autosummary: write documentation

doc/conf.py

@@ -6,7 +6,8 @@ import sys, os, re
 
 # Add any Sphinx extension module names here, as strings. They can be extensions
 # coming with Sphinx (named 'sphinx.addons.*') or your custom ones.
-extensions = ['sphinx.ext.autodoc', 'sphinx.ext.doctest', 'sphinx.ext.todo']
+extensions = ['sphinx.ext.autodoc', 'sphinx.ext.doctest', 'sphinx.ext.todo',
+              'sphinx.ext.autosummary']
 
 # Add any paths that contain templates here, relative to this directory.
 templates_path = ['_templates']

doc/ext/autosummary.rst

@@ -6,8 +6,103 @@
 .. module:: sphinx.ext.autosummary
    :synopsis: Generate autodoc summaries
 
-This extension can be used to generate function/method/attribute
-summary lists, similar to those output eg. by Epydoc and other API doc
-generation tools.
+.. versionadded: 0.6
 
-TBW.
+This extension generates function/method/attribute summary lists,
+similar to those output eg. by Epydoc and other API doc generation
+tools. This is especially useful when your docstrings are long and
+detailed, and putting each one of them on a separate page makes
+them easier to read.
+
+The :mod:`sphinx.ext.autosummary` extension does this in two parts:
+
+   1. There is an :dir:`autosummary` directive for generating summary
+      listings that contain links to the documented items, and short
+      summary blurbs extracted from their docstrings.
+
+   2. The convenience script :program:`sphinx-autogen` can be used to
+      generate short "stub" files for the entries listed in the
+      :dir:`autosummary` directives. These by default contain only the
+      corresponding :mod:`sphinx.ext.autodoc` directive.
+
+.. directive:: autosummary
+
+   Insert a table that contains links to documented items, and a short
+   summary blurb (the first sentence of the docstring) for each of them.
+   The :dir:`autosummary` directive can also optionally serve as
+   a :dir:`toctree` entry for the included items.
+
+   For example,::
+
+       .. currentmodule:: sphinx
+
+       .. autosummary::
+
+          environment.BuildEnvironment
+          util.relative_uri
+
+   produces a table like this:
+
+       .. currentmodule:: sphinx
+    
+       .. autosummary::
+    
+          environment.BuildEnvironment
+          util.relative_uri
+    
+       .. currentmodule:: sphinx.ext.autosummary
+
+   Autosummary preprocesses the docstrings and signatures with the same
+   :event:`autodoc-process-docstring` and
+   :event:`autodoc-process-signature` hooks as *autodoc*.
+
+
+   **Options**
+
+   * If you want the :dir:`autosummary` table to also serve as a
+     :dir:`toctree` entry, use the ``toctree`` option, for example::
+
+         .. autosummary::
+            :toctree: DIRNAME
+
+            sphinx.environment.BuildEnvironment
+            sphinx.util.relative_uri
+
+     The ``toctree`` option also signals to the :program:`sphinx-autogen`
+     script that stub pages should be generated for the entries listed
+     in this directive. The option accepts a directory name as an
+     argument; :program:`sphinx-autogen` will by default place its output
+     in this directory.
+
+   * If you don't want the :dir:`autosummary` to show function signatures
+     in the listing, include the ``nosignatures`` option::
+
+         .. autosummary::
+            :nosignatures:
+
+            sphinx.environment.BuildEnvironment
+            sphinx.util.relative_uri
+
+:program:`sphinx-autogen` -- generate autodoc stub pages
+--------------------------------------------------------
+
+The :program:`sphinx-autogen` script can be used to conveniently
+generate stub documentation pages for items included in
+:dir:`autosummary` listings.
+
+For example, the command::
+
+    $ sphinx-autogen -o generated *.rst
+
+will read all :dir:`autosummary` tables in the :file:`*.rst` files
+that have the ``:toctree:`` option set, and output corresponding stub
+pages in directory ``generated`` for all documented items.
+The generated pages by default contain text of the form::
+
+    sphinx.util.relative_uri
+    ========================
+
+    .. autofunction:: sphinx.util.relative_uri
+
+If the ``-o`` option is not given, the script will place the output
+files to the directories specified in the ``:toctree:`` options.