xml-p2x

View documentation for the original command

$ tldr xml depyx

xml-p2x [options] input.xml

This command processes input.xml and typically writes the transformed XML to standard output (stdout).

input.xml
    The DocBook XML file to be pre-processed. This is the primary input for the command.

--help
    Displays a brief usage message and exits.

--version
    Shows version information about the script and exits.

xml-p2x is a specialized utility script primarily utilized as an internal component within the xmlto toolchain. Its core function is to pre-process DocBook XML files, transforming their often complex and verbose structures into a more simplified and manageable intermediate XML format.

This preparatory step is crucial for subsequent conversions, especially when aiming to generate plain text outputs, man pages, or other non-XML formats where the full richness of DocBook might be cumbersome. By applying specific XSLT stylesheets, xml-p2x streamlines and cleans up the input XML, making it more amenable to further processing by tools like xsltproc or the main xmlto application. End-users typically interact with the higher-level xmlto command, which transparently orchestrates the invocation of xml-p2x as part of its comprehensive conversion pipeline.

xml-p2x is primarily an internal helper script and is not intended for direct end-user interaction. Its behavior and available options are limited, often relying on internal configurations and stylesheets within the xmlto package. It is tightly coupled with the DocBook XML standard and the conversion processes employed by xmlto. Direct usage outside of the xmlto framework is generally discouraged and may lead to unexpected results.

xml-p2x serves as a crucial intermediate step in converting DocBook XML source files. It takes the original DocBook document and applies a specific XSLT transformation to produce a streamlined, intermediate XML output. This simplified XML is then further processed by xmlto or other tools to generate final outputs like HTML, PDF, or plain text, optimizing the conversion process and ensuring consistency across different output types.

xml-p2x emerged as a component within toolchains designed for processing and transforming XML, particularly DocBook, into various output formats. It has been a part of the xmlto project (or similar predecessors) since the early 2000s, evolving as XML and XSLT processing became more sophisticated. Its development focused on addressing the complexities of converting rich XML structures into simpler, often plain-text-oriented formats efficiently.

xmlto(1), xsltproc(1), docbook(7)