Ubuntu Manpage: sphinx-build - Sphinx documentation generator tool

NAME

       sphinx-build - Sphinx documentation generator tool

SYNOPSIS

       sphinx-build [options] <sourcedir> <outputdir> [filenames ...]

DESCRIPTION

       sphinx-build generates documentation from the files in <sourcedir> and places it in the <outputdir>.

       sphinx-build  looks  for <sourcedir>/conf.py for the configuration settings.  sphinx-quickstart(1) may be
       used to generate template files, including conf.py.

       sphinx-build can create documentation in different formats.  A  format  is  selected  by  specifying  the
       builder  name on the command line; it defaults to HTML.  Builders can also perform other tasks related to
       documentation processing.  For a list of available builders, refer to Builders.

       By default, everything that is outdated is built.  Output  only  for  selected  files  can  be  built  by
       specifying individual filenames.

OPTIONS

-M buildername
Select a builder, using the make-mode. See Builders for a list of all of Sphinx's built-in
builders. Extensions can add their own builders.

IMPORTANT:
Sphinx only recognizes the -M option if it is used first, along with the source and output
directories, before any other options are passed. For example:

sphinx-build -M html ./source ./build -W --keep-going

The make-mode provides the same build functionality as a default Makefile or Make.bat, and
provides the following additional build pipelines:

latexpdf
Build LaTeX files and run them through pdflatex, or as per latex_engine setting. If
language is set to 'ja', will use automatically the platex/dvipdfmx latex to PDF pipeline.

info Build Texinfo files and run them through makeinfo.

NOTE:
The default output directory locations when using make-mode differ from the defaults when using
-b.

• doctrees are saved to <outputdir>/doctrees

• output files are saved to <outputdir>/<builder name>

Added in version 1.2.1.

-b buildername, --builder buildername
Selects a builder.

See Builders for a list of all of Sphinx's built-in builders. Extensions can add their own
builders.

Changed in version 7.3: Add --builder long option.

-a, --write-all
If given, always write all output files. The default is to only write output files for new and
changed source files. (This may not apply to all builders.)

NOTE:
This option does not re-read source files. To read and re-process every file, use --fresh-env
instead.

Changed in version 7.3: Add --write-all long option.

-E, --fresh-env
Don't use a saved environment (the structure caching all cross-references), but rebuild it
completely. The default is to only read and parse source files that are new or have changed since
the last run.

Changed in version 7.3: Add --fresh-env long option.

-t tag, --tag tag
Define the tag tag. This is relevant for only directives that include their content only if
certain tags are set. See including content based on tags for further detail.

Added in version 0.6.

Changed in version 7.3: Add --tag long option.

-d path, --doctree-dir path
Since Sphinx has to read and parse all source files before it can write an output file, the parsed
source files are cached as "doctree pickles". Normally, these files are put in a directory called
.doctrees under the build directory; with this option you can select a different cache directory
(the doctrees can be shared between all builders).

Changed in version 7.3: Add --doctree-dir long option.

-j N, --jobs N
Distribute the build over N processes in parallel, to make building on multiprocessor machines
more effective. Note that not all parts and not all builders of Sphinx can be parallelized. If
auto argument is given, Sphinx uses the number of CPUs as N. Defaults to 1.

Added in version 1.2: This option should be considered experimental.

Changed in version 1.7: Support auto argument.

Changed in version 6.2: Add --jobs long option.

-c path, --config-dir path
Don't look for the conf.py in the source directory, but use the given configuration directory
instead. Note that various other files and paths given by configuration values are expected to be
relative to the configuration directory, so they will have to be present at this location too.

Added in version 0.3.

Changed in version 7.3: Add --config-dir long option.

-C, --isolated
Don't look for a configuration file; only take options via the --define option.

Added in version 0.5.

Changed in version 7.3: Add --isolated long option.

-D setting=value, --define setting=value
Override a configuration value set in the conf.py file. The value must be a number, string, list
or dictionary value.

For lists, you can separate elements with a comma like this: -D html_theme_path=path1,path2.

For dictionary values, supply the setting name and key like this: -D
latex_elements.docclass=scrartcl.

For boolean values, use 0 or 1 as the value.

Changed in version 0.6: The value can now be a dictionary value.

Changed in version 1.3: The value can now also be a list value.

Changed in version 7.3: Add --define long option.

-A name=value, --html-define name=value
Make the name assigned to value in the HTML templates.

Added in version 0.5.

Changed in version 7.3: Add --html-define long option.

-n, --nitpicky
Run in nitpicky mode. Currently, this generates warnings for all missing references. See the
config value nitpick_ignore for a way to exclude some references as "known missing".

Changed in version 7.3: Add --nitpicky long option.

-N, --no-color
Do not emit colored output.

Changed in version 1.6: Add --no-color long option.

--color
Emit colored output. Auto-detected by default.

Added in version 1.6.

-v, --verbose
Increase verbosity (log-level). This option can be given up to three times to get more debug
logging output. It implies -T.

Added in version 1.2.

Changed in version 7.3: Add --verbose long option.

-q, --quiet
Do not output anything on standard output, only write warnings and errors to standard error.

Changed in version 7.3: Add --quiet long option.

-Q, --silent
Do not output anything on standard output, also suppress warnings. Only errors are written to
standard error.

Changed in version 7.3: Add --silent long option.

-w file, --warning-file file
Write warnings (and errors) to the given file, in addition to standard error.

Changed in version 7.3: ANSI control sequences are stripped when writing to file.

Changed in version 7.3: Add --warning-file long option.

-W, --fail-on-warning
Turn warnings into errors. This means that the build stops at the first warning and sphinx-build
exits with exit status 1.

Changed in version 7.3: Add --fail-on-warning long option.

--keep-going
With -W option, keep going processing when getting warnings to the end of build, and sphinx-build
exits with exit status 1.

Added in version 1.8.

-T, --show-traceback
Display the full traceback when an unhandled exception occurs. Otherwise, only a summary is
displayed and the traceback information is saved to a file for further analysis.

Added in version 1.2.

Changed in version 7.3: Add --show-traceback long option.

-P, --pdb
(Useful for debugging only.) Run the Python debugger, pdb, if an unhandled exception occurs while
building.

Changed in version 7.3: Add --pdb long option.

-h, --help, --version
Display usage summary or Sphinx version.

Added in version 1.2.

You can also give one or more filenames on the command line after the source and build directories.
Sphinx will then try to build only these output files (and their dependencies).

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

The sphinx-build refers following environment variables:

MAKE A path to make command. A command name is also allowed. sphinx-build uses it to invoke sub-build
process on make-mode.

Makefile Options

The Makefile and make.bat files created by sphinx-quickstart usually run sphinx-build only with the -b
and -d options. However, they support the following variables to customize behavior:

PAPER This sets the 'papersize' key of latex_elements: i.e. PAPER=a4 sets it to 'a4paper' and
PAPER=letter to 'letterpaper'.

NOTE:
Usage of this environment variable got broken at Sphinx 1.5 as a4 or letter ended up as option
to LaTeX document in place of the needed a4paper, resp. letterpaper. Fixed at 1.7.7.

SPHINXBUILD
The command to use instead of sphinx-build.

BUILDDIR
The build directory to use instead of the one chosen in sphinx-quickstart.

SPHINXOPTS
Additional options for sphinx-build. These options can also be set via the shortcut variable O
(capital 'o').

NO_COLOR
When set (regardless of value), sphinx-build will not use color in terminal output. NO_COLOR
takes precedence over FORCE_COLOR. See no-color.org for other libraries supporting this community
standard.

Added in version 4.5.0.

FORCE_COLOR
When set (regardless of value), sphinx-build will use color in terminal output. NO_COLOR takes
precedence over FORCE_COLOR.

Added in version 4.5.0.

DEPRECATION WARNINGS

       If any deprecation warning like RemovedInSphinxXXXWarning are displayed when building a user's  document,
       some  Sphinx  extension  is  using  deprecated  features. In that case, please report it to author of the
       extension.

       To disable the deprecation warnings, please set PYTHONWARNINGS= environment variable to your environment.
       For example:

       • PYTHONWARNINGS= make html (Linux/Mac)

       • export PYTHONWARNINGS= and do make html (Linux/Mac)

       • set PYTHONWARNINGS= and do make html (Windows)

       • modify your Makefile/make.bat and set the environment variable

COPYRIGHT

       2007-2024, the Sphinx developers

7.4.7                                             Aug 23, 2024                                   SPHINX-BUILD(1)

NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

OPTIONS

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

DEPRECATION WARNINGS

SEE ALSO

COPYRIGHT