misc
  * term & definition

*** syntax hilighting

**** vim
data/sisu/conf/editor-syntax-etc/vim/
data/sisu/conf/editor-syntax-etc/vim/syntax/sisu.vim

**** emacs
data/sisu/conf/editor-syntax-etc/emacs/
data/sisu/conf/editor-syntax-etc/emacs/sisu-mode.el
** todo
sisu_todo.org