Getting started with python-sphinx

Remarks#

This section provides an overview of what python-sphinx is, and why a developer might want to use it.

It should also mention any large subjects within python-sphinx, and link out to the related topics. Since the Documentation for python-sphinx is new, you may need to create initial versions of those related topics.

Installation or Setup

Since Sphinx is available on the Python Package Index, it can be installed using pip:

pip install Sphinx

or you can also install using easy_install

easy_install -U sphinx

Then you can check that it has been correctly installed by executing the following command:

> sphinx-quickstart --version
Sphinx v1.4.1

Before proceeding ahead you need to follow certain code style for python PEP 8. If you have followed PEP 8 guideline then you can define document structure in sphinx and start building your documentation.

Quick Start

To get started go to root of project directory and run :

$ sphinx-quickstart

You will get options to create documentation for your project. For default setup follow below commands:

Prompt    Choice
> Root path for the documentation [.]:    <ENTER>
> Separate source and build directories (y/N) [n]:    y
> Name prefix for templates and static dir [_]:    <ENTER>
> Project name:    an_example_pypi_project
> Author name(s):    Andrew Carter
> Project version:    0.0.1
> Project release [0.0.1]:    <ENTER>
> Source file suffix [.rst]:    <ENTER>
> Name of your master document (without suffix) [index]:    <ENTER>
> autodoc: automatically insert docstrings from modules (y/N) [n]:    y
> doctest: automatically test code snippets in doctest blocks (y/N) [n]:    n
> intersphinx: link between Sphinx documentation of different projects (y/N) [n]:    y
> todo: write “todo” entries that can be shown or hidden on build (y/N) [n]:    n
> coverage: checks for documentation coverage (y/N) [n]:    n
> pngmath: include math, rendered as PNG images (y/N) [n]:    n
> jsmath: include math, rendered in the browser by JSMath (y/N) [n]:    n
> ifconfig: conditional inclusion of content based on config values (y/N) [n]:    y
> Create Makefile? (Y/n) [y]:    n
> Create Windows command file? (Y/n) [y]:    n

Upon successful execution you may discover config.py file in your doc/source directory of your project. This file has control to basic structure of how your document will generate when you run build command as below

$ sphinx-build -b html sourcedir builddir

Detailed instructions are avilable at : https://pythonhosted.org/an_example_pypi_project/sphinx.html