How can I look at the temporary files from each preprocessing step?

[chrispy-snps]

DITA-OT preprocessing consists of various stages (gen-list, mapref, mappull, topicpull, etc.). How can I look at the results from each of these preprocessing stages? For example, I might want to compare a stage's files against the previous stage's files to see what changes were performed.

[chrispy-snps]

To do this, you can use the ditaot_save_preprocessing.pl script, located here:

chrispy-snps / DITA-ditaot-utilities / Using ditaot_save_preprocessing.pl

It is a Perl script that adds instrumentation to your DITA-OT installation to save the results of each stage of preprocess or preprocess2.

The script modifies the DITA-OT preprocessing build file to preserve a copy of the temporary directory after each preprocessing save, containing the results from that stage:

$ ditaot_save_preprocessing.pl --add
Using the DITA-OT installation at '/home/chrispy/dita-ot'.
Copied '/home/chrispy/dita-ot/plugins/org.dita.base/build_preprocess.xml'
    to '/home/chrispy/dita-ot/plugins/org.dita.base/build_preprocess.xml.orig'.

Copied '/home/chrispy/dita-ot/plugins/org.dita.base/build_preprocess2.xml'
    to '/home/chrispy/dita-ot/plugins/org.dita.base/build_preprocess2.xml.orig'.

  'ditaval-merge' will save results in '${dita.temp.dir}-01-ditaval-merge'.
  'gen-list' will save results in '${dita.temp.dir}-02-gen-list'.
  'debug-filter' will save results in '${dita.temp.dir}-03-debug-filter'.
  'mapref' will save results in '${dita.temp.dir}-04-mapref'.
  'branch-filter' will save results in '${dita.temp.dir}-05-branch-filter'.
  'keyref' will save results in '${dita.temp.dir}-06-keyref'.
  'copy-to' will save results in '${dita.temp.dir}-07-copy-to'.
  'conrefpush' will save results in '${dita.temp.dir}-08-conrefpush'.
  'conref' will save results in '${dita.temp.dir}-09-conref'.
  'profile' will save results in '${dita.temp.dir}-10-profile'.
  'topic-fragment' will save results in '${dita.temp.dir}-11-topic-fragment'.
  'chunk' will save results in '${dita.temp.dir}-12-chunk'.
  'move-meta-entries' will save results in '${dita.temp.dir}-13-move-meta-entries'.
  'maplink' will save results in '${dita.temp.dir}-14-maplink'.
  'topicpull' will save results in '${dita.temp.dir}-15-topicpull'.
  'clean-map' will save results in '${dita.temp.dir}-16-clean-map'.
  'clean-preprocess' will save results in '${dita.temp.dir}-17-clean-preprocess'.
Wrote modifications to '/home/chrispy/dita-ot/plugins/org.dita.base/build_preprocess.xml'.
Wrote simplification XSLT to '/home/chrispy/dita-ot/plugins/org.dita.base/clean.xsl'.

During a transformation, messages indicate the location of each copy:

$ dita -i map.ditamap -f html5 -t my-temp
     [echo] Copying temporary files to '/home/chrispy/testcase/my-temp-01-ditaval-merge'.
     [echo] Copying temporary files to '/home/chrispy/testcase/my-temp-02-gen-list'.
     [echo] Copying temporary files to '/home/chrispy/testcase/my-temp-03-debug-filter'.
     [echo] Copying temporary files to '/home/chrispy/testcase/my-temp-04-mapref'.
     [echo] Copying temporary files to '/home/chrispy/testcase/my-temp-05-branch-filter'.
     [echo] Copying temporary files to '/home/chrispy/testcase/my-temp-06-keyref'.
     [echo] Copying temporary files to '/home/chrispy/testcase/my-temp-07-copy-to'.
     [echo] Copying temporary files to '/home/chrispy/testcase/my-temp-08-conrefpush'.
     [echo] Copying temporary files to '/home/chrispy/testcase/my-temp-09-conref'.
     [echo] Copying temporary files to '/home/chrispy/testcase/my-temp-11-topic-fragment'.
     [echo] Copying temporary files to '/home/chrispy/testcase/my-temp-12-chunk'.
     [echo] Copying temporary files to '/home/chrispy/testcase/my-temp-13-move-meta-entries'.
     [echo] Copying temporary files to '/home/chrispy/testcase/my-temp-14-maplink'.
     [echo] Copying temporary files to '/home/chrispy/testcase/my-temp-15-topicpull'.
     [echo] Copying temporary files to '/home/chrispy/testcase/my-temp-16-clean-map'.
     [echo] Copying temporary files to '/home/chrispy/testcase/my-temp-17-clean-preprocess'.

The script can also restore the original build file:

$ ditaot_save_preprocessing.pl --remove
Using the DITA-OT installation at '/home/chrispy/dita-ot'.
Restored '/home/chrispy/dita-ot/plugins/org.dita.base/build_preprocess.xml.orig'
      to '/home/chrispy/dita-ot/plugins/org.dita.base/build_preprocess.xml'.
Restored '/home/chrispy/dita-ot/plugins/org.dita.base/build_preprocess2.xml.orig'
      to '/home/chrispy/dita-ot/plugins/org.dita.base/build_preprocess2.xml'.

For more information, see the repository link above.