GSoC/GCI Archive
Google Code-in 2012 BRL-CAD

Add missing documentation for any one command (#4)

completed by: Yatharth Agarwal

mentors: Sean

BRL-CAD is an extensive system with more than 400 commands and more than a million pages of documentation, but there are approximately 120 commands that are entirely undocumented:

a-d archer asc2g asc2pix bot-bldxf bottest brep_cube brep_simple brickwall btclsh burst bw-a bw-d bwish c-d chan_add clutter contours d-a damdf dauto dauto2 d-bw dconv ddisp d-f dfft d-i dmod double-asc dpeak dsel dsp_add dstat d-u dwin euclid_format euclid_unformat fbgammamod f-d fence fhor f-i g-adrt g-euclid1 g-jack globe g-off i-a i-d i-f ihist imod istat jack-g kurt lowp molecule nmgmodel nmg-sgp off-g pipe pipetest pix2g pix3filter pixcount pixelswap pixembed pixfields pixfieldsep pixflip-fb pixpaste pix-spm pix-yuv plstat pyramid rawbot remapid rlesortmap rletovcr room rtcell rtexample rtfrac rtrad rtsil rtsrv script-tab sketch solshoot sphflake spltest spm-fb ssampview syn tea tea_nmg testfree texturescale torii ttcp tube txyz-pl u-a u-bw u-d u-f umod ustat vcrtorle vegitation wall wdb_example xbmtorle xyz-pl yuv-pix

NOTE!  Some may have been completed, so check our other finished GCI tasks or ask us.

This task involves writing basic documentation for JUST ONE of those commands in the Docbook XML format. The command documentation should provide a one-sentence summary description, a detailed paragraph description (200+ words), explanation of all available command-line options, and one or more examples on how to use the command.

Code:

  • doc/docbook/system/man1/en/CMakeFiles.txt
  • doc/docbook/system/man1/en/*.xml
How to get started:
  1. You'll need a source checkout, see http://brlcad.org/wiki/Compiling
  2. You can use any of the existing xml files in that directory as a template starting point (see doc/docbook/articles/en/TEMPLATE.xml for Docbook examples)
  3. Learn the tool, find its source, write up the documentation
  4. You'll need to run svn add doc/docbook/system/man1/en/yourfile.xml
  5. You'll need to compile your xml file (make doc) to ensure it has no errors
  6. Review the html file it creates from your xml file
  7. You'll then submit your work as a single patch file, see http://brlcad.org/wiki/Patches