mkbook/docs-src/01-introduction.md

title = "Introduction"title = "Introduction"

Introduction

mkbook is my simpler alternative to mdbook which is a great tool, but for which I really dislike some of the decisions they took, such as relying on javascript for highlighting and navigation, and including a lot of bells and whistles such as javascript-based search.

This tool aims to work somewhat similarly to mdbook, but is generally intended to be a more minimal alternative that is customized more towards my needs and desires than anything else.

If you're not familiar with mdbook, mkbook is a tool to convert a collection of Markdown files into a static website / book which can be published online. It was created to help me write documentation with minimum fuss while presenting it in an easy-to-consume manner.

Command-line Interface

mkbook may be installed using Cargo (cargo install --force --path . in the mkbook repo directory), and after that it presents a command-line interface:

$ mkbook
mkbook 0.2.0
Kenton Hamaluik <kenton@hamaluik.ca>


USAGE:
    mkbook [SUBCOMMAND]

FLAGS:
    -h, --help       
            Prints help information

    -V, --version    
            Prints version information


SUBCOMMANDS:
    build    build the book
    help     Prints this message or the help of the given subcommand(s)
    init     initialize a mkbook directory tree

The Init Command

The init command is a tool to help you get started, and will create an initial README.md file and a stub of your first chapter.

$ mkbook init --help
mkbook-init 
initialize a mkbook directory tree

USAGE:
    mkbook init [OPTIONS]

FLAGS:
    -h, --help       Prints help information
    -V, --version    Prints version information

OPTIONS:
    -d, --directory <directory>    an optional directory to initialize into [default: src]

The Build Command

The build command is the primary command for mkbook, and is responsible for taking the .md files and building the resulting website.

$ mkbook build --help
mkbook-build 
build the book

USAGE:
    mkbook build [OPTIONS]

FLAGS:
    -h, --help       Prints help information
    -V, --version    Prints version information

OPTIONS:
    -i, --in <in>      an optional directory to take the book sources from [default: src]
    -o, --out <out>    an optional directory to render the contents into [default: book]