I'm trying a little experiment: I decided to separate out the Tracks manual from the main repository, and create an HTMl version using Webby [1]. I've now put the manual in its own repository on GitHub:
 
http://github.com/bsag/tracks_manual/
 
Webby is a very nice, simple and lightweight static HTML generator, which can generate sites from Textile/Markdown format files and templates. I thought it would be good to separate the manual out so that (eventually) I can easily upload it directly to the Tracks site for people to view as soon as any changes are made. We should also be able to make a PDF direct from the HTML (with a stylesheet) using PrinceXML.
 
If you want to play with the manual, you just need to install webby (and a few dependencies) from gems:
 
sudo gem install webby ultraviolet bones hpricot
 
Then cd into the tracks_manual directory and give the command:
 
webby autobuild
 
That will open a browser window showing the site, and it will rebuild the files each time you make a change.
 
content/index.txt
 
is the file to edit (Textile format), and it will build output/index.html for you.
 
I'm hoping that the manual will become easier to maintain and update in this format and that it will make it easier for others to contribute to.
 
As of 18 Jan 2009, the contents of the output directory are deployed to http://getontracks.org/doc/index.html so that with any changes to the source, the manual can be easily pushed to the public site. If you have Prince XML installed, you can also make a PDF manual with the following command if you have Webby running (with webby autobuild):
 
prince http://localhost:4331/printed/manual.html -o ~/Desktop/manual.pdf
 
Have fun!
 
[1] http://webby.rubyforge.org/
 
cheers,
 
bsag