Thanks, Don.

I'd like to highlight one section of the release notes, which is
particularly important for new users or those evaluating the toolkit (point
6 below). Anybody who has set up the toolkit in the past knows that it
requires a lot of setup time. The new "full package" install alleviates
much of that burden so you can be up and running in minutes, without the
need to download many tools, set environment variables, or rip your hair
out.

The full package bundles nearly everything you need to run a build:
Ant 1.6.5 (for running builds)
Xalan-J 2.6 (XSLT processor)
FOP 0.20.5 (for PDF output)
ICU4J 3.3.4 (for improved NLS-enabled index sorting)
Apache Catalog Resolver 1.1 (standard XML catalog mechanism)

Really, the only thing missing is Java (and that's easy, I hear you
thinking. A few of you. Ok, a couple.)

So to get up and running with the toolkit now, all you need to do is:
1. Install Java, if you do not already have it.
2. Download the DITA 1.3 full package, and unzip it to your favorite
directory.
3. Run the "startcmd" batch file to set up your environment (for this
session). If you are in Windows, this just means you go to the toolkit
directory, and double-click on startcmd.bat to bring up a processing
window, ready for use.
4. To run a test build, enter the following command in that processing
window:
ant samples.web -f build_demo.xml

That's it. For more extensive samples, or ideas of where to go next, check
out the file EvaluateOT.html, also in the toolkit's root directory.

For those who are already comfortable with the current toolkit, or wish to
make use of existing installed features, the smaller package is still
available. We expect this package to be of more use to those with complex
build environments, products that wish to imbed the toolkit under the
covers, or to anybody who likes installing lots of different things.

We're also anxious to know what people think of this new feature, and how
it works. If you have comments, please send them to the list, or you can
send them directly to me or Don.

Thanks everybody - enjoy the new release.

Robert D Anderson
IBM Authoring Tools Development
Chief Architect, DITA Open Toolkit
(507) 253-8787, T/L 553-8787

dita-users@yahoogroups.com wrote on 09/29/2006 12:07:37 AM:

> On behalf of the extended DITA Open Toolkit development team, I'm
> pleased to announce that the much-discussed DITA OT 1.3 release is
> now available for download from the dita-ot SourceForge download page,
> http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=132728 .
>
> Following are the release notes for the DITA OT 1.3 release. I
> would like to thank all who have participated in the public review
> and design for this release, and who have contributed ideas, effort
> and code towards its completion.
>
> Regards,
> --
> Don Day
> DITA Open Toolkit project lead
>
> PS. Because good wisdom bears repeating, never change tools in the
> middle of a critical production cycle, and always test before you
> commit to any DITA OT update. Hmm, does that apply to relationships as
well?
>
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> DITA OT release 1.3
>
> Release 1.3 is a major release to add new functions, fulfill new
> requirements, make some function enhancements and fix bugs over
release
> 1.2.2. Available since September 28, 2006
>
> OASIS DITA 1.1 support
>
> Things to know about OASIS DITA 1.1 support in this release:
>
> 1. DITA-OT 1.3 provides preliminary processing support for
theupcoming
> OASIS DITA 1.1 specification (see
> http://wiki.oasis-open.org/dita/Roadmap_for_DITA_development ).

> Because the proposed OASIS DITA 1.1 DTDs and Schemas are fully
> backwards compatible with the latest DITA 1.0.1 DTDs and
> Schemas, the
> 1.3 Toolkit provides the proposed 1.1 materials as the default
DTDs
> for processing. The XML Catalog resolution maps any references
for
> DITA 1.0 doctypes to the 1.1 DTDs, for example. All processing
> ordinarily dependent on the 1.0 definition continues to work as

> usual, and any documents that make use of the newer 1.1-based
> elements or attributes will be supported with specific
newprocessing
> function (such as base support for the new <data>
> element). Documents
> created with the proposed OASIS DITA 1.1 DTDs are the onlyones
ever
> likely to have features that invoke the specific new 1.1-based
> processing support.
>
> Important: Because this support is based on a
yet-to-be-approved
> version of the proposed OASIS DITA 1.1 specification, if you
choose
> to investigate any1.1-based function, be aware that the 1.1
> implementation in this version of the Toolkit is
> preliminary and very
> much forward-looking. Upon final approval of the DITA 1.1
standard,
> Toolkit developers will, of course, review our
> implementation to make
> certain that it conforms to the defined level of reference
> implementation.
>
> 2. Related to the DITA 1.1 preliminary implementation, the
> much-discussed bookmap updates for DITA 1.1 will be provided as

> override capabilities for the pdf2 FO plugin (Idiom's
> donation). Note
> that:
> * The FO demo transform code at the 1.2.2 level is still
included
> in the DITA 1.3 package, but is now deprecated.
> * To get the FO updates for 1.3, grab the FO plug-in at its
next
> update, which should be shortly after the 1.3 core Toolkit
code
> is released.
> * The updated FO plug-in will be usable with FOP as well as
with
> XEP.
>
> Changes
>
> The DITA Open Toolkit team understands the need for stability in
> essential APIs in the Toolit. This verson of the toolkit provides
some
> strategic updates that correct some long-overdue faults in the
original
> implementation. Necessarily, there are some changes to note:
>
> 1. Change to build.xml: To make the DITA processing environment
more
> like other Ant-driven build environments, the original
> build.xml has
> been renamed as build_demo.xml. The current build.xml in
> this release
> is now the normal ANT script entrance for starting a
> transformation.
> If you have created Ant tasks that tried to work around the
former
> build.xml architecture, those might need to be revised to take
> advantage of the separated function.
>
> 2. Change to command line invocations: The "Ant refactoring"
exercise
> for this release has changed some previously documented
> Ant calls for
> running demos. This change enables better use of the Ant
> modules for
> power users who need to integrate the Toolkit into
> programming build
> environments such as Eclipse, but the change affects some
> documentation. This is a permanent change that should remain
stable
> from now on. Wherever you see an older instruction like
> "c:\dita-ot>ant all", you now need to indicate the component
that
> contains the demos, so you would type "c:\dita-ot>ant all -f
> build_demo.xml".
>
> 3. Separation of demo targets from formal component targets:
> Another effect of the Ant refactoring is that the internal
> programming
> targets will now be displayed when you type "ant -p". To see
both
> those programmings targets and the demos that are part of this
> component, type "c:\dita-ot>ant -p -f build_demo.xml". To run
just
> one of the demos that you see in the resulting list, dita.faq
for
> example, type "c:\dita-ot>ant dita.faq -f build_demo.xml".
>
> 4. Classpath update to enable catalog resolver: This release now
> includes the Apache catalog resolver for improved lookup of
DTDs by
> any of the Toolkit components. The fullpackage version of
> the Toolkit
> sets up these variables for each session. For the regular
(smaller)
> version of the Toolkit, you need to include lib and
> lib\resource\resolver.jar into your classpath. For example if
your
> CLASSPATH is like:
>
> c:\dita-ot\lib\dost.jar
>
> you need to change it to:
>
>
c:\dita-ot\lib;c:\dita-ot\lib\dost.jar;c:\dita-ot\lib\resolver.jar
>
> At any time, the full version can be used like a normal
> installation
> as long as you update the system variables either in the
evironment
> settings or in a batch file that sets up the shell environment.
>
> 5. License bundling: To reduce the duplication of builds on
Sourceforge
> in which the only difference was the license provided in each,
both
> the Apache and CPL licenses are included in root directory of
the
> Toolkit. Use the one that applies to your situation.
>
> 6. Two install options: Two download versions are now offered. The
> smaller one is for updating existing installations or for reuse
in
> embedded applications that already provide the other processing

> components--business as usual. A new package with "fullpackage"
in
> the name now incorporates the essential processing modulesto
create
> a processing environment for new users and evaluators
thatrequires
> nothing more than to unzip the file into an appropriate
> directory and
> then click on a "start" batch file. A new document in its root
> directory (an output of doc/EvaluateOT.dita, "Evaluating the
DITA
> Open Toolkit (fullpackage version)") informs new users howto
install
> and use the Toolkit for the first time.
>
> 7. Other enhancements: The public design discussions that fed into
the
> final selection and architectures for this release are
> documented at
> the DITA Focus Area in a topic called "DITA OT 1.3 Issues
tracking"
> (http://dita.xml.org/node/1282 ).
>
>
> [7 Improvements]
>
> 1.Preliminary support for OASIS DITA 1.1
> 2.Support ICU in index sorting
> 3.Integrate with Eclipse
> 4.Refactor Ant script for easy override
> 5.Topicmerge reimplementation in JAVA
> 6.Enable XML Catalog Resolver
> 7.Full package distribution (was GUI/usability)
>
> [21 SF Bugs Fixed]
>
> 1.SF Bug 1582506 Docbook cannot handle <author>
> 2.SF Bug 1548189 Sections should not jump to <h4> for
Accessibility
> reasons
> 3.SF Bug 1548180 Spaces dropped from index terms
> 4.SF Bug 1548154 XHTML index links should go to the topic
> 5.SF Bug 1545038 CommandLineInvoker is unfriendly towards spaces
> 6.SF Bug 1541055 topicref @id incorrectly uses NMTOKEN type
> 7.SF Bug 1530443 dost.jar relies on the incorrect behavior of
Xerces
> 8.SF Bug 1473029 Syntax code makes overrides difficult
> 9.SF Bug 1470101 Metadata in topics is left out of XHTML headers
> 10.SF Bug 1470077 Choicetable headers create attribute inside
attribute
> 11.SF Bug 1470057 Step template creates attributes after creating
tags
> 12.SF Bug 1465947 <topichead> without children the whole branch to
> disappear
> 13.SF Bug 1465941 Keywords defined in map are ignored if <topicref>

> contains t
> 14.SF Bug 1465866 Problems in catalog-dita.txt
> 15.SF Bug 1460447 <morerows> not well supported in pdf
tranformation.
> 16.SF Bug 1457187 'copy-to' doesn't actually copy files
> 17.SF Bug 1454835 OT renders files referenced via conref only
> 18.SF Bug 1427808 Should be easier to modify link attributes in
XHTML
> 19.SF Bug 1422182 @colname renaming needs to apply to @namest and
> @nameend
> 20.SF Bug 1417820 fo and docbook outputs can\'t handle deep topic
dirs
> 21.SF Bug 1368997 PDF Vertical list of author redundancy
>
> [1 SF Patch Added]
>
> 1.SF Patch 1503296 Refactor of HTMLHelp inifiles creation
>
> [1 SF RFE Added]
>
> 1.SF RFE 1160960 Enh: Toolkit should work with both both *.dita
and
> *.xml
>
> Note: SourceForge bugs, patches, and RFEs listed above can be found
in
> SourceForge Bugs, Patches, and RFE tracker pages:
>
> Bugs tracker:
>
> http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=132728&atid=725074
>
> Patches tracker:
>
> http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=132728&atid=725076
>
> RFE tracker:
>
> http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=132728&atid=725077
>
>
>