
Glossary
********

builder
   A class (inheriting from ``Builder``) that takes parsed documents
   and performs an action on them.  Normally, builders translate the
   documents to an output format, but it is also possible to use the
   builder builders that e.g. check for broken links in the
   documentation, or build coverage information.

   See *Available builders* for an overview over Sphinx' built-in
   builders.

configuration directory
   The directory containing ``conf.py``.  By default, this is the same
   as the *source directory*, but can be set differently with the
   **-c** command-line option.

directive
   A reStructuredText markup element that allows marking a block of
   content with special meaning.  Directives are supplied not only by
   docutils, but Sphinx and custom extensions can add their own.  The
   basic directive syntax looks like this:

      .. directivename:: argument ...
         :option: value

         Content of the directive.

   See *Directives* for more information.

document name
   Since reST source files can have different extensions (some people
   like ``.txt``, some like ``.rst`` -- the extension can be
   configured with ``source_suffix``) and different OSes have
   different path separators, Sphinx abstracts them: *document names*
   are always relative to the *source directory*, the extension is
   stripped, and path separators are converted to slashes.  All
   values, parameters and such referring to "documents" expect such
   document names.

   Examples for document names are ``index``, ``library/zipfile``, or
   ``reference/datamodel/types``.  Note that there is no leading or
   trailing slash.

domain
   A domain is a collection of markup (reStructuredText *directive*s
   and *role*s) to describe and link to *object*s belonging together,
   e.g. elements of a programming language.  Directive and role names
   in a domain have names like ``domain:name``, e.g. ``py:function``.

   Having domains means that there are no naming problems when one set
   of documentation wants to refer to e.g. C++ and Python classes.  It
   also means that extensions that support the documentation of whole
   new languages are much easier to write.  For more information about
   domains, see the chapter *Sphinx Domains*.

environment
   A structure where information about all documents under the root is
   saved, and used for cross-referencing.  The environment is pickled
   after the parsing stage, so that successive runs only need to read
   and parse new and changed documents.

master document
   The document that contains the root ``toctree`` directive.

object
   The basic building block of Sphinx documentation.  Every "object
   directive" (e.g. ``function`` or ``object``) creates such a block;
   and most objects can be cross-referenced to.

role
   A reStructuredText markup element that allows marking a piece of
   text. Like directives, roles are extensible.  The basic syntax
   looks like this: ``:rolename:`content```.  See *Inline markup* for
   details.

source directory
   The directory which, including its subdirectories, contains all
   source files for one Sphinx project.
