SiSU - SiSU information Structuring Universe / Structured information, Serialized Units - Quickstart, installation and use,
Ralph Amissah

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Quickstart - SiSU installation and use

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1. Quickstart - Getting Started Howto

1. Quickstart - Getting Started Howto

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1.1 Installation

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Installation is currently most straightforward and tested on the Debian platform, as there are packages for the installation of sisu and all requirements for what it does.

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1.1.1 Debian Installation

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SiSU is available directly from the Debian Sid and testing archives (and possibly Ubuntu), assuming your /etc/apt/sources.list is set accordingly:

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    aptitude update
    aptitude install sisu-complete

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The following /etc/apt/sources.list setting permits the download of additional markup samples:

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  #/etc/apt/sources.list

    deb http://ftp.fi.debian.org/debian/ unstable main non-free contrib
    deb-src http://ftp.fi.debian.org/debian/ unstable main non-free contrib
  d

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The aptitude commands become:

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    aptitude update
    aptitude install sisu-complete sisu-markup-samples

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

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  #/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

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repeat the aptitude commands

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    aptitude update
    aptitude install sisu-complete sisu-markup-samples

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Note however that it is not necessary to install sisu-complete if not all components of sisu are to be used. Installing just the package sisu will provide basic functionality.

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1.1.2 RPM Installation

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RPMs are provided though untested, they are prepared by running alien against the source package, and against the debs.

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They may be downloaded from:

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<http://www.jus.uio.no/sisu/SiSU/download.html#rpm>

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as root type:

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rpm -i [rpm package name]

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1.1.3 Installation from source

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To install SiSU from source check information at:

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<http://www.jus.uio.no/sisu/SiSU/download.html#current>

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Two alternative modes of installation from source are provided, setup.rb (by Minero Aoki) and a rant(by Stefan Lang) built install file, in either case: the first steps are the same, download and unpack the source file:

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For basic use SiSU is only dependent on the programming language in which it is written Ruby, and SiSU will be able to generate html, various XMLs, including ODF (and will also produce LaTeX). Dependencies required for further actions, though it relies on the installation of additional dependencies which the source tarball does not take care of, for things like using a database (postgresql or sqlite)  ¹  or converting LaTeX to pdf.

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setup.rb

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This is a standard ruby installer, using setup.rb is a three step process. In the root directory of the unpacked SiSU as root type:

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

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further information on setup.rb is available from:

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<http://i.loveruby.net/en/projects/setup/>

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

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"install"

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The "install" file provided is an installer prepared using "rant". In the root directory of the unpacked SiSU as root type:

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ruby install base

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or for a more complete installation:

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ruby install

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or

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ruby install base

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This makes use of Rant (by Stefan Lang) and the provided Rantfile. It has been configured to do post installation setup setup configuration and generation of first test file. Note however, that additional external package dependencies, such as tetex-extra are not taken care of for you.

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Further information on "rant" is available from:

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<http://make.rubyforge.org/>

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<http://rubyforge.org/frs/?group_id=615>

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For a list of alternative actions you may type:

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ruby install help

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ruby install -T

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1.2 Testing SiSU, generating output

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To check which version of sisu is installed:

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sisu -v

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Depending on your mode of installation one or a number of markup sample files may be found either in the directory:

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...

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or

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...

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change directory to the appropriate one:

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cd /usr/share/doc/sisu/sisu_markup_samples/dfsg

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1.2.1 basic text, plaintext, html, XML, ODF

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Having moved to the directory that contains the markup samples (see instructions above if necessary), choose a file and run sisu against it

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sisu -NhwoabxXyv free_as_in_freedom.rms_and_free_software.sam_williams.sst

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this will generate html including a concordance file, opendocument text format, plaintext, XHTML and various forms of XML, and OpenDocument text

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1.2.2 LaTeX / pdf

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Assuming a LaTeX engine such as tetex or texlive is installed with the required modules (done automatically on selection of sisu-pdf in Debian)

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Having moved to the directory that contains the markup samples (see instructions above if necessary), choose a file and run sisu against it

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sisu -pv free_as_in_freedom.rms_and_free_software.sam_williams.sst

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sisu -3 free_as_in_freedom.rms_and_free_software.sam_williams.sst

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should generate most available output formats: html including a concordance file, opendocument text format, plaintext, XHTML and various forms of XML, and OpenDocument text and pdf

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1.2.3 relational database - postgresql, sqlite

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Relational databases need some setting up - you must have permission to create the database and write to it when you run sisu.

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Assuming you have the database installed and the requisite permissions

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sisu --sqlite --recreate

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sisu --sqlite -v --import free_as_in_freedom.rms_and_free_software.sam_williams.sst

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sisu --pgsql --recreate

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sisu --pgsql -v --import free_as_in_freedom.rms_and_free_software.sam_williams.sst

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1.3 Getting Help

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1.3.1 The man pages

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Type:

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man sisu

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The man pages are also available online, though not always kept as up to date as within the package itself:

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1.3.2 Built in help

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sisu --help

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sisu --help --env

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sisu --help --commands

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sisu --help --markup

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1.3.3 The home page

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<http://www.jus.uio.no/sisu>

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<http://www.jus.uio.no/sisu/SiSU>

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1.4 Markup Samples

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A number of markup samples (along with output) are available off:

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<http://www.jus.uio.no/sisu/SiSU/2.html>

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Additional markup samples are packaged separately in the file:

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*

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On Debian they are available in non-free  ⁵  to include them it is necessary to include non-free in your /etc/apt/source.list or obtain them from the sisu home site.

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 ^1. There is nothing to stop MySQL support being added in future.

 ^2. <http://www.jus.uio.no/sisu/man/sisu.1>

 ^3. <http://www.jus.uio.no/sisu/man/sisu.8>

 ^4. <http://www.jus.uio.no/sisu/man>

 ^5. the Debian Free Software guidelines require that everything distributed within Debian can be changed - and the documents are authors' works that while freely distributable are not freely changeable.

Output generated by SiSU 0.59.0 2007-09-23 (2007w38/0)
SiSU Copyright ^© Ralph Amissah 1997, current 2007. All Rights Reserved.
SiSU is software for document structuring, publishing and search,
www.jus.uio.no/sisu and www.sisudoc.org
w3 since October 3 1993 ralph@amissah.com

SiSU using:
Standard SiSU markup syntax,
Standard SiSU meta-markup syntax, and the
Standard SiSU object citation numbering and system, (object/text positioning system)
Copyright ^© Ralph Amissah 1997, current 2007. All Rights Reserved.

SiSU is released under GPLv3 or later, <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>

SiSU, developed using Ruby on Debian/Gnu/Linux software infrastructure, with the usual GPL (or OSS) suspects.
Better - "performance, reliability, scalability, security & total cost of ownership" [not to mention flexibility & choice] use of and adherence to open standards (where practical and fair) and it is software libre.
Get With the Future Way Better!