Applied most of patch by hcatlin (excepting logger piece as that has …

…changed).

DOCUMENTATION_STANDARDS

@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+Every method should have documentation above the method definition that fits this basic model...
+
+# Render the specified item, with the specified options.
+#
+# ==== Parameters
+# thing<String, Symbol, nil>::
+#   The thing to render. This will default to the current action
+# opts<Hash>:: An options hash (see below)
+#
+# ==== Options (opts)
+# :format<Symbol>:: A registered mime-type format
+# :template<String>::
+#   The path to the template relative to the template root
+# :status<~to_i>::
+#   The status to send to the client. Typically, this would
+#   be an integer (200), or a Merb status code (Accepted)
+# :layout<~to_s>::
+#   A layout to use instead of the default. This should be
+#   relative to the layout root. By default, the layout will
+#   be either the controller_name or application. If you
+#   want to use an alternative content-type than the one
+#   that the base template was rendered as, you will need
+#   to do :layout => “foo.#{content_type}” (i.e. “foo.json”)
+#
+# ==== Returns
+# String:: The rendered template, including layout, if appropriate.
+#
+# ==== Raises
+# TemplateNotFound::
+#   There is no template for the specified location.
+#
+# ==== Alternatives
+# If you pass a Hash as the first parameter, it will be moved to
+# opts and “thing” will be the current action
+#
+#—
+# @public
+def render(thing = nil, opts = {})
+  <snip>
+end

README

@@ -1 +1,16 @@
-hello merb-core
+merb-core is a new branch of Merb (also referred to as merb-next or the 0.9 series) which aims to provide a stable, stripped down API for a future Merb 1.0 release.
+
+This branch is based off the 0.5 release series but with significant rewrites.
+
+Goals of this release:
+
+  * Stabilize the @public interface methods to provide for a more consistent application development experience.
+  * Remove features until nothing except a central application API is left
+  * Improve comments on methods using a standard documentation methodology as described in DOCUMENTATION_STANDARDS
+  * Separate the tests into two sections... "private" and "public"
+    * Public methods are methods tagged with @public that will be part of the standard, stable Merb API
+    * Private methods are implementation methods that might 
+  * Implement a new render API
+  * Build more extensions to regain selected features when needed
+
+To familiarize yourself with how a merb-core application might look, reference the /sample directory

lib/merb-core/boot/bootloader.rb

@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@ def run
 class Merb::BootLoader::Dependencies < Merb::BootLoader
   def self.run
     require Merb.dir_for(:config) / "init" if File.exists?(Merb.dir_for(:config) / "init.rb")
-    if File.exist?(Merb.dir_for(:environments) / (Merb.environment + ".rb"))
+    if !Merb.environment.nil? && File.exist?(Merb.dir_for(:environments) / (Merb.environment + ".rb"))
       require Merb.dir_for(:environments) / Merb.environment
     end
   end

tools/annotation_extract.rb

@@ -64,6 +64,11 @@ def display(results, options={})
 
 desc "Enumerate all annotations"
 task :notes do
+  desc "Enumerate all DOC annotations"
+  task :doc do
+    SourceAnnotationExtractor.enumerate "DOC"
+  end
+
   SourceAnnotationExtractor.enumerate "OPTIMIZE|FIXME|TODO", :tag => true
 end