BIND9-ARM (HTML) feature request: better hyperlinking in/of chapter 6

/dev/rob0 rob0 at gmx.co.uk
Wed Nov 20 21:27:59 UTC 2013


BIND9 is very well documented with the BIND9-ARM. I keep a browser 
bookmark to it, and I refer to it quite often. I can always find what 
I am seeking.

But, as with most things, improvement is possible. :)

Chapter 6 is the comprehensive configuration reference. What I'd like 
to see is more (and plain-language, consistent) hyperlinking. The 
basic idea is that any named.conf setting could be found at an 
anchor:

Bv9ARM.ch06.html#that-setting

And anywhere that it appears in the ARM, there would be a hyperlink 
to "Bv9ARM.ch06.html#that-setting". Similarly, configuration file 
elements could be linked as "Bv9ARM.ch06.html#that-element".

It also would be nice to change the many existing "id25xxxxx" anchor 
names into plain language names, such that given the URL with anchor, 
you'd know what to expect.

The idea comes from Postfix MTA's superb postconf(5) manual:

http://www.postfix.org/postconf.5.html

This sounds grand and relatively simple, but in practice it will
require some thought and work. For example, we have "Grammar" and 
"Definition and Usage" subsections for each "Statement" section. 
Which one would we link to? Ideally, both, but we'd have to think 
about a good anchor naming scheme. I'd say that the name in each 
"Grammar" should hyperlink to each "Definition and Usage" name and 
vice versa.

Also, what do we do in the case where the same setting is usable in 
more than one context? Looking at "Zone Options", with numerous "See 
the description of ...", this would actually help, because it would 
take you directly to the setting rather than to the subsection 
heading.

Looking at the HTML source for the Table of Contents, it seems like 
someone had this idea before but didn't follow through. There are 
numerous links to plain-language anchors amidst mostly the 
"id25xxxxx" anchor names. (These probably had something to do with 
the "DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.71.1" generator.)

I might try to work on this myself, but I thought I should toss the
idea out for comments and suggestions first. Specifically, I suppose 
that whatever work that is done should be compatible with the DocBook 
source and other BIND9-ARM formats.
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