Add Documentation¶
Quick links:
- reStructuredText
- Coding guidelines for reST files
- Cheat sheet: reStructuredText
- How to render documentation
The documentation Changelog and documentation for system extensions is maintained in the core.
Changelog¶
Some patches require a .rst (reStructuredText) Changelog file describing the change. Not all patches need an entry in the Changelog. Check the list below. Also see the current Changelog for some examples.
Every file may optionally contain tags, but it must contain at least a NotScanned, PartiallyScanned or FullyScanned tag for the extension scanner. See Extension scanner in TYPO3 Explained for more information.
Forger reST Helper¶
Use the Forger reST Helper to generate changelogs.
This is strongly recommended because the tool will generate correctly formatted files. You can always add more to the .rst file directly later.
Select the type of rst snippet you want to create, enter your issue number and click the search button. Select appropriate tags.
When you are done, copy the generated text and create a file with the same
name as suggested in the generator in
typo3/sysext/core/Documentation/Changelog/...
.
Types of Changes¶
There are four different types of changes
which have to follow a certain format and always
need to go into typo3/sysext/core/Documentation/Changelog/<release>/
.
Choose one which fits your patch:
Breaking Changes¶
A patch moved or removed a specific part of core functionality that may break extensions if they use this part.
Mandatory sections:
- Description - why things had to break backwards compatibility.
- Impact - how will the change affect your installation.
- Affected Installations - describe scenarios under which circumstances a TYPO3 install will be affected by this change.
- Migration - provide instructions what needs to be done to get things working again. Explicitly mention if no migration is possible.
Deprecations¶
A patch deprecates a certain core functionality for a planned removal. See more information: Deprecations
Mandatory sections:
- Description - why things had to be deprecated.
- Impact - how will the change affect your installation.
- Affected Installations - describe scenarios under which circumstances an TYPO3 install will be affected by this change.
- Migration - provide instructions what needs to be done to get things working again. Explicitly mention if no migration is possible.
Features¶
A patch adds new functionality.
Mandatory sections:
- Description - what can the new feature do.
- Impact - how users are affected by this new feature.
Important Information¶
Anything that does not fit the other categories but is important enough to require a Changelog entry.
- Description - describe what is so important it needed an rst snippet
Check Your rst
File¶
When your change is finished, you can run the following script to check that
your rst file is ok. The script will check all files in
typo3/sysext/core/Documentation/Changelog
:
Build/Scripts/validateRstFiles.php
This script will check if the .rst files contain all mandatory tags that are required for the Changelog. It will not do a reST syntax check.
In order to make sure that your file contains no syntax errors and will be rendered correctly, do one or more of the following:
- Check out Coding guidelines for reST files.
- Use an editor or IDE that properly supports reST and shows errors
- Render the Changelog locally with docker as explained in the next section
Render the Changelog¶
If you wish to render the Changelog locally, you can use docker as described in How to render documentation.
Important
If you switch branches, you should rebuild everything. You can either remove the folder
Documentation-GENERATED-temp/Cache
and all its contents or run dockrun_t3rd
makehtml-no-cache
which has the same effect.
Policy for Changing the Main Documentation¶
Once a new TYPO3 release comes out, the main documentation (e.g. TYPO3 Explained, TCA Reference etc.) must be updated.
The procedure is documented in Apply changelog entries to the docs.
Document System Extensions¶
Documentation for system extensions is maintained within a Documentation
directory in the respective system extension directory, e.g.
typo3/sysext/form/Documentation
.
Not all system extensions have their own documentation. Some documentation (e.g. for the system extension core) is maintained within the TYPO3 Explained.
If in doubt, ask in the #typo3-cms-coredev channel on Slack.
For starting a system extension from scratch, please see How to document an extension.
For an overview of the rendered documentation for system extensions, see System Extensions.
When you have made changes to the documentation, you can render locally with docker to test your changes as described in Render the Changelog.
More Information¶
- See Documenting Changes for more information on the Changelog
- See Extension scanner in TYPO3 Explained