2.2.4 The format of the component.xml file

The meaning of the elements in the component.xml DTD is as follows.

component: attribute `id'

The ID for this component. This must match the package name in configure.ac, and is the name under which the manifest file is installed. Let this remain under the control of configure.ac

component: attribute `status'

The status of this component, which can be current (the default, and assumed if no such attribute is present), or obsolete. When the Makefile.dependencies file is regenerated, the program doing that will warn if any component depends on a component marked obsolete.

version

The version number of this component. This must match the version number in configure.ac.

path

This is the path to this package within the CVS repository, without any leading slash. Make sure this is correct, or else the top-level build will probably fail.

description

A brief description of the component.

abstract

A fuller description of the component.

dependencies

This is the set of component IDs which this component depends on. This is managed by the STAR_DECLARE_DEPENDENCIES macros, and should not be adjusted by hand.

developers

This is a non-exhaustive list of those who have worked on this package. Little use is made of this at present, but its use is likely to extend, for example to be the source of recipients for CVS commit messages. The fields within it are <name>, which is the real name of the individual; <uname>, which is the username of the developer on the CVS system; and <email>, which is the person's email address. The last two elements are not required.

documentation

A list of SUNs and the like. At this stage the format of this element is not completely finalised, and it is best to leave its maintenance to the STAR_LATEX_DOCUMENTATION macro.

bugreports

The email address for bug reports.

notes

Any other notes that might be of interest or utility.

Note that, since this is an XML file, you will have to escape the ampersand, left- and right-angle-bracket characters as &, < and > respectively (well, you don't actually have to escape the right angle bracket character, but it looks marginally neater if you do). There are no other entities defined in this context.

The DTD for this file is included in the repository, at buildsupport/starconf/componentinfo.dtd, with a RelaxNG version at buildsupport/starconf/componentinfo.rnc.