Using Maven for maintaining product documentation
- by Waldheinz
We are using Maven for building a Java server-style application. It consists of several modules (in a single Maven "reactor") which can be plugged together to generate a final product (essentially a .jar) with the features enabled that the customer needs. All the internals are documented using JavaDoc and all, but that's not what you can give to the customer to find out how to get the thing running. Currently we have an OpenOffice document which serves as end-user documentation.
I'd like to integrate this documentation into the Maven build process where each module's documentation is maintained (hand-edited) together with the Module's sources and the final document can reference the required Module documentation sections, add some friendly foreword and, if possible at all, can reference into the JavaDocs. Ultimately, the document should be output as a PDF.
Is there any experience on Maven plugins can help with this? Is DocBook the right tool? Maybe Latex? Or something completely different? A sound "stick with OpenOffice and some text blocks" could be an answer, too.