pandoc-0.4: web/index.txt

% Pandoc

# Overview

Pandoc is a [Haskell] library for converting from one markup format
to another, and a command-line tool that uses this library. It can read
[markdown] and (subsets of) [reStructuredText], [HTML], and [LaTeX],
and it can write [markdown], [reStructuredText], [HTML], [LaTeX], [ConTeXt],
[RTF], [DocBook XML], [groff man], and [S5] HTML slide shows. 

Pandoc features

- Modular design, using separate writers and readers for each
  supported format.
- A real markdown parser, not based on regex substitutions.
  [More accurate] and [faster], in many cases, than `Markdown.pl`.
- Also parses (subsets of) reStructuredText, LaTeX, and HTML.
- Multiple output formats: HTML, Docbook XML, LaTeX, ConTeXt,
  reStructuredText, Markdown, RTF, groff man pages, S5 slide shows.
- Unicode support.
- Optional "smart" quotes, dashes, and ellipses.
- Automatically generated tables of contents.
- [ASCIIMathML] support for equations in HTML.
- Extensions to markdown syntax:
    + Document metadata (title, author, date).
    + Footnotes, tables, and definition lists.
    + Superscripts, subscripts, and strikeout.
    + Inline LaTeX math and LaTeX commands.
    + Markdown inside HTML blocks.
    + Enhanced ordered lists:  start number and numbering style
      are significant.
    + Compatibility mode to turn off syntax entensions and emulate
      `Markdown.pl`.
- Convenient wrapper scripts:
    + `html2markdown` makes it easy to produce a markdown version
      of any web page.
    + `markdown2pdf` converts markdown to PDF in one step.
    + `hsmarkdown` is a drop-in replacement for `Markdown.pl`.
- Multi-platform:  runs on Windows, MacOS X, Linux, Unix.
- Free software, released under the [GPL].

To see what pandoc can do, see the [demonstration page](examples.html).

# Documentation

- [User's Guide](README.html)
- [Demonstrations](examples.html)
- Man pages
    - [`pandoc(1)`](pandoc1.html)
    - [`markdown2pdf(1)`](markdown2pdf1.html)
    - [`html2markdown(1)`](html2markdown1.html)
    - [`hsmarkdown(1)`](hsmarkdown1.html)
- [Library documentation](doc/index.html) (for Haskell programmers)
- [Instructions for installing from source](INSTALL.html)
- [Changelog](changelog)

# Downloads

- [Source tarball].
  To install, unpack the archive and follow the instructions in the
  [INSTALL](INSTALL.html) file. You'll need the [GHC] Haskell compiler,
  version 6.6 or higher.

- [MacOS X binary package].
  To install, just double-click the package icon in the disk
  image.  See the [installation notes](osx-notes.html) for important
  information about setting your `PATH`.  Note:  This package was
  compiled on a G4 Mac; it will also work on an Intel Mac via emulation.

- [Windows binary package].
  The zip file contains the `pandoc.exe` command-line program (which
  you should extract from the zip archive and put somewhere in your
  PATH).  See the included file `README.txt` for instructions
  on using the program.  Note:  If you use [Cygwin], we recommend that
  you compile Pandoc from source.  This will give you access to the
  wrapper scripts `markdown2pdf`, `html2markdown`, and `hsmarkdown`,
  which are not included in the Windows binary package.

- [FreeBSD port].

- [Debian linux package] (thanks to Recai Oktaş). This will also work
  on Ubuntu and other Debian derivatives. To install, download the file
  and type:

        sudo dpkg -i pandoc_0.4_i386.deb

# Code repository

Pandoc has a publicly accesible subversion repository at Google
Code (<http://code.google.com/p/pandoc>). To check out the latest,
bleeding-edge source code:

    svn checkout http://pandoc.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ pandoc

# Reporting bugs

You may view existing bug reports and submit new ones at 
<http://code.google.com/p/pandoc/issues/list>.

# Mailing lists

- [pandoc-announce]:  Announcements of new releases only.
- [pandoc-discuss]:  General discussion of pandoc.

# News

-   Version 0.4 released (August 15, 2007).

    For users:

    + New output formats:  ConTeXt and groff man.
    + Support for definition lists and tables.
    + Support for superscript, subscript, and strikeout.
    + Support for automatically generated tables of contents.
    + Automatically generated unique identifiers in HTML headers.
    + Enhanced ordered lists (start number and list number style
      are now significant).
    + Markdown links now printed as inline links by default,
      unless `--reference-links` option is specified.
    + Many bugs fixed.

    For programmers:

    + Added a Text.Pandoc module that exports the main functions
      and data structures. Library documentation includes a sample
      program using the library.

    Under the hood:

    + Refactored to avoid reliance on GHC's `Text.Regex`, which
      is slow and does not support unicode.
    + Removed Key and Note block elements and simplified parsers.
    + Improved handling of character entities.
    + HTML output is now generated using `Text.XHtml`.

# Disclaimer

This is an early, "alpha" release. It carries no warranties of any
kind.

[More accurate]: http://code.google.com/p/pandoc/wiki/PandocVsMarkdownPl
[faster]: http://code.google.com/p/pandoc/wiki/Benchmarks
[ASCIIMathML]: http://www1.chapman.edu/~jipsen/mathml/asciimath.html
 
[John MacFarlane]: http://sophos.berkeley.edu/macfarlane/
[markdown]: http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/
[reStructuredText]: http://docutils.sourceforge.net/docs/ref/rst/introduction.html
[S5]: http://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/s5/
[HTML]:  http://www.w3.org/TR/html40/
[LaTeX]:  http://www.latex-project.org/
[ConTeXt]: http://www.pragma-ade.nl/ 
[RTF]:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Text_Format
[DocBook XML]: http://www.docbook.org/
[groff man]: http://developer.apple.com/DOCUMENTATION/Darwin/Reference/ManPages/man7/groff_man.7.html
[Haskell]:  http://www.haskell.org/
[GHC]:  http://www.haskell.org/ghc/
[GPL]:  http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
[Source tarball]: http://code.google.com/p/pandoc/downloads/detail?name=pandoc-0.4.tar.gz "Download source tarball from Pandoc's Google Code site"
[MacOS X binary package]: http://code.google.com/p/pandoc/downloads/detail?name=pandoc-0.4.dmg "Download Mac OS X disk image from Pandoc's Google Code site"
[Windows binary package]: http://code.google.com/p/pandoc/downloads/detail?name=pandoc-0.4.zip "Download Windows zip file from Pandoc's Google Code site"
[Cygwin]: http://www.cygwin.com/ "Cygwin - a linux-like environment for Windows"
[Debian linux package]:  pandoc_0.4_i386.deb
[FreeBSD port]: http://www.freshports.org/textproc/pandoc/
[pandoc-announce]: http://groups.google.com/group/pandoc-announce
[pandoc-discuss]: http://groups.google.com/group/pandoc-discuss